Washington Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who has served as the head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus for more than a dozen years, will be replaced on Wednesday by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., Chu told NBC News Tuesday night.
Meng, who has been a member of Congress since 2013, is running unopposed to succeed Chu as CAPAC’s chair. Later on Wednesday, there will be an internal election.
Meng serves as CAPAC’s “first vice chair, so basically she has been put in a position to be able to take over, and I think she’ll do a great job,” Chu stated.
Among the three minority caucuses, which also include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, CAPAC is the smallest. However, it has been a significant voice on topics like immigration reform, encouraging language access in government services for those with little English proficiency, and fighting xenophobia and anti-Asian hate acts, which increased during the pandemic.
CAPAC has no term limitations, but the CBC and CHC leaders normally switch positions every two years. The caucus has been led by Chu, the first Chinese American woman to serve in Congress and the former three-time mayor of Monterey Park, since 2011.
Chu stated that as more members are now seeking leadership positions, CAPAC members will soon decide whether to set term limitations of up to four years for future chairmen.
In his capacity as chair, Chu, 71, led the House in approving a resolution expressing regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited Chinese nationals from obtaining U.S. citizenship or emigrating to the country.
Additionally, CAPAC grew and made progress in electing its members to positions of leadership under Chu’s direction. The House Veterans Affairs Committee elected Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, as its chairman and ranking member. Additionally, in 2022, Rep. Ted Lieu, a member of CAPAC from southern California, was elected vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, making him the first Asian American elected to leadership of the House.
Since arriving in Washington, Chu has observed that the proportion of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Congress has increased.
“There were nine AANHPI CAPAC members there when I arrived. “With our additions, we’ll have 25 as of this election, so this is a major accomplishment,” Chu remarked shortly after leaving the House floor. “And I would say that we have fought to to to be visible and to be to be part of the leadership of this Democratic caucus, and we have accomplished that.”
Meng, 49, is a close associate of fellow New York Democrat and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. After becoming the first Asian American member of Congress from New York, she went on to hold a prominent position at the Democratic National Committee.
As one of CAPAC’s organizers, Meng wrote legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law, establishing a committee to investigate the viability of a national museum that would honor the accomplishments, history, and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
Additionally, Meng’s “COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act,” which Biden signed into law, attempted to counteract an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and occurrences that became common during the pandemic.
Meng and Chu collaborated on those laws. “We have been able to combat the racial profiling issues that were brought about by the China Initiative and this anti-China rhetoric,” Chu said.
“We, of course, want to ensure the security of the United States, but what we do not want is to have that at the cost of the civil rights of Asian Americans, and that is what we were seeing.”
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