Ron DeSantis-backed law barring Chinese from owning land in Florida galvanizes Asian Americans
Wen Raiti, a Chinese American community leader in Jacksonville, Florida, has been a Republican for more than a decade.
Wen Raiti, a Chinese American community leader in Jacksonville, Florida, has been a Republican for more than a decade. As a small business owner, she said, the party’s fiscal conservatism and small government ethos resonated with her.
But last May, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning Chinese citizens from buying property in Florida, Raiti changed her party affiliation and began campaigning for local and national Democratic candidates.
Leading up to Florida’s Aug. 20 primary election, anger toward Senate Bill 264 has turbocharged voter mobilization efforts in the Chinese American community in the state, organizers and elected officials said, pushing conservatives to defect from the GOP while inspiring first-time voters to register and volunteer for Democrats.
“This bill alone helped activate a lot of people in the Chinese American community who historically are not engaged with the government, especially the state government,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), who has been an outspoken critic of SB 264.
Eskamani said hundreds of Chinese Americans have traveled to Tallahassee to protest, testify at committee hearings and spearhead fundraising drives. In the dozen years that she’s been in government, she said, “I’ve never seen this kind of presence.”
Rating: 5