Candidates running for supervisor in District 9 have long focused on its Latinx voters in the stronghold that is the Mission, the district’s most populous neighborhood.
But this year, they are also making an unprecedented effort to court another voting bloc: Chinese residents, a long-overlooked electorate that includes some 4,000 voters, many of whom live in the Portola.
All three leading candidates — Jackie Fielder, Trevor Chandler, and Roberto Hernandez — have won endorsements from Chinese organizations. They all have Chinese names, photos with Chinese grandmas, and lead volunteer teams of monolingual Cantonese-speaking aunties to phone bank or knock on doors. At least two of them have sat — and lost games — at mahjong tables.
The Portola, a small community tucked below the arm formed by Highway 280 arching into Highway 101, is one of the largest Asian neighborhoods in the city; 53.2 percent of its residents are Asian.
They’re generally Cantonese-speaking and come from working-class, multigenerational Chinese American households that live in what Feng Han, Fielder’s campaign manager, described as “a neglected part of District 9.”
Jon Wu, Hernandez’s campaign consultant focused on Chinese voters, echoed Han. “The problem with District 9 is that everyone thinks about Mission, everyone thinks about Bernal. But the Portola rarely comes up in conversation,” he said.
In addition to concerns about public safety, which are shared by Chinese voters around the city, Portola’s residents care about opportunities for their children, Han said. Residents who rent a three-bedroom house with four family members want to know how to protect their kids from getting priced out of their homes.
Fielder’s more progressive platform doesn’t seem an impediment when courting Chinese voters, who are known for being relatively conservative in recent elections. The working-class residents of the Portola, many of whom built lives as city workers, cleaners or hotel custodians, are open to her message, he said.
“A lot of [Fielder’s] platforms are focused on working-class people; that goes beyond ethnic lines,” said Han, who is originally from Singapore and learned enough Cantonese to say “vote” on the campaign trail (Cantonese he learned from his mother, he said).
Moreover, Fielder is endorsed by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who represents Chinatown, and the Community Tenants Association, a grassroots Chinese tenants group headquartered in Chinatown. Her campaign enjoys hosting a couple of older, Cantonese-speaking Community Tenants Assocation volunteers, phone-banking from Peskin’s office.
Similarly, Hernandez has Wu, who is a mutual family friend. “My mom is a good friend of Roberto’s family,” Wu told Wind Newspaper — and now, that friend is leading a door-knocking troop whose members are mostly over 50 and often retired Chinese aunties.
The Chinese homeowners in the Portola do understand English, but not at a conversational level, according to Wu. Before he came on board, households turned away the campaign’s outreach workers with a polite but firm “Bye.”
Wu is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. “Now that I’m able to speak their language,” he said. “They’re willing to stand in front of the door and talk to us, listen to Roberto’s story and then tell us their concern, what they’re experiencing in the district.”
“A number of Chinese voters actually never heard of [Hernandez] because they haven’t been to Carnaval SF, Roberto’s main legacy, and Roberto [rarely] showed up on Chinese media,” Wu said.
The addition of Wu changed all that.
Wu, 38, is a first-generation immigrant who was born in Guangzhou, China. He went to Balboa High School, lived in District 9 for more than 15 years, benefited from affordable housing in San Francisco, and worked in financial services. His joining Hernandez’ campaign brought the team a story in Wind Newspaper.
Hernandez has a track record of forming coalitions between Latinx and Asian communities, dating back to the 1980s, when he supported the late Chinese power broker Rose Pak to elect Art Agnos mayor. Today, Wu believes Hernandez’s campaign aligns with Portola Chinese voters on affordable housing and family values. Hernandez, who has seven kids and is about to welcome his third great-grandchild, is an embodiment of family values, Wu said.
Wu also tries to reach Chinese voter groups that are more neglected than the Portola — monolingual Chinese-speaking seniors living in Mission senior housing.
The seniors, some immobile with caretakers, “don’t pay attention to politics. Even though they are voters, they’ve never even bothered to vote,” said Wu. They mostly speak Taishanese, a niche Chinese dialect. In this strange society, “they feel they don’t have a voice.”
Like many others, however, they want safe, clean streets and punctual buses. With the complicated ranked-choice voting, however, even if they decide to vote, “some of their ballots may end up ineligible or qualified,” said Wu.
Wu is not allowed to enter the buildings, but with his language skills and a similar background, he’s able to talk to the seniors as they sunbathe, smoke and kill their time in front of the buildings. Wu hopes he can encourage the seniors, who’ve never been reached by any campaigns before, to cast their first votes — for Hernandez or any candidate — in November.
Chandler’s campaign declined multiple interview requests from Mission Local. In an email statement, he wrote “Asian voters make up almost 50% of D9 voters, but their concerns have been consistently ignored by City Hall. I’m proud to have run a campaign that listens to and represents all of D9’s diverse communities.”
“When knocking doors in the Portola, I am joined by a translator who can ensure I can hear the concerns of every family in the district, including monolingual ones,” Chandler added.
Moreover, like the others, Chandler’s schedule has been full of Asian events: In September, he “fed the lion for good luck” at the Portola Autumn Moon Festival; in June, he was surrounded by aunties in fine dancing costumes at a banquet by the SF Shanghai Association, which is based in the Portola; in April, he attended community group Dear Community’s Dancing Dragon Gala at Imperial Garden Seafood Restaurant on San Bruno Ave.
With the election only about 10 days away, the candidates’ every effort will make a difference.
“This election will be very close,” said Han, Fielder’s field director. “Every vote counts.”
I got handed a voter pamphlet in 3 languages. Why aren’t “progressives” translating their mailers?