A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
We've talked a lot about how Latino voters could sway the campaign in Nevada. Asian American voters could prove just as decisive, and they're being heavily courted. Here's NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
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FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: When they opened their Las Vegas restaurant that infuses Filipino ingredients into brunch foods 10 years ago, Magnolia Magat said the Filipino community didn't receive much attention from the political class.
MAGNOLIA MAGAT: When we first began, we were not - I think we were seen, but we were not heard.
ORDOÑEZ: She says it wasn't just the politicians but also part of their culture.
MAGAT: We're very - we work quietly. We want to be noticed. We can't, like, be out there, telling the world that we're out here.
ORDOÑEZ: A lot has changed. The politicians are certainly noticing, and the community is embracing their budding political power.
MAGAT: I don't know what's switched in our minds. I think because there's now, like, a recognition that we're a force, and it doesn't mean that we're losing our identity as Filipinos if we talk about being Filipino.
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ORDOÑEZ: While Asian Americans make up about 6% of eligible voters nationwide, their political power is more concentrated in key swing states like Nevada, where they make up 10% and could exceed the margin of victory.
KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN: New Asian American voters are the ultimate swing electorate.
ORDOÑEZ: Karthick Ramakrishnan is the executive director of AAPI Data. He says Asian Americans are often naturalized citizens who did not grow up in Republican or Democratic households. They're more persuadable because they don't have the same family ties to a party.
RAMAKRISHNAN: Both parties are making attempts to try to do outreach and mobilization.
ORDOÑEZ: And in a new survey from AAPI Data, Harris has dramatically increased a lead over former President Donald Trump with Asian American voters compared to the lead President Biden had with the group this spring.
RAMAKRISHNAN: What it looks like now is that Asian American and Pacific Islander voters are poised to play a critical role in several states and likely in a way that benefits the Harris campaign.
ORDOÑEZ: If elected, Harris would be the country's first Asian American president, as well as the first woman and first Black woman. This month, she released an ad talking about her mother and her upbringing in an immigrant family.
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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: My mother was a brilliant, 5-foot-tall brown woman with an accent, and it was mostly my mother who raised us.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, Republicans are not going to win the majority of the Asian vote, but political strategists in Nevada, like Helder Toste, say they can make a difference.
HELDER TOSTE: The Asian American Chamber of Commerce that's in Las Vegas is incredibly powerful, very influential. One of the biggest deciding factors, I think, of the 2022 election is that they did not endorse Sisolak.
ORDOÑEZ: He's talking about former Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat. The Chamber instead endorsed the Republican candidate, Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who went on to win the election.
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ORDOÑEZ: Back at the restaurant, Magat proudly displays one of their most indulgent items, French toast infused with ube, a purple yam often seen in Filipino cooking. She's all in for Harris and says with an Asian American woman at the top of the ticket, it's a great time for the community to make their voices heard.
MAGAT: We're no longer satisfied in just being on the sidelines and hoping one day that we're going to be recognized. The only time that you can be recognized or be heard is by talking, by being up front and center.
ORDOÑEZ: Franco Ordoñez, NPR News, Las Vegas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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