[U.S. midterm election] "6 Chinese people in the next Congress, the most ever... Expanding representation"

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) in Hong Kong reported on the 5th that with the election of Richard Fan (61), a Chinese citizen, to the U.S. House of Representatives in the U.S. midterm election, the number of Chinese lawmakers in the 120th U.S. Congress, which will be inaugurated early next year, has reached six, the highest ever.

According to SCMP, Democratic candidate Richard Pan (61) was elected by a margin of about 15 percentage points over incumbent independent candidate Kevin Kiley in the election for California's 6th Congressional District.

President-elect Fan, a former doctor, served in the California State House and Senate from 2010 to 2022, and entered the Federal Assembly for the first time through this election.

While serving in the state legislature, he focused on public health policy and served as chairman of the California State Assembly's Asian-Pacific Legislative Group, SCMP reported.

President-elect Fan told this media outlet, “I am proud to help expand the representation of Asian Americans in Congress,” and added, “I will continue my efforts to lower the burden of living costs on families, protect access to health care, and protect democracy.”

In this election, four existing Chinese congressmen, including Republican Vince Fong and Democrats Judy Chu, Ted Liu (California), and Grace Meng (New York), were re-elected.

SCMP explained that if we include Democratic Party member Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) of Thai-Chinese descent, an active senator who was not eligible for election, the number of Chinese members of the next Congress will increase to a total of six, including five in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives serve a two-year term, and a total of 435 new seats are elected in elections held every two years.

On the other hand, since about one-third of the total 100 senators, whose term is six years, are elected every two years, only some seats were up for election in this midterm election.

Chinese lawmakers have been speaking out through the Democratic Party-led Congressional Asian and Pacific American Legislative Group, which is currently headed by Rep. Meng.

Last August, Meng, Liu, and Chu issued a joint statement condemning comments made by a right-wing podcast that suggested that Chinese Americans should be detained in internment camps in the event of war with China.

“Pan’s victory is a historic milestone for Chinese American representation in the U.S. Congress,” Meng told SCMP. “Together, we will continue to fight to ensure that our diverse communities are visible, heard, and represented in the centers of power.”

“California has a large Chinese-American population, so we expect to see more representation,” said Christine Chen, executive director of the Asian Pacific Voters Association (APIAVote), a political group for people of color in the U.S., adding that this increase (in Congress) is especially timely given that Chinese and other Asian-Americans are portrayed as caught between the U.S.-China competition.