20240830 U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris Nevada

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attends a campaign event focused on Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities on July 9 in Nevada, one of seven key states that could decide the outcome of November's presidential election. © Reuters

Once neglected, Asian Americans now courted in knife-edge election

Tiny margins in battleground states spotlight voters like Wisconsin's Hmong community

PAK YIU and EMMA OCKERMAN, Nikkei staff writers

September 3, 2024 06:00 JST

Updated on September 3, 2024 21:57 JST

NEW YORK -- On July 27, Doug Emhoff walked onto a stage in a small Wisconsin city 1,200 kilometers northwest of Washington. He spoke on behalf of his wife, Kamala Harris, just six days after the vice president of the U.S. launched her bid to win the presidency for the Democratic Party this November.

The event wasn't a union rally, a civil liberties gathering or a climate change conference. It was the Hmong festival in Wausau, the city with the most Hmong per capita in the entire U.S.