>> next up for c-span's coverage for the summers political party conventions, we had to chicago for the democratic national convention. watch live all this week as the parties put forth presidential nominees. here leaders talk about the administration's record and vision for the next four years. live all this week on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. visit our website for the latest, and if you are full coverage of the republican national convention. you can also catch up on past conventions anytime on demand at c-span.org/campaign, or by scanning the code. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television

companies and more, including wow. >> the world has changed. today, a fast, reliable internet connection is something no one can live without. so wow is there for our customers, with speed, reliability, value, and choice. now more than ever, it all starts with great internet. wow. >> wow supports c-span as a public service, along with these other tevision providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> this is not our usual studio location, we are live in chicago, this is the side of our -- site of the democratic national convention. our guests join us, the chair and founder of the aapi victory fund. thank you for joining us. >> glad to be here. pedro: those not aware of your

work, what is the fund and what do you do? >> good question. very simply, in 2015, we went into the general election with hillary clinton, knowing the asian american, native hawaiian and pacific islander vote is the largest growing vote in america. we have the largest ethnic group. if you look at the data and 2016, 49% of aapi registered voters actually voted. actually voted. 65% of americans as a whole voted. so we were voting 16% less -- more than any other single ethnic community in the united states. we have very high-level education, good levels of income, the most first-generation immigrants.

it did not make any sense that our community was not participating in the electoral process. we were created with the sole purpose of driving the asian american pacific islander vote -- educating folks, teaching them and talking about issues, making sure that we participated fully in american electoral politics. in 2020, you should know that percentage went up 15%, to 62%, while americans as a whole voted at 68%. we increased our vote in states like georgia, arizona, michigan, pennsylvania -- by the largest percentage that any ethnic group has ever increased in four years. drive the vote. educate folks. get them involved in the process. and yes, create a bench of leaders that looks like the communities that they represent.

i am proud to say also that we have had a fivefold increase in the number of people in state and local offices, mayoral offices, who look like our community in all its wonderful manifestations. host: do you have a sense of how things have changed with support this year because of the addition of vice president harris to the ticket, or she being the head of the ticket? guest: yes, my skin actually crawls every time somebody says something like president kamala harris, and the reason it does is that we view her as one of us. she has many identities, and the most important identity she has is that she is an american. what within that, like all of us, we have this multitude of ethnicities and relationships, so she is -- her mother was from chennai, india. she identifies as someone who

understands culture from south asia, from asian america. we have adopted her. she is one of us. of course she is black. she was brought up black and her father was jamaican. and of course she lived in a community that had all these ethnicities and this diversity in oakland, california. people don't lose their heritage and their identity just because they become american. they carry all that with them. our communities have been so energized by the fact that she is now the top of the ticket. it is even more than that. it is fundamentally because we see a chance to make history here in america. we see a chance to create an america that looks like us, that excepts us, that we are part of, and we are part of the story of the country, and bring in prosperity. what she represents is not just the ethnicity. it is not just the fact that she may understand us, and the fact that she is a first generation immigrant.

it is for value systems, her belief system, and what she has done in her prior life. that proves to us that she is worth fighting for, and worth really getting out there and beating the doors down and getting people to vote for her. host: when you talk to those that you are trying to attract to support the vice president and get to the polls, what issues are top of the list for that voting block? guest: it is very interesting, but frankly the top five issues are all american issues. it is just the order of the issues. i think, for example, in our communities, when we have done polling, number one issue is the economy, which is the number one issue for almost every american. for the top 1%, it is a lesser issue. you are not worrying about putting food on the table, building a small business, hiring workers. the opportunity set that comes with having access to capital.

