The Rise of Michele Steel and Young Kim
Over the past few years, we have seen a remarkable shift in Washington, especially in the Republican Party. I’m not talking about the partisan noises coming from the far-right or the rise of Q-Anon or the other radicals who have been tirelessly defending the indefensible. I’m talking about the very odd increase in ethnic diversity among Republicans, despite the party’s promotion of nationalism and nativism. This has been an ongoing phenomenon for some time now, and it could be a precursor for something much more significant. Today we’re talking about the increase in the number of Asian-American women who are winning their way into Congress, particularly on the right side of the aisle. On paper, it may seem peculiar for conservatives to see a record surge in Asian-American women, but the truth is that Asian Americans have tended to be more supportive of the GOP’s policies. The New York Times recently ran an article about the reasons that Asian Americans are bolting from the Democratic Party, in part because they believe that the Republican Party better represents the core values of many Asian Americans: fiscal responsibility, business growth, and a focus on family. The article also wrote that Democrats have been taking for granted the Asian-American vote for decades (big shock) and haven’t offered a compelling platform that addresses the needs of Asian-American voters. The truth is that the only reason that some Asian Americans still vote for Democrats is because they believe Republicans are hostile to their values and Democrats are the lesser of two evils.
That perceived neglect has provided a big opening for Republicans. Some Asian Americans believe that Democratic complacency will allow Asian Americans to rebuild the Republican brand by nominating members of their community into Congress. That brings me to Young Kim and Michele Steel, two conservative women from California who have had a major impact on California politics over the past couple years. These women have been very influential members of the California delegation and have had a tremendous impact on policy. So let’s talk about Kim and Steel.
Young Kim, the representative for the 39th District since 2021, has been heavily involved in California politics for much of the past decade. After suffering defeats in 2016 and 2018, she finally won in 2020. Her policies have been tailored to the huge swaths of the population, and she ran as a parent and a wife, bringing a sunny optimism to the party. In Congress, she has been the crusader for families and has been very vocal in her opposition to President Biden’s massive spending bills.
Michelle Steel, the representative for the 48th District, has been a fixture in Republican circles over the past couple of years. She has consistently gone after President Biden and supported former President Donald Trump, and she has been proactively recruiting Asian Americans to the Republican Party.
The bad news is that this surge among the Republican ranks is bad for the Democratic Party. The good news is that the surge in diversity among the GOP is good for America because it’s likely to reduce the xenophobia that has become a cancer within the GOP.
