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Asian-American outreach has also been a priority among several other candidates on both sides of the aisle, including Democrat Gil Cisneros, who is running for House in CA-39. Cisneros appointed deputy campaign directors to specifically target Asian-American voters and distributed campaign materials in Korean and Mandarin.

Though John Chiang, a Democrat who currently serves as state treasurer lost his race for governor, the votes he netted could have had an untallied impact on the race, Ramakrishnan said.

Antonio Villaraigosa, another candidate for governor, may finish behind Chiang because “40 percent of Asian-American registered voters prefer to take surveys in an Asian language, not in English,” Ramakrishnan said.

“So all of the polling so far likely underestimates Chiang’s support by 3-4 percent,” he said, noting that Asian-Americans’ growing political influence could leave a significant impact across the Golden State for years to come.

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