From “Being Represented” to Taking Part

Maryland State Delegate Lily Qi recently held two public conversations about her new book, Elected American: From Red China to Blue Maryland. The two events centered on the same book, but the composition of their audiences—and the questions they raised—differed markedly. In their own way, those differences offered a revealing glimpse into the realities of political participation among Chinese Americans and immigrant communities more broadly.

The first event was moderated by Janelle Wong, a professor at the University of Maryland and a scholar of Asian American politics. The audience consisted largely of Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans, and the discussion focused heavily on immigration, Asian American political participation, political communication on WeChat, U.S.-China relations, and coalition-building across racial and ethnic lines.

The second event took place at Politics and Prose, the independent bookstore in Washington, D.C., and was moderated by Josh Kurtz, a journalist who has covered Maryland politics for many years. The audience included more white attendees and members of other racial and ethnic groups, along with several local elected officials. Their questions were more likely to focus on specific issues such as Maryland’s economy, open primaries, legislative priorities, and political polarization.

The same book, in two different rooms, produced two different sets of questions.

Asian American readers were more likely to ask how one enters politics. Other readers were more interested in what an elected official does after getting there. The contrast suggests that for many first-generation immigrants, questions of identity, the safety of speaking out, and a sense of political belonging still have to be negotiated before debates over individual policies can fully begin.

A Personal Memoir—and a Record of a Community

There is no portrait of Lily Qi on the cover of Elected American. Instead, there is a red lantern and a Maryland blue crab. The lantern represents the Chinese culture in which she grew up; the crab represents the state she now serves.

Qi explained at the events that although the book follows the arc of her own life, she did not want it to be merely the story of an immigrant who became a state legislator. She also wanted to document the gradual political awakening of a Chinese American community: from relatively limited engagement to voter registration, participation in primary elections, campaign donations, volunteering, and eventually running for office.

The book unfolds along two alternating narrative tracks. One follows Qi’s upbringing in China, her journey to the United States, and her gradual integration into American society. The other chronicles her 2018 campaign for the Maryland House of Delegates.

The two narratives ultimately converge on a single question: Must first-generation immigrants wait for the next generation before they can truly become part of American public life?

Qi’s answer is no. Immigrants, she argues, do not have to surrender the culture they came from, nor must they wait until they speak English without an accent before they are entitled to participate in politics. Citizenship is more than the legal act of naturalization. It also means sustained participation in one’s community and in public affairs.

Population Does Not Automatically Translate Into Political Power

Montgomery County is home to a large Asian American and immigrant population. But demographic growth does not automatically produce political influence.

During her campaign, Qi discovered that many Chinese American residents who supported her had registered as unaffiliated voters and therefore could not participate in Maryland’s Democratic primaries. Other immigrants voted in presidential elections but had little understanding of the importance of races for the state legislature, county government, or local school board.

In parts of Maryland where Democrats hold an overwhelming electoral advantage, the party primary often effectively determines the eventual winner. Unaffiliated voters pay taxes and are affected by state and local policies just like everyone else, yet they are excluded from this decisive stage of the electoral process.

That is one reason Qi has advocated for open primaries. In her view, the existing primary system no longer adequately reflects demographic changes such as the growth of immigrant populations and the declining attachment of younger voters to political parties.

The mechanics of campaigning can widen the gap further. Candidates generally use past voting records to decide which residents should receive campaign literature, which doors are worth knocking on, and which communities deserve the greatest share of their limited time and resources.

A community can be large in numbers and still remain largely invisible to campaigns and policymakers if its members consistently stay away from elections.

WeChat’s Double-Edged Role

WeChat has played an important role in political participation within Chinese American communities.

Qi has said that before running for office, she was not an active WeChat user. Once she became a candidate, however, she discovered that large amounts of political information—and commentary about candidates—circulated through WeChat groups, including attacks that had little or no factual basis.

