The One big Senate race that Asian-Americans could decide
LAS VEGAS Days before Democratic Senate hopeful Catherine Cortez Masto appeared at a reception honoring Asian-American labor activists, Donald Trump proposed expanding his controversial immigration ban to natives of the Philippines.
Cortez Masto running against GOP Rep. Joe Heck in one of the nations most competitive Senate races, and in a rare state where Asian-American voters could tip the election pounced.
"Under a Trump presidency, no immigrants from the Philippines would be able to come to the United States, she told the crowd. With Donald Trump in power and Congressman Heck enabling him and supporting him, the [Asian-American and Pacific-Islanders] community here in Las Vegas and across the country would suffer."
Her comments weren't just the standard Democratic strategy to tie GOP opponents to their provocative standard-bearer. Both Cortez Masto and Heck are intensely courting Asian-American voters in the battle to replace Harry Reid in Nevada, and for good reason: Asian-American voters, by some estimatesAside from their sheer numbers, Asian-Americans have shown they can vote as a powerful bloc. Nearly 80 percent of the Asian-American electorate backed Reid in his 2010 victory over Sharron Angle, when polls right up until Election Day projected that Reid would narrowly lose. Asian-Americans in Nevada tend to favor Democrats, potentially giving Cortez Masto a boost in a neck-and-neck race.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/senate-nevada-asian-american-voters-227366