AAPI Victory Fund Acting President Brad Jenkins Joins DNC AAPI Caucus, Kamala Harris to Celebrate Lunar New Year Event and Uplift Importance of Voting

By Jessel Thomas First Posted: Feb 24, 2022 09:37 AM EST

At the start of February, AAPI Victory Fund Acting President and Enfranchisement CEO Brad Jenkins joined the Democratic National Committee AAPI Caucus, NextShark, Kamala Harris and fellow guest speakers to celebrate Lunar New Year and highlight the importance of voting in the upcoming elections.

(Photo : Fireside Campaigns)

The event featured exemplary AAPI community members like Vice President Kamala Harris, DNC AAPI Caucus Chairwoman Bel Leong-Hong, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and Representatives Judy Chu, Grace Meng, Andy Kim, Ted Lieu, and Pramila Jayapal, along with other notable figures in politics and entertainment.

This event highlighted the crucial role AAPIs play in voting, elections, and politics, and highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to prioritize AAPI issues, values, and voices.

To watch the event, click HERE

Vice President Kamala Harris Issued the Following Statement:

"Lunar New Year is a time of joy-joy of being together-and it is a time of celebration. This year, we celebrate culture, family, and the warmth of love and community. It is a time of hope, the hope of a new year, and the hope a new year brings. As we welcome in the year of the Tiger, I believe we have so much progress to protect and so much progress to build on to stop hate crimes, and to support communities and small businesses during the pandemic. So let us keep the flame of hope burning bright across the country."

DNC AAPI Caucus Chairwoman Bel Leong-Hong Issued the Following Statement:

"As we roar into the new year of the Tiger, the Tiger embodies strength, vigor, courage, perseverance, and bravery. And tonight's celebration is in honor of our Asian American and Pacific Islander heroes who personify all those qualities-year-round and all over the country. To all of our heroes, thank you. My role as the chair of the DNC's AAPI caucus is to ensure that our AAPI voice is represented at the highest level of the Democratic National Committee, and to encourage and support AAPIs in reaching their maximum potential, and to take a seat at the table."

Senator Tammy Duckworth's Statement:

"As Vice Chair of the DNC, it is my honor to wish you all a happy and healthy Lunar New Year. The year of the Tiger symbolizes strength, bravery, and confidence, and I couldn't think of better guidance for all of us to navigate this upcoming year ahead of us. A little over a year ago, Donald Trump was still tweeting from the Oval Office and Republicans controlled the Senate. Looking back on all that we've accomplished in just the last year, I know we could not have done it without your help. Thanks to you and your work, and the work of thousands of like-minded Americans across the country, we elected President Biden and our Democratic Congress was able to pass policies to help us recover from this pandemic, rebuild our nation, and bring our economy back from the brink. I'm so proud of the progress we've made in spite of unprecedented unanimous Republican obstruction."

"With all of this progress made, some things have not changed for the better. Not only have AANHPI been on the forefront of this pandemic, but Asian Americans across the country have continued to be targeted by hate, racism, and violence in the aftermath of the last president's racist and xenophobic lies. Yet, instead of cowering in fear, our community has in fact united against hate and, while this is important progress, I will never stop working to do all that I can to make sure that our communities are safe and have the support they need to thrive during this pandemic, and beyond."

Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Jaime Harrison's Statement:

"Happy Lunar New Year and happy year of the Tiger. I hope this year is filled with happiness and opportunity, and good health. I'm so glad you all are able to celebrate the new year with the DNC and I want to thank the folks who made that possible: my dear friend DNC Vice Chair Tammy Duckworth, AAPI Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong, and the entire creative committee-AAPI caucus, thank you for bringing us all together this evening. I know Bel has talked about roaring into 2022 and I couldn't agree more. We had a strong 2021 at the DNC and we've got to continue building on our momentum. AAPI communities are going to make all the difference in this year's elections and the DNC is committed to organizing and earning every vote."

"We're going to show folks the ways we've delivered this past year and we're going to make the case that they can count on Democrats to address their everyday needs. We've got the results to prove it: the Biden Administration has delivered over $8 billion dollars to AAPI small businesses and, because this administration has zero tolerance for hate, the President has signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to protect AAPI communities."

Founder and CEO of Enfranchisement Brad Jenkins' Statement:

This is a special thing, this is very special that the DNC is centering the Asian American community-not just for the Asian Americans watching-but for all Americans. For African Americans and Latino Americans and white Americans and that is what's so beautiful about our country and I think these celebrations like Lunar New Year remind us that not so long ago, in the administration that will not be named, our differences were used to separate us. Our race, our religion, our creed was used to divide us and I want to say thank you to Vice President Harris, thank you to President Biden for offering a different way for bringing this country together, and getting our country back on track."

"This is a big year, it's not just the Year of the Tiger, this is the year of the midterms, and I have a couple of facts and I have a couple of to-dos. Number one fact: we are the fastest growing voting bloc and the fastest growing demographic in the United States. Asian Americans represent 23 million Americans. Fact number two: we voted in 2020 at the highest level that our community ever voted, we were the reason why we have Vice President Harris and President Biden in that White House, we were that margin of victory for the Democratic Senate. And so, while these things are exciting, fact number three: we still have so much work to do because we only represent 0.9% of elected officials across the country."