Asian Americans' support could help Harris win key state

They represent a sizeable community in US' biggest swing state of Pennsylvania

- Nicole Cheah KX

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - At a park in the heart of Philadelphia's Cambodia Town, over 50 Asian Americans gathered on the morning of Nov 2 to rally for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

The crowd's excited chatter was as linguistically diverse as their blue placards, which included messages in Vietnamese and Khmer that read: "When we vote, we win."

Asian-American members in the administration of US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris took to the stage in their personal capacities to voice support for Ms Harris. Many in the cheering audience had journeyed to Mifflin Square Park from outside the state.

The rally was one of several events held on Nov 2 to mobilise the area's large South-east Asian American community as the election approached.

No official census exists for the South-east Asian population, but there are nearly 334,000 eligible Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters in the state of Pennsylvania, data shows.

That is more than enough voters than the ticket of Ms Harris and her vice-presidential pick Tim Walz needs to exceed the margin of victory in the nation's biggest swing state. And most of those AAPIs - over 121,000 of them - live in Philadelphia.

Mr Biden won the Keystone State in 2020 by an average of just 12 votes per precinct, receiving 50.01 per cent of the vote.

The day's programme saw dozens of pairs of volunteers knocking on doors in the neighbourhood, and a community forum held at a nearby Buddhist temple.

The events were organised by the local Cambodian-American business community in coordination with Ms Bel Leong-Hong, chairwoman of the AAPI Caucus of the Democratic National Committee.