The Chinese, Korean and Albanian communities in New York each saw one of their own reach a political milestone in yesterday’s elections.
Chinese-Americans helped send Grace Meng to Congress, where she will represent Queens as the first Asian-American from New York. Fellow borough resident and now Assemblyman-elect Ron Kim became the first Korean-American to be elected in New York State. In the Bronx, Mark Gjonaj also reached the State Assembly as the first Albanian-American to be elected in New York.
Queens City Councilman Peter Koo saw Meng’s win as an opportunity to get young Chinese-Americans involved, as well as to foster better international relations with China. There’s about half a million Asians of Chinese and Taiwanese ancestry in the city according to the New York City Department of City Planning.
Peter Koo said that he hoped Grace Meng’s win will bring more young people of Chinese descent to participate in community activities and care about politics. Koo is also looking forward for Meng to fight for immigrant rights in Washington and also use her strengths in diplomatic relations between the United States, China and Taiwan.
The city’s 100,000-strong Korean community also celebrated a historic victory. Democrat Kim made it to the New York State Assembly, where he will represent District 40, which covers downtown Flushing. The Korea Daily reported he becomes the first elected official of Korean descent in New York State.
In the general election on Nov. 6, Ron Kim (Korean name: Taesuk Kim), the former “regional director for government and community affairs in the administration of two New York State governors,” [according to his campaign site] ran for New York State Assembly as the Democrat candidate in District 40. Kim defeated Republican candidate Philip Lim, who is Chinese-American, with 67 percent of the vote.
Up in the Bronx, Albanians saw one of their own elected. Newcomer Mark Gjonaj, the son of Albanian parents from Montenegro, got 79 percent of the vote in the 80th Assembly District, which includes parts of Norwood, Bedford Park, Morris Park and Pelham Gardens.
Gjonaj easily beat incumbent Naomi Rivera in the September Democratic primary. Rivera, however, remained on the general election ballot as a Working Families Party candidate. Still, the Democratic ticket in the Bronx trumps all at this point. Rivera received less than 2,000 votes, good for 7.9 percent and less than the GOP candidate Nicole Torres who hauled in 9.1 percent of the vote.