Starting August 1, Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign headquarters selected Peter Su as the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) National Coalitions Coordinator for McCain 2008. Peter Su, who knows a lot about East Asian affairs, hopes to mobilize key Asian Americans votes in the three months before the election. As well, he hopes to garner community opinions, so that after McCain gets elected, Su can provide policy support.
Su came to the United States when he was in first grade. His father was an elected official in Taiwan. After graduating from Purdue University, Su worked at Silicon University. In 2000, he joined the Bush campaign. Because he worked on providing tax incentives for technological innovation, Bush supported him and took him into politics.
Having served as an Asian American affairs consultant in Congress, Su’s career in politics took off. From an early age Su has been involved with elections, helping hand out flyers for his father’s election in Taiwan. In college, he participated in student government. He became the first Chinese-American student president at Purdue University. According to Su, he wanted to help McCain to get elected because he identified with McCain’s national policies and values.
Su said that compared to Obama’s Chinese brother-in-law, McCain does not have an international family or marriage. Yet, as McCain’s congressional votes and speeches indicated, McCain understands policies with Asia and the importance of peace in the Asian regions. His knowledge should win the confidence of the voters. In addition, because he was hired as a bridge to Asian-American voters, this showed that McCain values the importance of the Chinese-American community.
Fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English, Su said that both the Asian-American community and the Republican Party valued family and education. Since many Asian immigrants failed to understand the importance of political participation, encouraging Asian Americans was a big task.
In the past, Su helped his father’s election; now, his father is helping Su by setting up a voting coalition for McCain in Southern California’s Monterey Park. Su also set up a new website, www.APAforMcCain.org, for voters to learn about McCain.
