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A Few Surprises in Immigration-Related Races

Amy Crawford — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:07:51 +0000

Here’s a run-down of the races we were watching. In some, the immigration issue played a role—or failed to; in others, immigrant voters’ voices were heard. More details to come later on some of the major stories. (All results from NYTimes.com, unless linked elsewhere.)

Texas 22: Republican Pete Olson beat Democratic incumbent Rep. Nick Lampson, 52% to 45%. Which way did South Asians swing?
Pennsylvania 11: Democratic incumbent Rep. Paul Kanjorski beat Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, 52% to 48% despite polls showing Barletta with a lead throughout the fall. Is immigration no longer an issue for economically struggling Pennsylvanians?
Pennsylvania 10: Democrat Chris Carney beat Republican Chris Hackett, who was expected to benefit from Lou Barletta’s popularity. In the end, the race wasn’t even close—56% to 44%.
Florida 21: Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart won handily 58% to 42%, despite predictions that a new generation of Latinos would turn out for his opponent, Democrat Raul Martinez.
Florida 25: Lincoln’s little brother Mario Diaz-Balart beat Democrat Joe Garcia, 53% to 47%.
Virginia 11: Gerry Connolly (D) beat Keith Fimian (R) 53% to 45% in this D.C. suburb. How did Asian and Latino immigrants vote?
North Carolina Senate: Once comfortable Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) got crushed 52% to 44% by Democrat Kay Hagan. This state has attracted large numbers of immigrants since the last election, and it went narrowly to Obama in the presidential race.
Arizona State Senate, District 18: State. Rep. Russell Pearce (R), beat Judah Nativio (D) in this mostly Republican senate district. Pearce, the hardest of immigration hardliners, is positioned to become the next Tom Tancredo.
Arizona Proposition 202 failed, 41% to 59%. This initiative, which would have prohibited anonymous complaints against businesses that employed illegal immigrants, was deemed a trick by anti-immigration activists.
Oregon Ballot Measure 58, to limit ESL classes, failed 45% to 55%.
Missouri Constitutional Amendment 1, to make English the official language, passed overwhelmingly, 86% to 14%.

Races We’re Watching: Part 1

Amy Crawford — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:29:38 +0000

Two days before the election, the immigration issue and/or immigrant voters are playing a big role in a handful of Congressional races. Here’s what we’re watching:

Texas 22: Democrat Nick Lampson hopes to fend off a challenge from Republican Pete Olson with the help of South Asian voters. A Zogby poll has the Republican substantially ahead, but without any other polls to back it up, it would be unwise to accept it at face value. Still, this has been a Republican district for a long time.
Pennsylvania 11: Republican Lou Barletta is poised to topple long-time incumbent Paul Kanjorski, who has faced ethics challenges and anti-incumbent feelings in this blue-collar district. Barletta, made famous by his crusade against illegal immigration, is up by a handful of points.
Pennsylvania 10: Democrat Chris Carney is locked in a tight battle with Republican Chris Hackett, who is tapping into regional support for Lou Barletta. Hackett has expressed strong opposition to illegal immigration and won the endorsement of anti-immigration groups. Two local polls show him with a substantial lead in this long-time Republican district.
Florida 21: Polls are split between Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Democrat Raul Martinez in this tight, nasty race. We are expecting a new generation of Cubans and voters from Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela to make this close in a district that has been dominated by conservative Cubans.
Florida 25: Lincoln’s little brother Mario Diaz-Balart is slightly ahead of Democrat Joe Garcia, though Real Clear Politics calls the race a toss-up. The dynamic is similar to that of Florida’s 21st.
Virginia 11: Keith Fimian (R) and Gerry Connolly (D) vie to replace popular moderate Republican Rep. Tom Davis. The Northern Virginia district has been trending blue in recent years, thanks in part to large populations of Asian and Latino immigrants.

Weekly Immigration News Round-Up 10/18

Amy Crawford — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:25:14 +0000

A Eureka, Calif. newspaper takes a look at immigration in the national election. Where do the candidates stand? Pretty close together.
Paul Kanjorski and Nick Lampson, two of the endangered Democratic Congressman that News 21 looked at this summer, might get a boost from the financial crisis. A new poll shows Kanjorski catching up to illegal immigration mayor Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania’s 11th district.
How many years of English classes should immigrant children get in public schools? Oregonians will vote on a referendum that would limit ESL classes to two years.
The Postville, Iowa, raid cost the federal government $5,211,092, or “$13,396 for each of the 389 illegal immigrants taken into custody,” the AP reports.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., raided Mesa’s city hall and public library in search of illegal immigrants who might have been working as janitors. Three people were arrested, and city officials are expressing their outrage over Arpaio’s failure to notify them.

Real Clear Politics Lists Top House Races

Amy Crawford — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:14:29 +0000

Several of the congressional races News 21 has been following are on a new ranked list of 50 House races to watch. In some of these districts, immigration is an issue; in others, immigrant voters may tilt the election.

