Liberal “Asian-American” groups upset with DCCC over support of white candidate in Hawaii
Via Ben Smith:
Asian-American Democrats are criticizing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for favoring a white former congressman from Hawaii over the Asian-American State Senate President in a hotly contested special election to represent a majority-minority Hawaii district.
“The DCCC should focus the party on uniting Democrats and keeping this seat blue rather than dividing us and helping us defeat ourselves. It is unseemly for party officials to step into a special election with more than one Democrat, particularly in a district where 58 percent of the population is Asian Pacific American,” says the Asian American Action Fund executive director Gautam Dutta in a statement, provided to POLITICO, that’s likely to be the first shot in a campaign to resist DCCC’s efforts.
“Imagine the disgruntled reaction were the DCCC to step into a contested special election in a predominantly African-American or Latino district,” Dutta pointedly added.
Viewing Case as the stronger candidate, the DCCC is reportedly quietly siding with former Rep. Ed Case over state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa in a nonpartisan election that also features a strong Republican candidate. But Hanabusa is also the more liberal politician, and the race is drawing comparisons from some on the left to the upstate New York congressional election that divided the Republican Party last year, and the issue of race adds another explosive element to the mix. Case, whose wife is Asian-American, has always been popular among Asian-American constituents, but the increasingly organized national Asian-American political class has long felt slighted by Democrats.
“We believe [Hanabusa] is an outstanding candidate who has already broken racial barriers, just like President Obama, by becoming the first Asian Pacific American female to ever preside over a legislative body in the United States […]”
It’s interesting that Politico points out that Hanabusa “is the more liberal politician” when it doesn’t appear that who is the more liberal is the biggest issue. The biggest issue is – surprise – identity politics. Anyone believe these groups would be complaining about the DCCC “interferring” if they were supporting Hanabusa instead? I didn’t think so.
Just like all too many liberal black politicos (like my own Congressional “representative” Mel Watt) and prominent black Democrats like Jackson/Sharpton who feel similarly about black Democrats in competitve primaries and elections, liberal Asian-American groups apparently think that when it comes down to it, when you have a choice between an Asian-American Dem and a Dem who is not Asian-American, you should choose the Asian-American. Oh, and bonus points if the A-A happens to be a woman. That way, they get to play both the race and female cards. Would be a triple bonus for the race/identity politics-obsessed if Hanabusa was a lesbian, too.
The DCCC is getting hoisted by their own petard. So amusing to watch.