Taiwan-born Iwen Chu became the first Asian American female New York state senator-elect from the 17th state senate district in Brooklyn in this month’s U.S. midterm elections. Chu spoke to Taiwan Talks in an exclusive interview about her experience as a Taiwanese immigrant and how that experience has inspired her to run for public office. Apart from inflation, she shares with us what voters in her district are most concerned about, tackling Asian and immigrant hate crime. She also touches on the similarities between the U.S. Democrats and Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party as both struggle with the burden of incumbency, COVID policies, economic slowdown, and winning back support from the electorate. Being raised in Taiwan, Chu speaks about how she plans to raise Taiwan’s visibility in her state and promoting trade and other ties between Taiwan and the U.S.
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