our community is no different. i think that economy is number one, but number two is family and education. i think we care deeply about education. and by the way, i think aapi community is very diverse. 38 countries, 108 linkages. it is as diverse as the rest of america is. the fact that we are lumped together in the senses as one group, if you will, makes it -- it energizes us. today, we have 25 million people who identify as asian american, native hawaiian, pacific islander. 15 million voters. pedro, that is one point 5 million more than in 2020. we already have 700,000 new workers in the seven battleground states. these are the people we are asking about issues. we just go down the list -- immigration. why is immigration important to asian-americans, to native

hawaiians, pacific islanders? because of several reasons. one of the largest -- and it may sound surprising -- groups that is coming over the border that does not necessarily have documentation are in fact indians and chinese. so this is not just a problem in certain parts of the world. it is across the world. people are looking for legal paths to immigration to this country, and our system is broken. we have a system which right now would require somebody who entered this country, and they worked and had a work visa -- it would take 18 to 20 years, even if they follow the process to a t, in order to get immigration status and a green card. and then another five years plus to get citizenship. the bottom line is if you have a system that does not work and it does not promote people following the pathway, then whether they are an asylum seeker, looking for economic opportunity -- people would

choose alternatives that are not desirable. we have to fix that system. our community believes in family reunification, and high skilled visas, and the opportunities of america. create a system that works, and they will abide bthe top fourth. if you take the top five issues in america, we are the same. we just have a slightly different order. host: if you want to ask questions, you can do so on the lines. (202) 748-2001 four republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independence. if you want to text questions, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. how much is your fundraising? guest: we spend about 30% of our time, unfortunately, fundraising

, raising money for candidates, for campaigns we are running in education. we speak in multiple languages both in social media as well as using influencers. a lot of the time is spent doing that. it is by no means the majority of our time. the majority of our time is doing town halls with our community, bringing elected leaders to listen to our community, first listening and then responding to their concerns -- whether it is capital access for small business or it is having access to a high-quality education at an affordable cost, or health care. our job is education and enabling our community to participate, and encouraging those in our community who want to run for office to get the financial and campaign support. host: i ask that because you are quoted in a usa today story -- this is before president biden decided to step out of the race. it said people who made money like you were concerned about

his ability to we have him, and there were influential donors that are a large factor in the president leaving the race. how did you respond to that? guest: the first thing we said was that we appreciate and care deeply about the president, and the fact that it was his decision. however, after the debate on june 27, it became clear that there was an opportunity here just as much as there was a challenge. we did not want to spend the next three and a half months just talking about the fact that he was able or not able. we want to talk about our policies, our hopes for the future, and about donald trump. at that moment, i felt that the amnesia that many of the electorate have about donald trump -- that they had forgotten what the four years was like, waking up every morning in a cold sweat, wondering what was going to happen next. we felt that the focus had to shift back to a campaign that

was positive and also brought out the contrast. and i thought after the debate there was a reason for concern. we would have stuck with him. we did until he made the decision that it was time for him to pass the torch, and he did in as graceful and as wonderful and courageous and patriotic a manner as any american president ever has. the bottom line is we now have the race that we all wished for. it is a race about hope and opportunity and growth, and it is also a race about the fact that this offers a lot for people in our communities, and we do not want to go back and have to relive another four years that will be even more ominous if he comes back into power. host: the harris/walz campaign released ads targeting the asian pacific islander community. it is airing monday. it criticizes nominee donald trump using language from the

height of the pandemic like "kung flu" and says that language promotes xenophobia. what do you think about that approach? guest: the approach is right arm. after the attacks by the president, which he may not have necessarily seen, president trump, as attacking the asian american community and people who look different -- those attacks and the labeling exacerbated a problem that already existed. there is racism in america. don't think anybody would deny that. the question was, is it normalized? is it allowed to become legitimate, for you to stand up in the street and you see somebody who does not look like you, and you spit at them because you feel somehow that you are entitled and they are not? the spike in hate crimes against asians -- this is a 400% increase in hate crimes in the

two years that donald trump kept talking about the chinese virus and the kung flu virus. the truth of the fact is you don't know who is chinese. it could be a thai person, a nepali. as i think you know, pedro, the first person who was killed in america, literally murdered, after 9/11 was a sikh with a turban filling gas at a petrol pump in arizona. why would somebody kill somebody with a turban from america, who was quite american? because they had been fueled by hate and ignorance -- and they go together. we have been very concerned about the language that politicians use. we think that words have meaning. they have to bring about justice and they have to bring about hope.

