© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Crosscurrents

Chinese-American Supervisors stand for all of San Francisco

Under CC license from Flickr user Confetti

The race for supervisor in San Francisco’s District 1, which includes the Richmond district, was a hotly contested one, pitting two Chinese-American candidates with different support bases against each other. Eric Mar, the progressive incumbent, defeated a challenge from David Lee, whose campaign was marked by massive third party spending and was widely seen to be the candidate of downtown business and landlord interests.

Eric Mar’s win last night was a victory for Chinese Americans but also for progressives in the City. His campaign was backed by a diverse coalition, including Chinese, Latino, and Filipino community groups, labor unions, educators and tenants rights advocates.

"I'm proud to be one of the three Chinese Americans on our Board of Supervisors," Mar said. "We can show that a city like San Francisco, a really multicultural one, trusts that Chinese Americans don't just stand up for Chinese, but for everyone in the whole city."

Alex Tom of the Chinese Progressive Association Action Fund, which backed Mar’s campaign, said that this is an important point.

“People tend to think that Chinese people are very conservative – and if you look at this race and his race last time, even though he barely won, it shows that there is so much potential for the Chinese community to work with other communities."

Tags
Crosscurrents Elections