The Republican Party in New York City has decided to nominate Chinese Americans to run in areas with large Chinese American communities during this year's city council election. It hopes to fight for a seat in the city council for a Chinese American candidate.
According to sources in the Republican Party, the GOP will recommend, organize and recruit Chinese American candidates in three areas where most Chinese Americans reside.
Chinese American candidate Miu Chen-Yeh, who lost the special election in the Bushwick area last year, will be the local club's candidate and run in the city council election for Sunset Park, according to sources active in Brooklyn's Republican Party offices.
The Republican Party has agreed that Miu would not have to go through the primary in order to receive the nomination. At the same time, he will get other support from the party.
Although Miu was not able to be elected at the special election, his potential to win this time is evidenced by his ability to garner about two thousand votes from Chinese Americans with only a few days campaigning during last year's election.
The Democratic Party has support in the city council election in Sunset Park, but currently faces internal struggles and opposition. Many Hispanic Democrats are expressing their desire to challenge the Democratic incumbent Gonzalez. Furthermore, since the Democratic Party is catering mostly to Hispanic voters, other minorities are not satisfied.
The Republican Party is trying to win the election using Chinese voters as the main support, instead of Hispanic voters. The first Chinese American city council member for Sunset Park could be put forth by the GOP.
In Flushing, Queens, Democratic incumbent John Liu will run for re-election. The GOP is currently organizing a few Chinese Americans who are interested in challenging Liu and running for election. Several Chinese Americans in the party have expressed their willingness to run, and the party is going to do some organizational work and support only one person among those interested in order to avoid internal struggle and consequent financial problems for candidates.
As for Manhattan’s Chinatown, Democratic incumbent Allan Gerson is expected not to face as many challengers at this early stage of campaigning. The GOP believes that Gerson does not have much support from Chinese and Hispanic voters. If the GOP would nominate a Chinese American, there is a chance that he/she could win. Yet, there is so far no Chinese American in the GOP who has expressed the interest to run, so the GOP might have to recruit people to run for the election and challenge Gerson in November.
