APA Person of the Year: Swati Dandekar
December 17, 2008
2008 was a year when Asian Pacific Americans came into their own politically. Barack Obama was elected with significant Asian Pacific American support, and each of the other top contenders also had APA supporters, staffers or both.
APAs already can be found in his transition team, proposed administration staff and proposed list of Cabinet members (Energy Secretary Steven Chu). Obama’s candidacy was so compelling, in fact, that even prominent APA Republicans, such as Dr. Samuel Lin and Prof. Jan Ting, crossed the party line to endorse him.
2008 was a year where Yeni Wong, Bel Leong Hong, Rep. Mike Honda and other Democratic National Committee leaders used their access to power to make sure that APAs were appointed to DNC staff and used as field operatives in many states. Incumbent Democratic Congressional and state representative candidates won re-election in states from Alaska to Connecticut, and Paul Fong, a longtime activist and college professor, won a seat in the California State Assembly representing the Cupertino area in District 22.
On the Republican side, APAs had something to crow about as well. Indian American Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana in October 2007 and was seriously considered as a vice presidential candidate by John McCain during the 2008 campaign. While weather disasters prevented his more active participation at the Republican Convention and on the campaign trail, the high-profile visibility of his name showed that APAs can be considered for a White House ticket in a serious way.
On Dec. 6, another Louisiana-based APA made history when Republican Anh “Joseph” Cao won the state’s 2nd District Congressional seat, defeating scandal-plagued, nine-term Democrat Rep. William Jefferson in a tight race, 49.5 percent to 47 percent. Cao, a Vietnamese American, came to the United States at age eight, grew up in Houston and worked as a lawyer with the well-regarded, non-partisan, non-profit group Boat People SOS.
With these and other candidates to choose from, it was hard to decide who should be the APA Person of the Year in 2008. When looking at the future of Asian Pacific America, however, and thinking about the community’s growth out of the comfort of urban enclaves and into suburban and even rural America, the answer became clear: Swati Dandekar.
Dandekar, a Democrat born and educated in India, has been living in Iowa for over thirty years and has served three terms as a member in the Iowa House of Representatives. In 2008, she threw her hat in the ring to run for an Iowa state Senate seat that had voted Republican for almost 20 years. Reaching out to many rural Iowans with a platform based on education, quality health care, renewable energy and economic growth, she won 54.3 percent of the vote and is seen as a rising star of Iowa politics.
Swati Dandekar could have played it safe and stayed in her House seat because most incumbents are re-elected. Instead, she chose to reach for a higher office that required her to knock on doors in areas where she had not represented the people and where knowledge of Asian Indian Americans may not have been high. As a result of her successful gamble, however, she now has added clout as she battles for educational opportunity and other key concerns. And APAs now have a state Senate-level standard-bearer in a state not know for its high percentage of APAs.
Sen. Dandekar’s rise in politics has other lessons for APAs interested in community involvement, no matter where they live and no matter what their life circumstances, because she did not start life thinking that she would become a politician. She started with science-oriented undergraduate and masters degrees in India and came to Iowa to be with her husband in 1972. Like many stay-at-home mothers, she raised her two sons while doing volunteer work in the community.
As her kids got older, however, she got more involved in the community. She became president of the Parent Teachers Organization and did such a good job that, when a seat opened on the local school board, her friends convinced her to run. She learned how to ask for votes, raise money and speak out on the key issues facing her community. On Election Day, she won with 80 percent of the votes, and her political career was underway.
Not everyone can be as smart, organized and compassionate as Swati Dandekar. But all of us can learn to get involved in our local communities, speak out on issues of concern to us and get beyond our comfort zones so that we can have more impact on the world around us.
Congratulations, Sen. Dandekar!
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I have known Swati for about twenty years and she is an excellent choice for this honor. People know her and respect her and like her. When she appears in public she is surrounded by admirers. In two of her elections there was some subtle prejudice tried against her and the public rejected the attempts thoroughly. Thank you for choosing a wonderful representative (now senator)