Inside the battle for Asian-American votes

How Republicans hope to grab a bigger share of America’s fastest-growing voting block

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 04: People participate in a protest to demand an end to anti-Asian violence on April 04, 2021 in New York City. The group, which numbered near 3000 and was made up of activists, residents and local politicians, marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. After a rise in hate crimes against Asians across the U.S. and in New York City, groups are speaking up and demanding more attention to the issue. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Jun 20th 2022|GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA

Lanhee chen is a sort of unTrump (he was chief policy adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential bid in 2012). He is running to be elected California’s state controller in November, a technocratic post designed to ensure money approved by the state assembly is spent properly. “I’ve got a record of working with Democrats,” he says, “and my arguments for this post are non-ideological” (not something many movement conservatives would say). If he were to win, he would become the first Republican to hold statewide office in California since 2006. A second-generation Taiwanese-American, Mr Chen also represents one of the Republican Party’s more audacious ambitions: to win the Asian-American vote.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Pivot to Asia”