An Asian American volunteer talks about the Duckworth campaign

Tim at APAforProgress has a great post about his experiences working on the Tammy Duckworth campaign. Here's an excerpt about Asian American involvement in the district:

For me, one of the most exciting elements of the campaign was the breadth and depth of Asian American involvement. As I mentioned in some of my earlier posts on Duckworth, that fact that Duckworth is Asian didn't seem to be made central early on in the campaign (perhaps, as some suggested, because there were concerns that Republicans might launch racial or anti-immigrant attacks). But as Duckworth's story became better known, a steady stream of Asian American volunteers began to pour into the campaign. In the closing weeks, the campaign added a staff member to coordinate Asian American outreach, and our own Curtis Chin was sent out by the DNC to work on Asian American outreach in DuPage County.

Even in just the few times I went out canvassing, I could see how much the district was changing. New housing developments have led to a huge influx of new residents, many of whom are former city-dwellers, and many of whom are immigrants; in some neighborhoods a South Asian resident answered the door at every other house I visited. These Asian American voters seemed very receptive not only to having an Asian American volunteer knocking on their door, but to voting Democratic; one man shook my hand heartily and asked why there weren't more Democratic candidates for him to vote for! I'm convinced that if this district is going to swing Democratic in the next few years, Asian Americans are going to provide the crucial margin.