RNC and Georgia Chinese American Republicans Outreach Event
by Austin Huang
On Saturday, September 28th, 2019, the Georgia Republican Party and the Georgia Chinese
Americans for Trump held their inaugural RNC Asian Community Outreach event and training program
at the Sandy Springs Town Hall. The event was one of the largest Asian-American events thrown by the
GOP in the entire United States, and included people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The event
was organized by community leader Sunny Wong and the Georgia Republican Party, and included some
important guests and speakers.
The event opened with an amazing performance by the students of the William Pu Music
Academy, the premier music academy for children in the Atlanta area. Georgia National Committeeman
Jason Thompson helped kicked off the event, giving a short speech on the important conservative values
shared by both Asian-Americans and the Republican party, and talked about how Asian-Americans make
the ideal Republicans. Pastor Dow, the pastor of a local Vietnamese church, helped lead the crowd in
prayer, praying for the President, Vice President, and all civil servants and members of the military to be
blessed with fortune. Next, Georgia Tech student and accomplished opera singer Sophie Zhang helped
lead the crowd in a splendid rendition of the National Anthem.
After that performance, another prominent Georgia Republican, Ginger Howard, took the stage.
Howard served as the National Committeewoman of Georgia and is on the national advisory board for
President Trump’s reelection campaign. She first talked about why she was a Republican, emphasizing
her small business experience and how President Trump’s economic policies had helped her own
businesses. She then presented the audience with several statistics about job growth and unemployment
rate that she urged attendees to tell their friends and relatives. After speaking more about conservative
principles and current political climate, she urged each attendee to invest in their cause, reminding them
that the power of one person can never be underestimated.
The next speaker was Chris Carr, Georgia’s Attorney General and former Chief of Staff to
Senator Jonny Isakson. He started his speech by mentioning some of the initiatives that he has pursued as
Attorney General. He then described his office’s commitment to combat opioid abuse, stop human
trafficking and gang violence, stand up against elder abuse, and prevent scams and robocalls. Carr then
explained to the audience that as Attorney General, he would uphold the Constitution and defend the rule
of law and principles of federalism, as well as respect the power of free enterprise. He highlighted up his
office’s efforts to combat gang violence, which often disproportionately affects communities of
immigrants or non-English speakers. Finally, he urged voters to join the Republican Party and help elect
Republicans down the ticket so that they could continue their work.
After Attorney General Carr was Danielle D’Souza Gille, daughter of conservative filmmaker
Dinesh D’Souza and the youngest member of Women for Trump. She connected her father’s journey as
an Indian immigrant to the lives of many in the audience, emphasizing that in spite of these connections,
the Asian community is rarely reached out to. Asians value family, education, and merit, she argued; the
exact things that the Republican Party holds dear. Meanwhile, many of the Democratic Party’s will be
detrimental to this nation, she told attendees. She ended by providing the audience with more statistics
about employment numbers as well as economic opportunity zones created by President Trump and
imploring them to become more involved in local politics.
Even though he couldn’t be there in person, Governor Brian Kemp recorded a video thanking the
Asian-American community for their support during his election and wishing them well. The video
garnered a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the audience, many of whom had volunteered
for Kemp’s campaign last year.
Next up was Sunny Wong, a prominent community leader who serves as the Georgia Republican
Party’s Asian and Pacific Islander liaison. She started off her speech by stressing that the Asian
community must continue to reach out build relationships to help empower itself. She then listed a brief
history of the Georgia Chinese Americans for Trump and their political activities. Georgia Chinese
Americans for Trump is a grassroots organization of over 1,000 people spread across seven chapters in
the Northern Fulton and surrounding areas. It has helped with campaigning in the 6th District and
volunteering for Brian Kemp’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign. She then described emotionally how most
of the room had come as first-generation immigrants because they were attracted to the liberties offered
by the United States, and how their children and grandchildren now live and call the USA home. She then
called on all the attendees to take action and lead GACR chapters in their area, or start new ones if they
didn’t exist.
Finally, Esther Lu and Dan Coats led the hour and a half long training session, teaching AsianAmericans how to best take action and be politically active. Esther Lu is the RNC’s National Director of
Asian Pacific American Engagement who’s job is to promote the Republican Party’s message to AsianAmericans across the US. Meanwhile, Dan Coats is the leader of the Trump reelection campaign’s
operations in Georgia. The session was off the record, but it was well received by the audience and many
said they learned a lot about political involvement that they would take home and apply.