Analysis based on University of Michigan and regional reporting highlights that Michigan's rapidly growing Asian American and Pacific Islander population-including 400,000 residents-faces significant institutional neglect, with nearly 40% reporting no contact from political parties.
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, U-M clinical assistant professor of social work and chair of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission, provides insights into how local grassroots initiatives are essential to bridging this outreach deficit and fostering engagement.
Michigan's AAPI population has grown rapidly, making it a critical swing demographic in a battleground state. Why hasn't this rapid population surge fully translated into proportional policy concessions or high-level representation, and what is the bottleneck?
Despite Asian Americans being the fastest-growing racial group in the nation and one of the fastest-growing populations in Michigan, demographic growth doesn't automatically translate into political power. Political power comes from organized communities that vote consistently, develop leaders, build relationships with elected officials, hold those officials accountable after Election Day, and have opportunities to participate in civic life. I also think it is important to recognize that demographics do not happen by accident. Our immigration laws have shaped who has been able to come to the United States, and those policies continue to shape the demographics, economic mobility and political power of our communities today.
Take Indian Americans as an example. People often point to high levels of educational attainment or household income and assume that is simply representative of the community. But part of that story is our immigration system. Through employment-based immigration pathways, including H-1B visas, we have disproportionately selected people with advanced degrees and specialized professional skills. In other words, we have been selective about who has been able to immigrate through those pathways. It is not surprising, then, that many Indian Americans who arrived through them became physicians, engineers, researchers and other professionals. That is also where the stereotype that "all Indians are doctors or engineers" comes from. That tells us something about how immigration policy shapes communities, but also how public policy more broadly shapes opportunity, economic mobility and ultimately political power.
Other communities came through very different immigration pathways. Many Burmese families, for example, arrived as refugees after fleeing war and persecution. Those different immigration stories produced very different economic realities. Today, Burmese women have among the lowest median earnings of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. Those differences matter because they influence economic mobility and, ultimately, civic and political participation.
As organizers, when we think about political representation and political power, we have to recognize that every community has its own history, immigration story and barriers to opportunity. From there, our responsibility is to intentionally invest in leadership, remove barriers to participation and create pathways into public service so every community has the opportunity not just to vote, but to lead.
Michigan's major elections are routinely decided by razor-thin margins, yet Asian Americans remain the state's fastest-growing demographic. How does the lack of partisan outreach reshape or suppress the potential voting power of the AAPI electorate?
The lack of outreach suppresses political power in more ways than people realize.
At the most basic level, if people are not contacted, they may not know an election is happening, what is on the ballot or why it matters. But I think the bigger issue is that if you are not talking to a community, you are probably not listening to them either. Their concerns aren't shaping campaigns, they are less likely to shape public policy and they are less likely to see themselves as future leaders or candidates for office.
Why this matters so much is because we're living through a moment where local government has become more important than ever. As people lose confidence in our federal institutions and as federal and state programs become more uncertain, local governments are increasingly stepping in. They are responding to immigration issues, expanding local services and making decisions every day about housing, transportation, public safety, disability access, language access, parks and so many of the things that affect our daily lives.
That is why local elections matter so much. Yet despite that, they are often the races where communities receive the least outreach and the least information, especially communities that have historically been marginalized or have limited English proficiency. That is a huge missed opportunity.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned serving on Ann Arbor City Council as a first-generation South Asian immigrant is that local government is one of the most accessible forms of democracy we have. You do not have to wait for the federal government to act. You can show up at a council meeting. You can serve on a board or commission-at the local or state level. You can organize your neighbors around an issue. You can run for office yourself.
To me, that is how communities build political power. Voting is where democracy starts, but it should not be where it ends. The goal is to help people realize that beyond voting, they belong in rooms where decisions are being made.
Data shows that nearly half of Michigan's AAPI electorate receives zero contact from major political parties. When national and state party machines completely miss these voters, how are local grassroots organizations structurally filling that gap without the scale of traditional party funding?
I think grassroots organizations succeed because they do something political parties often do not: they show up between elections. Campaigns are designed to win votes. Grassroots organizations are designed to build communities. They are helping people navigate public services, responding to discrimination, providing language access, educating first-time voters and developing future leaders. That is important because trust exists long before anyone asks for a vote.