6. Texas 22 – Republican Pete Olson challenges Democrat Nick Lampson, who won this very Republican district in 2006 because of backlash against former Rep. Tom Delay. Perhaps Lampson’s last hope, a large South Asian population might save him.
11. Pennsylvania 11 – Democrat Paul Kanjorski faces Mayor Lou Barletta, whom Real Clear Politics calls a “near-celebrity.” Barletta earned that status by crusading against illegal immigration.
16. Pennsylvania 10 – Democratic incumbent Chris Carney defeated his Republican predecessor, Don Sherwood, in 2006 after Sherwood’s mistress accused him of trying to choke her. Carney is facing a stronger opponent this time in Chris Hackett. Tapping into regional support for Lou Barletta, Hackett has expressed strong opposition to illegal immigration.
36. Florida 25 – Republican Mario Diaz-Balart is in the first challenging race of his House career, against Democrat Joe Garcia. The race hinges on whether a new, more liberal generation of Cubans and voters from Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela outvote traditionally conservative older Cubans.
49. Florida 21 – Mario’s brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart is attempting to fend off Democrat Raul Martinez in a tight, nasty race. His situation is similar to Mario’s, though his district is more Republican.

Check out the list yourselves—are there any races that I missed? (Part 1, Part 2)

Weekly Immigration News Round-Up, 9/20

Amy Crawford — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:10:10 +0000

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a San Francisco home earlier this month, they arrested all of the adults and may have left a 15-year-old child to fend for herself. Now, San Francisco officials are expressing outrage over the situation.
England, which has its own immigration controversies, also has immigration raids, though not on the same scale as those in the U.S. The U.K.’s Border and Immigration Office raided a car wash and arrested six suspected illegal immigrants last week. In a subsequent raid, three Bangladeshi men were arrested at a restaurant.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the ACLU filed suit against Farmers Branch, Tex. last week, hoping to overturn its newest anti-immigration ordinance. This is the third such suit to be filed since the city announced that it would enact the new law. Meanwhile, Farmers Branch has spent nearly $1 million defending itself in court and will have to raid its reserve funds to pay this year’s bills.
Hurricane Ike may have disrupted the Congressional race in Sugar Land, Tex., where Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson faces a challenge from Republican Pete Olson. The damage in Sugar Land, where a large South Asian community has built up political power, was widespread but not devastating.

Weekly Immigration News Round-Up, August 18

Amy Crawford — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:22:10 +0000

A Chinese immigrant died of cancer in a detention facility after authorities ignored his excruciating pain for months.
More immigration raids: ICE arrests 42 suspected illegal immigrants working at Dulles Airport in suburban Washington, D.C. and 57 at a parachute plant in Asheville, N.C.
Deportations are up 40 percent in the Pacific Northwest, due to the ICE’s new “Criminal Alien Program,” which targets illegal immigrants with criminal records.
Update on the Lampson-Olson race in Tom Delay’s old Texas district: the Star-Telegram quotes Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman: “I think [Nick Lampson]’s the most endangered Democratic incumbent in the country.” More bad news for the Democrat comes from the U.S. Chamber of Congress, which is endorsing Republican Pete Olson.
A News 21 report says South Asians are an important constituency here.
Young Asian Americans are increasingly getting involved in the presidential race. See News 21’s earlier report for how they might vote.
Republican Lou Barletta, the immigration hard-liner running against Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA22) can now afford TV ads. Until now, he’s only advertised on YouTube. For News 21’s take, check out “The Mayor Who Cried Whoa.”

Sugar Land Tells Story of South Asian Rise

jmaher — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:28:38 +0000

Residents of Sugar Land, Texas, know they have something special. Considered the fittest and the safest city in Texas, it’s also a symbol of the increasing diversity within the Lone Star State. Its population is composed of almost equal quarters of Hispanics, blacks, whites and Asians.

Sugar Land’s South Asians, in particular, are the focus of an extensive report on News21. They’re a small but significant number, about 9,000 in the city and 35,000 in the wider congressional district (Texas 22nd). Many first arrived from India and Pakistan in the 1960s and 1970s to meet the needs of the growing energy and aerospace industries. Today this vibrant and prosperous community wants political currency and has begun to make the necessary steps to acquire it.

In these same Houston suburbs, Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson is campaigning for reelection. Even though he is the incumbent, some still consider him a dark horse: a Democrat in a bastion of Republicanism. He’s in search of a new enduring majority and is keenly aware of the budding South Asian voting bloc.

Thus Sugar Land offers a fascinating study of how politicians are taking notice of a community (or rather a constituency) of new Americans and are practicing the fine art of outreach. The same story is also playing out on the national scene, where federal campaigns have been utilizing South Asian networks for fund-raising since the early nineties.

Our News21 package, Cowboys and Indians, begins with an examination of how the South Asian constituency is changing the conventional wisdom on the upcoming congressional race in TX-22. An accompanying video feature analyzes Lampson’s outreach strategy to the South Asians in his district, as compared to that of Republican rival Pete Olson. Next, an interactive element presents video profiles of some prominent South Asians, and serves as a study of the motivations and challenges of first-generation civic leaders. There’s also a “Then and Now” photo slideshow of Sugar Land, depicting its changing demographics, economy and political scene. Finally, a detailed interactive map/infographic provides the reader with the geography of South Asians in the country as well as some national data on their rising economic and political power.

Sugar Land is a small city but what’s happening there reflects the vaster political emergence of new Americans. Thanks to all those who helped us tell its story. Keep an eye out with us to see how this story will play out in the coming months of this election year.