Taiwan-born New York State Senator Iwen Chu, the first Asian woman to be elected to the office, says the U.S. is ready to elect its first woman president. Hopes are high in New York for the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to win the tight race for the White House against Republican rival Donald Trump.
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00:00New York State Senator Yuen Chiu is feeling hopeful about the upcoming U.S. elections.
00:06An immigrant from Taiwan, the former journalist is the first Asian-American woman elected
00:12to the over 200-year-old state Senate, and she believes the U.S.'s reputation as the
00:18leader of the free world needs a Kamala Harris win.
00:22Absolutely, about time for us to elect a woman president.
00:27She's not going to just become a leader of the United States.
00:32She's a leader of the world.
00:34And that's a value we need to share with the whole world.
00:37How we protect our democracy, how we amplify the freedom.
00:42Chiu represents predominantly immigrant neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
00:46And the beauty of the community, she says, comes from its diversity.
00:49It's the center of the universe.
00:52Center of the universe.
00:53That's how I introduce it.
00:54This is the center of the universe.
00:55I represent Brooklyn.
00:57But diversity and immigration are points of contention in these elections.
01:02And with most Americans perceiving the country's politics as divisive and polarized, many are
01:08looking to the next president of the United States to close that gap.
01:14Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has vowed to be that leader, vowing compassion
01:20and understanding against Republican candidate Donald Trump's rhetoric of fear and hate.
01:26We are not going back.
01:28We are not going back.
01:33The California-born daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, the 60-year-old Harris
01:38has broken barrier after barrier.
01:41She went from serving as California attorney general to vice president of the country.
01:46Now she stands a chance at becoming the first woman and first South Asian-American president
01:52of the United States.
01:54It's a historic feat that Harris has not focused on in her push for the White House.
02:00Instead, Harris has spent her campaign speaking to voters' urgent concerns, like the cost
02:06of living.
02:07She's pitched policies like building more affordable housing and cutting the cost of
02:11groceries, all to create an opportunity economy where people, regardless of their circumstance
02:17or background, can benefit from social mobility.
02:22Unlike in New York, a Democratic stronghold, Harris remains locked in a dead heat against
02:27Trump in decisive battleground states, her supporters remaining optimistic that she will
02:33nonetheless prevail come election day.
02:36We need her.
02:38She's the one for this moment.
02:40Sure, it might be uncomfortable.
02:41She is a woman.
02:42She is African-American, Asian descent.
02:45But I feel like Asian culture and African-American culture are very mainstream parts of American
02:50culture now.
02:51People are ready for her in a way maybe they wouldn't have been ready 20 years ago.
02:55While voters in this blue state are more willing to embrace Harris, academics say it'll be
03:00tougher to sway conservative voters across the country and overcome deep-rooted sexism.
03:07The United States has a really difficult job of seeing women in these roles because they
03:14have been so heavily masculized.
03:16So the way that we talk about, you know, the framers of the Constitution, we call them
03:21our founding fathers.
03:22The way that we talk about our president, the president is the father of the nation.
03:27Right.
03:28Like these are very gendered terms that many people have a hard time thinking about women
03:34in these positions.
03:35Perhaps this is the right time for it.
03:37The U.S. government has been becoming more diverse.
03:41The number of women in Congress is at an all-time high, with 153 women, about 28 percent
03:48of all members.
03:49It's also the most racially and ethnically diverse pool of lawmakers in the country's
03:55history.
03:56For local politicians like State Senator Chu, the key is to pass the torch onwards.
04:01I'm the only woman senator, Asian woman senator in the whole state, 248 years now.
04:08It is my mission to make sure our next generation, they have the opportunity, they have the platform,
04:12they have the training, be able to be ready for when the opportunity is there, when we
04:19need a new leader.
04:21It's the same message as Kamala Harris's.
04:26She is already the first woman to hold the vice presidency and now potentially the top
04:31office, and says she will not be the last, pledging to ensure that the United States
04:37keeps its spirit as a place of possibilities.
04:41Luffy Lee and Joyce Sen in Brooklyn, New York for Talon Plus.