The ASPIRE PAC (short for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Rising and Empowering Political Action Committee), formerly known as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Leadership PAC (CAPAC Leadership PAC), is a United States political action committee established in 2011 by Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27). The PAC focuses its efforts on supporting candidates of

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

and Pacific Islander (AAPI) descent and those that support and promote the issues of the AAPI community. The CAPAC Leadership PAC offers a voice for the AAPI community and encourages active participation in the U.S. political process. Through its support, the PAC welcomed six newly elected AAPI Members of Congress in the

2012 Elections The following elections occurred in the year 2012. International * 2012 United Nations Security Council election Africa Egypt * 2012 Egyptian presidential election Mali * 2012 Malian presidential election * 2012 Malian parliamentary electio ...

: Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (HI), Rep. Ami Bera (CA-07), Rep. Tammy Duckworth (IL-08), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06) and Rep. Mark Takano (CA-41). In the

2014 Elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

, the PAC supported and welcomed new members Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33) and Rep. Mark Takai (HI-01). Today, there are 14 AAPI Members of Congress. In April 2016, Congresswoman Grace Meng was elected as PAC Chair, succeeding PAC founder Congresswoman Judy Chu. Chu became Immediate Past PAC Chair and continued her duties as Chair of the

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is a caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI), and who have a strong interest in advocating and promoting issues and ...

, the official Congressional caucus.

Board members

* Chair: Congresswoman Grace Meng (D) (

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

–

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

) * Immediate Past Chair: Congresswoman Judy Chu (D) ( California– 27th) * Vice-Chair: Congressman Mike Honda (D) ( California–

17th 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...

) * Senator

Mazie K. Hirono Mazie Keiko Hirono (; Japanese name: , ; born November 3, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii since 2013. A member of the ...

(D) ( Hawaii) * Congresswoman

Madeleine Bordallo Madeleine Mary Zeien Bordallo (; born May 31, 1933) is an American-Guamanian politician who served as the delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2019. She is the first woman ever to serve as Guam's ...

(D) ( Guam– Delegate) * Congressman Ami Bera (D) ( California–

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

) * Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D) ( Illinois–

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

) * Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D) ( California–

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

) * Congressman Ted Lieu (D) ( California– 33rd) * Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui (D) ( California–

) * Congressman Jerry McNerney (D) ( California–

) * Congressman

Gregorio Sablan Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (born January 19, 1955) is a Northern Mariana Islander politician and former election commissioner. Elected in 2008, Sablan became the first delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Commonwe ...

(I) ( Northern Mariana Islands– Delegate) * Congresswoman

Grace Napolitano Graciela Flores "Grace" Napolitano (; born December 4, 1936) is an American Democratic Party politician who has represented California's San Gabriel Valley and other parts of Los Angeles County in the United States House of Representatives sin ...

(D) ( California– 32nd) * Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D) ( California– 40th) * Congressman Mark Takai (D) ( Hawaii– 1st) * Congressman

Mark Takano Mark Allan Takano ( ; born December 10, 1960) is an American politician and academic who has been the United States representative for California's 41st congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Takano became the first ...

(D) ( California– 41st)

List of chairs

* Congresswoman Judy Chu (D) ( California– 27th), 2011–16 * Congresswoman Grace Meng (D) (

–

), 2016–Present

2016 endorsed candidates

* Hillary Clinton for President of the United States * Tammy Duckworth for Senate (IL) * Chris Van Hollen for Senate (MD) * Ami Bera for Congress (CA-07) * Mike Honda for Congress (CA-17) * Pramila Jayapal for Congress (WA-07) * Raja Krishnamoorthi for Congress (IL-08) *

for Congress (CA-32) * Scott Peters for Congress (CA-52)

2020 endorsed candidates

* Pritesh Gandhi for Congress (TX-10) * Jackie Gordon for Congress (NY-02) *

Gina Ortiz Jones Gina Maria Ortiz Jones (born February 1, 1981) is an American intelligence officer and politician. She was confirmed as President Biden's Under Secretary of the Air Force by the Senate on July 22, 2021. The 2018 Democratic nominee for Texas ...

for Congress (TX-23) *

Kai Kahele Kaialiʻi Kahele (born March 28, 1974) is an American politician, educator, and commercial pilot serving as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district. From 2016 to 2020, he served in the Hawaii Senate from the 1st district. ...

for Congress (HI-02) * Sri Preston Kulkarni for Congress (TX-22) * Hiral Tipirneni for Congress (AZ-06) *

Candace Valenzuela Candace Valenzuela (born 1984) is an American politician from the state of Texas. She is a regional administrator for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Valenzuela was the Democratic nominee for in the 2020 election ...

for Congress (TX-24) *Sima Ladjevardian for Congress (TX-02)

References

External links