Asian American voters could decide New Jersey gubernatorial election

The Democratic Party is failing to adequately engage Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters and could jeopardize the party’s gubernatorial election in the deep blue state New Jersey — Home to one of the largest Asian American populations in the country, a Democratic National Committee (DNC) official warned.

“We’ve lost ground with a lot of our communities,” DNC Vice Chair Shasti Conrad told Fox Digital of the Democratic Party after its 2024 election defeats. “The Asian American community was one of them. Where we found that…more votes were going that way.” Donald Trumpnot overall, but in terms of moving from 2020 to 2024, there was a decline in support for Democrats.”

“I’ve certainly seen the Republican Party make greater efforts to reach Asian American voters, particularly in the last few years,” Conrad added. “You know, while there was also a lot of anti-Asian rhetoric and anti-Asian hate from the Republican Party, there was also fears about the economy and the impact of taxes on the Asian American community being exploited, and there were more Republicans actually going into Asian community spaces.”

2025 is an off-season election year, with only Virginia and New Jersey holding gubernatorial elections and New York City hosting a highly anticipated mayoral race.

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New Jersey has long been a Democratic stronghold and previously voted for a Republican presidential candidate in the 1988 election of former President George HW Bush. However, Trump made a breakthrough with New Jersey voters in the 2024 election, sparking renewed enthusiasm among Republicans to push the state into the red.

New Jersey voted to elect the former vice president Kamala Harris As president in the 2024 race, but post-election data showed Trump and the GOP had thrown five counties into the red. All told, Trump reduced his loss in 2020 from 16 to six in 2024.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill was elected Party candidate for governor and will face Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the Nov. 4 election.

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New Jersey has a huge Asian American population of just over a million people in a state with a total population of about 9.5 million. 2024 voting data shows there were 584,236 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) eligible voters in the state.

Conrad, who is also chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party, told Fox Digital that the lack of inclusion of the voting bloc could hurt the Democratic Party’s efforts to retain the governorship. She said she was reminding party members that “there are a million Asian Americans in New Jersey” and that “as Democrats, we have not invested as much in the community as we could have at our peril.”

AAPI voters “are the fastest-growing demographic in this country, and we are growing in the states where we need to win,” she added. “We’re growing in the South. We’re a growing population in North Carolina, in Georgia, in Texas.”

Nationally, 57% of Asian voters supported Harris in 2024, but Trump also improved his margins with the voting bloc compared to 2020. In 2024, Trump cast one in four Asian votes in his favor, compared to 30% of Asian votes in 2020 Pew data.

The DNC chairman said the party needs to meet AAPI voters in their community, whether at temples and churches or Asian businesses, and listen to their concerns directly.

The voting bloc brings with it a variety of cultural backgrounds and is therefore a very differentiated group. Conrad noted the group’s diversity as he listed AAPI voters’ top election concerns, including the economy and immigration — particularly its connection to H-1B visas.

Conrad said Republicans have met Asian voters in their churches and businesses and at other cultural events in recent history, with the party increasingly supporting Asian candidates as well.

“They just did more,” Conrad said of Republicans. “And they’ve also fielded more Asian candidates, which … is sometimes confusing for voters, particularly in the Asian American community, where there’s a lot of pride in having leadership that, you know, comes from the community.”

She urged Democrats to include Asian voters in their joint campaign programs that focus on black, Latino, rural and young voters.

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“As we talk about how important it is to really build this coalition, we need to continue to say and include Asian Americans,” she said. “And I think sometimes, as you know, we are left out and not even considered or remembered as a really important community to engage with.”

Sherrill campaign spokesman Sam Chan told Fox News Digital when asked about her AAPI advocacy work: “Throughout the campaign, Mikie worked directly with Asian communities and shared her vision to reduce costs, increase support for small businesses and ensure that people here in New Jersey have the opportunity to achieve the American dream.”

“As governor, Mikie will work to ensure Trenton serves everyone,” Chan continued. “Mikie will work to make starting and growing a small business easier and reduce costs, ensuring our schools are fully funded, and standing up for our constitutional rights and upholding the law. Mikie’s “Save You Time and Money” agenda will help business owners start and expand their ventures while her utility cost emergency ends rate increases and the will reduce electricity bills.”

Chan also took aim at Trump in his remarks, saying that Ciattarelli “supports Trump while he attacks our communities, rips billions from our schools and transportation system, and drives up prices with his unaffordable tariffs. Mikie is running to fight for all New Jerseyans.”

Fox News Digital also spoke with Parul Khemka, a New Jersey Democrat running for re-election to the Livingston Board of Education. He said the Sherrill campaign has increasingly participated in cultural events, including a Diwali celebration.

“Even in Bergen County, there’s a large East Asian population, so she’s taken advantage of that as well. It’s just, New Jersey is a little unconventional. You might think it’s a party, a thing… But different counties have their own different characteristics, so you have to figure that out as you go.”

She added that Sherrill has been involved in cultural events in her congressional district, which includes parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in North Jersey, and that her office has always been available.

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Khemka said education, immigration and visas, as well as the economy and affordability are among the AAPI community’s top priorities, also pointing out that the massive voting bloc is nuanced and diverse. She said she believes AAPI voters have leaned more and more to the left, but that voters have moved more to the right as Trump campaigned on getting the economy back on track after soaring inflation.

Kehmka said Democrats are able to better appeal to AAPI voters because they understand the nuances of voters’ political concerns as opposed to broad themes.

“The Democratic Party is obviously doing a little better than that Republican Party “I have to understand these nuanced issues, and they don’t lump everyone together,” she said, adding that the AAPI community in New Jersey could determine the success or failure of Democrats if they keep the governor’s mansion.

The Sherrill campaign, for example, has rolled out multilingual phone banking and canvassing programs in cities with high percentages of Asian voters, with Sherrill herself also meeting with voters in their communities.

Conrad said the Sherrill campaign has gained more traction with AAPI voters in recent months, pointing to outreach events over the weekend that also included DNC Chairman Ken Martin traveling to the Garden State to drum up support for the ticket.

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“We created an AAPI-focused canvas. And then… DNC Chairman Ken Martin hosted an AAPI roundtable to meet with AAPI leaders and show their commitment. I’ve heard that within just a month, there’s been a big shift in the community in terms of feeling like they’ve been, you know, more directly involved in the Sherrill campaign, and we feel better about that,” said Conrad.

“I think that work is being done,” she added, praising the efforts of the DNC’s AAPI caucus, particularly South Asians for America, which is mobilizing Democratic support ahead of key elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

New Jersey’s gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 4th.

Fox News Digital reached out to Ciattarelli’s campaign for comment on the AAPI advocacy campaign on Thursday and has not yet received a response.