When Michael Chang won a seat on the Cupertino school board 25 years ago, he became only the second Chinese-American trustee then serving in Santa Clara County.
For Tuesday’s election, 29 Asian-American candidates filed for school board seats in the county, or 22 percent of the total. That matches exactly the percentage of Asian-American registered voters in the county — and observers believe is the most in any California county.
“I’m surprised,” said Lan Nguyen, an East Side Union High School District trustee, who in 2004 became the second Vietnamese-American elected official in the county, and just the fourth in the state. He believes Santa Clara County has, by far, the most Asian-American school board members in the state, perhaps the nation. “I think it’s a good thing. Asians know now that in order to make a difference they have to participate.”
Asians in office still fall short of their proportion of the county population — 36 percent. But the number seeking school board seats is remarkable, especially given that the local Asian community is heavy with recent arrivals, who traditionally take generations to weave themselves into the American political fabric.
Besides newcomers and incumbents seeking re-election, 20 other Asian-Americans sit on the county’s school and community college boards, making up likely one of the highest percentages of Asian office-holders in the country.
That candidates from South and East Asia and the Pacific Islands have become so politically successful is thanks in part to early pioneers, and to a sustained, deliberate strategy to engage people rooted in cultures that shunned or simply didn’t permit political participation.
“It was hard to get people to run,” said Chang, who in 1997 established an institute at De Anza College, where he teaches, to attract and prepare potential candidates. “It was so not normal to most people’s experience. They didn’t grow up with conversations over politics.”
Even attracting participants in his Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute was a challenge. “In early days we took whoever was breathing,” Chang said. “And we were happy.”
School boards are a natural entryway to elected office, with families’ daily contact with schools and their issues. “You’re not sure you’re really a politician when you’re on a school board,” Chang said. “It’s like being on a nonprofit.”
But school districts, even tiny ones, often become launching pads for higher office. San Jose City Councilwoman and Assembly candidate Madison Nguyen began her political career in 2002 on the Franklin-McKinley School board, the first Vietnamese elected to office in the county. Mike Honda rose from the San Jose Unified school board, which he joined in 1981, to county supervisor then congressman.
Chang jumped to the Cupertino City Council, its first Asian-American, then mayor. He now serves on the Santa Clara County Board of Education.
Around the county, Asians’ political success generated Asian political ambition.
Today, a majority of the county school board and the San Jose-Evergreen Community College board is Asian, as are all three candidates running for the Saratoga elementary school district board.
“All these people are inspired by those in the first generation who successfully ran,” said Brian Do, of San Jose, who ran Lan Nguyen’s first campaign and is a political volunteer.
Other networks recruit and groom candidates for office.
“We try to push a lot of Vietnamese who are young and have knowledge — like attorneys at law — to run for office,” said Thomas Nguyen, of San Jose. His Vietnamese American Voters of Northern California backs candidates, both Vietnamese and others, and has a strong anti-communist bent.
While their numbers aren’t large, Vietnamese wield political power in part because of a strong turnout at the polls. “When we lived in Vietnam, we had no right to vote,” Nguyen said. “Here, we see the value of the vote. Whenever we see people fighting for democracy, we support that candidate right away.”
But voting is not all about ideology. It’s also realpolitik.
“We think Vietnamese are underserved,” Thomas Nguyen said, and winning services involves winning office or at least politicians’ attention.
Asian candidates have become so numerous that this fall there are Asian-on-Asian races. Besides the high-profile Honda vs. Ro Khanna congressional contest, a race for county schools trustee features incumbent Grace Mah and challenger Sheena Chin. In the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District, trustee Rudy Nasol faces newcomer Shawn Sieu.
The proliferation of Asian candidates “is a testament to the organizations and people who tried to create a pipeline to public office,” said Ellen Kamei, president of the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club. Among those, she named Chang and her own mother, county schools trustee Rosemary Kamei, formerly a long-term member of the Santa Clara County Water District board.
Ellen Kamei, who ran unsuccessfully for Mountain View City Council two years ago, is an alumna of Chang’s institute. So are Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, and San Jose-Evergreen trustees Huong H. Nguyen, Wendy Ho and Mayra Cruz — the institute is “inclusive,” Chang said, and not restricted to Asians.
After she finished graduate school, Ho has won a legislative fellowship in Honda’s Washington, D.C., office. “I realized that the real change happens when you’re actually at the decision-making table,” she said, so she returned to the South Bay and filed in 2012 to run for an open seat on the San Jose-Evergreen board.
Governing bodies, she believes, should reflect the people they serve.
“I matched the demographic,” said Ho, now 35. In looking at other board members, she thought, “I could offer a perspective they couldn’t offer.”
No one opposed her, and now she’s seeking a second term, again unopposed.
