Texas Republican Outreach Works!

Republican Party of Texas - We recently sent out an email congratulating the engagement staff at the Republican Party of Texas for their hard work in the election that helped Senator John Cornyn win the Hispanic vote in Texas, as well as help Governor-elect Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick win the male Hispanic vote in Texas and split the Hispanic vote overall.

Now we have received polling data that confirms the Texas GOP won the Asian American vote in Texas as well. According to AALDEF (Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund), we can now confirm that our engagement efforts into the Asian American community have paid off. According to AALDEF exit polling done across 63 polling locations in 12 different languages, Greg Abbott received 52% of the Asian American vote in Texas. Click here if you would like to read more from the AALDEF press release.

It may come as a surprise to some that the Asian American community is the fastest growing community in Texas. From 2000-2010, the population of Texans of Asian descent increased approximately 63%. Today, approximately 1 out of 16 Texans is of Asian descent and it is estimated that by 2040, 1 in 12 Texans will be of Asian descent. Since 2010, more people have emigrated from Asia to the United States than any other region.

This is one of the reasons why the Republican Party of Texas decided to create the full-time position of Asian American Engagement Director. Melissa Fwu, a graduate of Rice University and a Republican activist from the Fort Bend area, was hired to fill this position. In addition to reaching out to leaders in the Asian American community, frequently attending cultural events, and building mailing lists, Melissa worked with Dr. Martha Wong and Auxiliaries and Coalitions Chairman, Tina Gibson, to charter the Texas Asian Republican Assembly (TARA) as the first Asian American auxiliary of the RPT.

Under the leadership of Dr. Martha Wong, TARA has set up chapters across the state and held numerous meetings with members of all major Asian communities. Chairman Munisteri has also attended numerous events sponsored by TARA including events marking the Chinese Lunar New Year, the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and Vietnamese county fairs. The RPT also lent a helping hand to Al Hoang, who recently ran for state representative, and although he didn’t win, he obtained a very respectful number of votes. If you are interested in joining TARA or would like some more information please contact Martha Wong at [email protected].

Chairman Munisteri stated: “I would like to congratulate Martha Wong, President of TARA, and Melissa Fwu for doing a fabulous job. I have really enjoyed attending cultural events and learning more about the communities. It was clear to me during these visits that the Republican message of defending freedom, entrepreneurship, and fostering a strong community were well received.

Winning the Asian vote in Texas is a historic milestone for our party. Now it is time for our party to continue to earn their support by governing well. I am hopeful that if we do so, and continue our engagement efforts, we will increase our margin of victory next election cycle. The Asian American communities in Texas remain a major part of a winning coalition that delivered a major landslide victory for the GOP last Tuesday.”