Asian Americans in San Francisco comprise of approximately a third of San Francisco’s population. In this fall’s election, San Francisco will be electing a supervisor for the Richmond District, where half the residents are Asian Americans. Well, the top three contenders running for Richmond Supervisor, as outlined in “High-profile race for Richmond District supe“:
- Sue Lee, 56, Executive director of the Chinese Historical Society of America
- Alicia Wang, 56, Teaches English as a second language and citizenship classes at City College.
- Eric Mar, 46, Lecturer in Asian American studies at San Francisco State University
With the Richmond District being 50% Asian American, I’m surprised that the current supervisor for the district isn’t Asian American. Not saying that people should vote based on race, but you would think that Asian Americans within the Richmond District would have run for the seat previously and that there would have been some qualified Asian American candidates that could have one.
I don’t live in San Francisco, but I have met one of the candidates — Eric Mar — at a few Asian American and Democratic Party events. I don’t know what the issues that the Richmond District face and what Mar’s stance on those issues, but from my brief meetings with him, Mar struck me as a seriously committed person to meeting the needs of the public. I hope those of you eligible to vote for this particular race to give him serious consideration. In general, I am ecstatic to see that there are active Asian Americans running for office – as there should be when the district is 50% Asian American. (How sad and pathetic would it be if there weren’t any viable contenders.)