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[Slayven]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-a...ing-asian-americans-pacific-islanders-n703261

From a record number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in Congress to the first Indian-American women elected to the Senate and House of Representatives, the swearing in of the 115th Congress Tuesday represents a number of history-making firsts for the AAPI community:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is the first Thai American elected to the Senate and the first Asian-American senator elected from the state of Illinois. Prior to her election, she was also the first Asian-American House representative from the state

Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) is the first Vietnamese-American woman to be elected to Congress and only the second Vietnamese American, following former Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.). She is also the first Asian-American representative from Florida.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is the first Indian-American woman elected to the House of Representatives as well as the first Asian-American representative from Washington.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is the first Indian-American woman elected to the Senate.

Including Harris, there are four women of color in the Senate, an all-time high. Of those four, three are AAPI — Harris, Duckworth, and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hi.).

In addition to Jayapal and Harris, there are three other Indian-American members of Congress — Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) — for a total of five, a record high for the Indian-American community.

In total, there are 18 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the 115th Congress, an all-time record, up from the prior high of 14 AAPI members in the 114th Congress, according to the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

 

[Barzul]

Is Tammy the first Asian senator outside of Hawaii?

 

[BronsonLee]

Soon I will have it.

Complete
Global
Power

 

[Ryuukan]

Soon I will have it.

Complete
Global
Power

dont violate your parole again

 

[hodayathink]

Is Tammy the first Asian senator outside of Hawaii?

Wouldn't Kamala count for that too?

 

[Skellig Gra]

Nice to see some progress even if its small.

 

[Barzul]

Wouldn't Kamala count for that too?

Yeah she would. Trying to figure out if this is a first for the continental U.S.

 

[Slayven]

Is Tammy the first Asian senator outside of Hawaii?

No that was Hiram Fong in 1959

 

[Ithil]

To no one's surprise, all D.

 

[hodayathink]

To no one's surprise, all D.

If Jindal wasn't a complete fuck-up and had aimed for lower than president, he probably could have been a senator right now.

 

[Barzul]

No that was Hiram Fong in 1959

He's from Hawaii....

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Good. The more diverse our government the better we'll be.

Let the reign of old straight white Christian males be over.