2 Chinese Americans now represent California in Congress

Chinese-Americans raised their profile in elections across the United States on Tuesday, as

California elected two politicians of Chinese descent to Congress for the first time.

Democratic California state Senator Ted Lieu defeated challenger Elan Carr, 59%-41%, in the race to succeed Representative Henry Waxman, who has represented California's 33rd Congressional District for four decades.

Judy Chu, the first Chinese American congresswoman and the chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, retained her seat in California's 27th Congressional District, getting 59 percent of the vote compared with Republican challenger Jack Orswell's 41 percent.

"The highlight of this whole evening is to see Ted win," Waxman was quoted on Twitter as saying at Lieu's post-election party Tuesday night.

Lieu will address climate change, promote immigration reform and work on improving the relationship between China and the US, said Xue Haipei, president of the National Council of Chinese Americans (NCCA) and an election consultant to Lieu.

Xue said Lieu stood up for Chinese Americans when he called for the resignation of Bob Beckel, a talk-show host on the Fox News show The Five, for a disparaging remark about Chinese people.

In other California Assembly contests, Kansen Chu easily won with a vote of 69 percent to 31 percent over Bob Brunton in the state's 25th District.

"I will be an Assembly member committed to creating jobs and strong economic development; enhancing our public education system; and advocating for investment in transportation and water projects," Chu told China Daily.

"As a Chinese American politician, I will speak out for the needs of Chinese Americans and eliminate the racial discrimination to improve the quality of life of residents in my district," he said.

San Francisco City Supervisor David Chiu was leading David Campos 51% to 49% as absentee ballots were still being counted Wednesday in a tough battle for a 17th District state Assembly seat in Northern California.

Susan C. Lee, a Democrat, became Maryland's first Asian- American state senator after she defeated Republican Meyer Mark.

"It's my great honor to have won the election and represent people in Maryland and in all our communities," she told China Daily. Lee has served three terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she worked on many issues, such as education, transportation, Social Security and environmental protection.

"I want to be able to provide greater access for our community to the American political process, to the making of our laws," Lee said.

Allan Fung, 44, the Republican mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, and the son of Chinese immigrants, lost his bid to become the state's governor.

Sheng Yang in Washington and Reuters contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at zilian@chinadailyusa.com