Andrew Yang has for weeks claimed he was deeply involved in helping Democrats take back the Senate, touting his work in the Georgia runoff as he campaigns for mayor of New York
“I moved to Georgia to help win the Senate,” he told voters, asking if they could “imagine” what would have happened if the Republicans had control of the Senate. “That has given us a lifeline and opportunity to actually get out of this crisis. I'm proud of that work."
Yang has never been a conventional politician. His prominence was built on an internet-driven presidential campaign centered around a singular issue: a universal basic income of $1,000 a month for everyone, a bonkers idea circa two years ago that has since caught on in mainstream politics. His appearance in the Democratic presidential primary debate was due in large part to the intense grassroots activism of his online fan base — the self-titled “Yang Gang.
But some in Georgia who directly interacted with Yang said the energy he created was decisive in turning out young voters — an effect of the Yang Gang and, to an extent, AAPI voters in Georgia. “Georgia didn't want the celebrity element in this race. They didn't want the Debra Messings of the world tweeting about it. They didn't want the pop stars coming in and doing concerts,” said one Democrat political operative involved in the Georgia runoff. “The second this became nationalized, and it became a 'not Georgia values' race, they were in real trouble.”
“Very few people decide ‘I'm going to stop what I'm doing and go focus on helping these candidates get elected.’ That's what he did and that was huge,” King said. “And because he had a profile, in fact, because he'd run for president, there are a lot of young people that support Andrew Yang around the country, and support many of the ideas that he has.”
Ashling, who is Vietnamese-American, had a different assessment, viewing Yang’s star power as a booster shot for AAPI and young voters. Despite their historic turnout in Georgia during the November election, she recalled being worried that they would not turn out in the runoff election scheduled mere months after a fatiguing presidential race.
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