"It was bound to happen," said Zhuang Zhenhui, president of the Flushing Restaurant Association. Zhuang, who has worked with Koo on the behalf of the community for the past ten years, said that Koo's victory nearly brought him to tears, and that it reflects voters' approval of Koo.

Ever since Koo entered the race, Xu Zhu Liudi, vice-president of the Chinese-American Business Women's Association, has stayed staunchly at his side. Rubbing tears from her eyes, she laughed, "I can't think of a happier moment than this. It's like having a grandson."

Peter Tu, Executive Director of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said he believes these election results are a sign of progress on the part of 20th District voters. "Voters here aren't constrained by political party," he said. David Su, head of the Henan Association of Eastern America, agreed that Flushing voters are moving forward: "If you're conscientious and you do your job, the voters won't forget."

Democratic District Leader Ma Sha, who has lived in Flushing for 34 years, says he remembers a time when no one other than Democrats won elections in the district. But Peter Koo's victory is not because of his party affiliation, Ma says, but because of his history of service to the community. Isaac Sasson, who lost in the primaries, says he even feels proud for Koo: "Even if I'd won the Democratic nomination, I don't think I could have beaten him."

Flushing's 20th Council District is a Democratic stronghold. According to last year's electoral statistics, there were 40,000 registered Democrats in Flushing and only 9000 Republicans. Fewer than 30,000 voters were registered as unaffiliated, Independent, or Conservative. When John Liu was reelected to the City Council by a margin of 10,000 votes four years ago, the fact that Koo was able to garner nearly 10,000 votes himself shows that he had support from all parties.

James S. McClelland, Koo's campaign manager, says many people see Koo's election as "a miracle." But McClelland is not surprised. With a five to one ratio of Democrats to Republicans in Flushing, Koo faced an uphill battle, but his personal charisma, his strategy of assembling a rainbow coalition of supporters, and his solid background all gave him a ripe opportunity, McClelland said.