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The historic neighborhoods of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon in Seattle’s International District are not part of Washington’s 1st Congressional District. They belong to District 7. But the Asian American communities in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, and across WA-01 are very much part of this campaign and what happens in Seattle’s Asian neighborhoods matters deeply to them, and to all of us. The families and business owners of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon are largely immigrants or the children of immigrants people who followed the legal immigration process, built businesses from nothing, and created some of the most culturally vibrant and economically productive communities in the Pacific Northwest. They did everything right. And for years, they have been failed by the very officials elected to protect them. To the people of these communities. Kincaid sees you. I hear you. And I will stand with you not just in words, but in policy and in action. What These Communities Have Endured Since 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes surged across the United States at a rate that shocked the country and the Seattle area was no exception. Between 2020 and 2023, reported hate crimes targeting Asian Americans increased dramatically in cities across the country. Elderly Asian Americans were attacked on streets and in parks. Business owners faced harassment and vandalism. Families that had built lives here over decades began to feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods. At the same time, Seattle’s Chinatown International District became one of the most visible examples of how the city’s homelessness, drug, and public safety crisis falls hardest on communities that are already vulnerable. Encampments, open drug use, and street disorder concentrated around the neighborhood. Businesses that had operated for generations began closing. Residents who had lived there for decades told reporters they no longer felt safe walking to the corner store. The response from city leadership was inadequate. For years, urgent pleas from community leaders, business owners, and residents were met with promises that led nowhere. The philosophy that guided Seattle’s approach that enforcing basic public order was somehow incompatible with compassion produced predictable results. The most vulnerable communities bore the greatest cost. These are not abstract policy failures. They are human failures. Real people lost businesses their families had built over generations. Real people stopped going out at night. Real people left neighborhoods their communities had called home for more than a century. The Leadership Failure Representative Pramila Jayapal has represented District 7 which includes the Chinatown-International District since 2017. During that time, she has been one of the most ideologically driven members of Congress, focused primarily on advancing national progressive agendas rather than the immediate, practical needs of the people she represents. Her support for the Housing Not Handcuffs Act legislation that would make it even more difficult for cities to address chronic street disorder and dangerous encampments is one of the clearest examples of misplaced priorities. While business owners in Little Saigon were boarding up windows and community leaders were begging for intervention, their representative was pushing legislation that would have tied the hands of local authorities further. This is not a personal attack. It is a factual description of what happened. These communities deserved better. They still do. Why This Matters to WA-01 Washington’s 1st Congressional District is home to one of the largest and most accomplished Asian American communities in the Pacific Northwest. Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond have substantial Korean American, Chinese American, Indian American, Vietnamese American, and Japanese American populations. Many are professionals and entrepreneurs. Many have family ties to the communities in Seattle’s International District. Many are watching what happens there and drawing conclusions about whether elected officials in this region are capable of protecting Asian American communities when it matters. The answer they have received from the current political establishment has been disappointing. Anti-Asian hate crimes surged, and the response was too slow. Seattle’s Chinatown deteriorated, and the response was too ideological. Communities asked for help, and what they received were statements of solidarity without substance. This campaign is different. The Asian American communities of WA-01 are not a photo opportunity. They are constituents. Their concerns about public safety, small business viability, housing affordability, and the quality of their children’s education are at the center of what this campaign is about. What Kincaid Will Do Differently As a member of Congress from WA-01, I cannot directly govern Seattle or District 7. But I can use the platform and the tools available to a member of Congress to fight for Asian American communities across this region. Here is specifically what that means. Take Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Seriously With Legislation and Funding Support robust funding for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act’s implementation and push to expand it. Advocate for dedicated federal resources for law enforcement training on hate crime identification and prosecution, with specific attention to anti-Asian bias. Anti-Asian hate crime is not a phase that has passed it is an ongoing pattern that requires sustained federal attention and consistent enforcement.
Work to direct federal Community Development Block Grant funding, Small Business Administration resources, and historic preservation funds toward the preservation and revitalization of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. These neighborhoods are national cultural treasures. They deserve federal investment, not neglect.
Legislation like the Housing Not Handcuffs Act, which would restrict the ability of local governments to address dangerous encampments and chronic disorder, disproportionately harms the communities least able to absorb those costs including small business districts like the International District. I will oppose such legislation and make clear why. Compassion for homeless individuals cannot come at the expense of the safety and survival of working immigrant communities.
My comprehensive homelessness plan the Homeless Recovery and Rehabilitation Act addresses the root causes of street disorder by distinguishing between individuals experiencing economic hardship, addiction, and severe mental illness, and tailoring interventions accordingly. Getting this right is how we restore public safety in neighborhoods like the International District without simply pushing the problem somewhere else.
The Asian American community in WA-01 and across Washington State has too often been treated as a constituency to be courted at election time and forgotten the rest of the year. This campaign commits to ongoing engagement, genuine listening, and consistent advocacy not just when the cameras are on. A Personal Word The communities of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon represent something important about America about what this country is supposed to be. They were built by people who came here with little, worked incredibly hard, and created something lasting and beautiful. They deserve a government that fights for them with the same intensity that they have fought for their own survival and success. You have endured the consequences of failed leadership for far too long. Year after year, you have been handed empty promises, ideological platitudes, and policy approaches that made your situation worse all delivered by officials who seemed more interested in national politics than in the streets outside your front doors. It is time for accountability and real results. Not next year. Now. The Asian American communities of Washington State deserve a representative who will fight for them every single day not just in speeches, but in votes, in legislation, and in the unglamorous day to day work of making government actually function for the people it is supposed to serve. That is what this campaign offers. And that is the commitment I make to you. submitted by /u/duckduckew |