Because she was running as a Democrat, some people labeled her a socialist. Others attributed to her controversial positions on issues that had little to do with her actual policy views. Information travels quickly through networks of friends and acquaintances on WeChat, but effective mechanisms for verification are often absent, making it easier for closed information environments to form.

Qi’s campaign eventually began using the same platform for voter education. Through WeChat groups, community gatherings, restaurant events, and meetings in residents’ homes, campaign volunteers explained how local government works in the United States, outlined the respective responsibilities of state legislators, county council members, and school board members, and reminded immigrant voters of the importance of participating in party primaries.

WeChat, in other words, can serve both as an amplifier of misinformation and as a gateway into civic life. The decisive factor is not simply the platform itself, but whether a community has the capacity to evaluate information critically and discuss it openly.

After the election, one Chinese American resident told Qi that the campaign had prompted three political firsts: voting in a primary, making a political contribution, and volunteering for a campaign.

For a community, such actions matter more than simply rallying behind a candidate of the same ethnic background. They signal that ordinary residents are beginning to understand the political process—and are willing to invest their own time and resources in it.

From Ethnic Representation to Public Issues

The contrast between the two events was also evident in the way audiences viewed Qi’s identity.

At the first event, many questions centered on the position of Chinese Americans amid intensifying competition between the United States and China. Some audience members worried that Chinese Americans could become objects of suspicion when bilateral relations deteriorate. Others asked how Asian Americans could develop a political voice of their own.

Qi’s response focused largely on participation at the local level. Ordinary citizens may have little ability to alter the course of U.S.-China relations directly, but they can participate in school district, county, and state affairs. They can also build influence through nonprofit organizations, professional associations, and community institutions.

At the second event, the audience spent less time asking whether Qi could represent Chinese Americans. Instead, they questioned her directly about her legislative priorities, economic policies, and proposals for electoral reform.

That shift is worth noting.

In the early stages of a minority group’s entry into politics, elected officials from that community are often viewed primarily as representatives of their ethnic group. As political participation becomes more normalized, they are increasingly expected—like any other elected official—to answer to the entire constituency and to address a broader range of public concerns.

The maturation of Chinese American political participation cannot be measured simply by counting how many Chinese Americans win elected office. It also depends on whether ordinary voters understand the political system, whether they are willing to engage with issues that matter to other communities, and whether they can build durable alliances across racial and ethnic lines.

In her book, Qi writes about her earlier work in multicultural affairs at American University and, later, her service under Ike Leggett, Montgomery County’s first Black county executive. The African American civil rights movement and her experience in local government profoundly shaped her understanding of how minority coalitions are built.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans faced a surge of hate incidents. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement expanded across the country. Qi urged Chinese American organizations to publicly express solidarity with the Black community. Later, when other Chinese American legislators were attacked with accusations such as being “communist spies,” women’s, Jewish, LGBTQ, and other caucuses publicly rallied to their defense.

The experience illustrates a basic reality of American politics: a minority group is unlikely to build lasting political influence by relying on itself alone. Political participation requires advocating for one’s own interests, but it also requires responding to the broader public concerns of other communities.

Immigrant Political Participation Is Still Evolving

The two events suggest that interest in politics is growing among Chinese American and immigrant communities, even as people remain at very different stages of political engagement.

Some still see politics primarily as a source of risk and worry that speaking publicly may invite trouble. Others have begun voting in primaries, donating to campaigns, volunteering, and even running for office themselves. Some remain focused mainly on ethnic identity and international relations; others are increasingly turning their attention to housing, education, the economy, and the rules governing elections.

The value of Elected American lies in placing these changes within the concrete experience of one community and one political campaign.

Qi’s election to the Maryland House of Delegates forms one of the book’s central narratives. More significant, however, may be the way her campaign brought some immigrants who had previously remained on the political margins into direct contact with the electoral process for the first time.

From WeChat groups to neighborhood gatherings, from voter registration to casting a ballot in a primary, the immigrant path into democratic participation is rarely dramatic. More often, it is made up of small, practical, even mundane acts.

But that is precisely how political power begins to accumulate.