That trust matters. Grassroots organizations are the ones doing the year-round relationship-building that makes meaningful civic participation possible. Organizations like APIAVote-Michigan, Rising Voices and others are providing services and assistance to new citizens, multilingual households, young voters and people who haven't voted consistently enough to appear in campaign targeting models.
The issue is that these organizations are expected to provide voter education, translation, civic engagement, leadership development and policy advocacy while operating on a fraction of the resources that are available to political parties.
The long-term solution is making sure that funders are investing in organizations that are trying to create lasting civic infrastructure rooted in community rather than one that appears only during election season. That infrastructure should exist beyond election cycles-and we, as voters, should be advocating for additional funding support for these essential community based organizations.
How do outreach strategies change when trying to mobilize working-class, lower-income or isolated South Asian communities compared to more affluent suburban populations?
We have to recognize that the suburban professional model only reflects part of the South Asian experience because South Asians are not a monolith.
One of the biggest challenges facing Asian American communities, including South Asians, is that our data is too often aggregated. When we do not separate the data, we can't fully see or understand the very real disparities that exist between different ethnic groups.
That especially affects smaller and newer immigrant communities, including many families who came to the United States as refugees fleeing war or persecution. These communities often face very different challenges than more established or higher-income Asian American populations. But when they are hidden within broader data, their needs become invisible. And when communities aren't seen, they are far less likely to receive the funding, programs, language access and other investments needed to address those challenges.
For example, even here in Michigan, our communities look very different. We have large Bangladeshi communities in places like Hamtramck that are much more working class and have different needs than, for example, many Indian American communities in parts of Oakland County that came to the U.S. through employment-based immigration pathways and, on average, have higher socioeconomic status. Those are different lived experiences, and they require different outreach and organizing strategies. Michigan's statewide campaigns have reinforced this.
When we assume every South Asian community looks the same, we end up organizing for the people who are easiest to reach instead of the people who most need to be reached.
Given these differences, outreach can't rely primarily on professional organizations, fundraising events and English-language communications. If it does, we'll disproportionately reach people who already have the time, transportation and familiarity with our political system to participate. Working-class communities require a different approach, but they are often the ones left behind.
Organizing needs to happen where people already are: places of worship, apartment complexes, grocery stores, schools, community centers, neighborhood events and other trusted spaces. It also means removing barriers that disproportionately affect those who have been marginalized by providing interpretation, childcare assistance, transportation assistance and meeting people when they are available.
Language access also means much more than translating a flyer. Many people need trusted community leaders who can explain how local government works, why local elections matter and how policies affect their daily lives, whether that is housing, schools, transportation,or employment. They also need access to information in their own language. That is why it is so important that the people most affected by these challenges are involved in creating the solutions.
Most importantly, organizing starts with listening. Rather than asking communities to support someone else's agenda, we should be asking what issues matter most to them, what barriers they are facing, what strengths and assets already exist within the community, and what success looks like to them. That is how you build trust. And once you build trust, civic engagement can follow.
The South Asian demographic in Michigan is highly diverse, and home-country politics can heavily polarize local immigrant communities. How do grassroots organizations build a unified local coalition when international geopolitical divisions threaten to fracture domestic solidarity?
Our communities represent different religions, languages, ethnicities, migration histories, caste experiences and perspectives on politics in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and beyond. Those experiences are deeply personal, and organizations lose credibility when they pretend those differences do not exist. As someone from a multireligious and multiracial Indian family, I see how these home-country politics manifest at a microcosmic scale within households and communities.
Grassroots organizations shouldn't become extensions of political debates happening overseas but instead build coalitions around the issues we share: protecting civil rights, expanding language access, supporting public education, improving housing affordability, advancing disability inclusion, combating hate crimes and ensuring everyone has access to civic participation.
Successful organizations also establish clear norms. We can welcome disagreement while rejecting religious bigotry, caste discrimination, xenophobia and dehumanization. Effective organizations emphasize that not everyone thinks the same. We do not all have to agree on everything, but we do need enough trust and mutual respect to work together.
