By Lawrence Watanabe
With the 2024 presidential election fast approaching, organizations and campaigners are gearing up for a sure-to-be intense cycle through the formation of voting advocacy events.
The Ronin X panel, hosted at the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento on Monday, April 22 by Bill Wong, a political consultant and co-founder of the Ronin Project, aimed to both highlight the importance of the AAPI voter base and preview strategies used to appeal to AAPI voters in the November election.
The Ronin Project is an AAPI-based political action committee (PAC), founded in 2021 “in response to the current unchecked epidemic of anti-Asian hate crimes”, according to its website. The PAC aims to “stand up against AAPI hate by supporting political action and funding efforts that increase AAPI political power.”
One name was frequently brought up during the panel was Andy Kim. The first-ever Asian American Congressional representative from New Jersey, Kim was elected to his seat following an extremely close race against the incumbent Republican, Tom MacArthur. In September 2023, just one day after incumbent New Jersey senator Robert Menendez was indicted following charges of bribery, Kim announced his intention to run for the seat.
“The decision to run against Senator Menendez was one of the biggest and toughest decisions of my life,” said Kim through his campaign website. “The reason I stepped up is that I’m tired of constantly watching our politics fail our nation.”