they cannot simply bring about fear and anger and passion. that is inadequate. and we don't think that donald trump behaves well. his words and his language and actions seem to demonstrate that. bottom line, we are not going to allow you to come back into the white house. host: shekar is from the aapi victory fund. first call with our guest -- go ahead. caller: my question is about -- or i want to make a comment regarding what is going on with this project 25. i think that the democrats really need to delve more into that, more detail on it. from what i understand, they want to privatize the office, medicare. they want to privatize the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. they want to fire all government

employees. they want to put in sycophants. they want to institute a national abortion ban. they need to get into the detail on this and need to make americans aware of what this would look like in eight administration. -- in a trump administration. this is very concerning. we also need to look at the sneaky things that trump is doing right now. this is alleged. right now, he is talking to benjamin netanyahu about avoiding a cease-fire deal with israel, the war in gaza. things like this need to be more talked about. host: we will let our guest respond. go ahead, sir. guest: sure, pedro. thank you, christine, for the question. number one, i agree with you that we need to make sure that people know what is in that 900 page manifesto called project 2025. it has a lot of stuff in it.

sometimes, i have been told -- my father used to always say that what a person says and puts out there is something you should believe they will actually do. if you read that manifesto, it changes america. it takes us back to an era that we don't want to go back to. it not only would dismantle the department of education, allow the firing of civil workers who are not "obedient" -- it would take away all of women's reproductive choice rights. in fact, it would destroy even the market system. it asks for the privatization of an agency by the way people don't know about that would eliminate this 30 year fixed rate mortgage, the bedrock of american homeownership. these are the things we have to highlight. i promise you that the agenda we have to educate folks -- the fact that donald trump and his

cohort, 180 of the people from his prior administration helped write that. it is run by a person who is being rumored to become his chief of staff. he can't disassociate. the fact that he tells untruths -- sometimes, you can call them outright lies. the fact that he does exaggerate -- there is a manifesto today. it is a scratched record of four years of greed and corruption. let's look the facts. let's make very sure that everybody knows that project to 25 is in fact manifesto for the first hundred days of a trump administration, and the impact it would have on people's lives. it is not a future that we want as americans. it is not a future that we should work for. host: independent line in florida.

judy, hello. caller: first, i want to thank you so much because watching c-span the whole night last night -- there is no interruptions. to watch the whole thing last night was with such warmth and class. when i watched trump, it is cold and it is trash. trump just wants to call people names and wants big crowds. but to see how jill biden talked in her speech, and how she introduced -- so proud of her husband, president biden -- and to see how joe spoke about kamala, and the warmth there -- just warmth all over the crowd.

host: got your point, judy. thank you. our guest is a delegate at the dnc and a member of the convention credentials committee. can you respond to what the caller said? guest: judy said it so well that i don't want to have to repeat anything except that i was on the floor, in the virginia delegation, and watching the energy. let me just say it was not just rockets. it was not just that people were electrified. there was a lot of love in that room. people genuinely care about each other. i think when president obama talked about the fact that we want to go back to an america where we care about our neighbors, we care about our elders, we care about the future for our children, and we care about the future for our children -- i think you know the

definition of democracy is that as citizens we have to care about people we don't know, who have less fortune than we do, and lift them up. that is the definition of democracy. if you want to be a democrat, that is what you should stand for. i feel like the hope, the joy, and the love in that room was palpable. i hope you could feel it across the screen, judy, and all your listeners. it was real. it was not artificial. this is authentic. we can make this happen, america. we can change the trajectory again. we can build something for >> c-span's washington journal, our live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics and public policy. from washington, d.c. to across the country. thursday morning, a preview of day four of the democratic national convention with an

opinion columnist from the washington post, and a talk about vice president harris's vice presidential nomination and the importance of her speech tomorrow night. we will look back on kamala harris's career in california. and we will discuss campaign 2024 and how black women are rallying behind vice president harris. washington journal, when the conversation live thursday morning on c-span, ceased on now -- c-span now or online at c-span.org. ♪

>> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a publiservice along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> next, c-span is live from chicago for the third day of the 2024 democratic national convention. the next hour we will hear from party officials and political observers as we preview tonight's speakers and events, and we will take your calls live on the convention and this year's presidential election. at 6:30 eastern, live coverage of the convention with former president bill clinton and minnesota governor tim walz accepting the vice presidential nomination. then we will recap the day, talk to delegates and take your calls. ♪