Originally published on Politico Pro: Politico Pro Q&A: Senate candidate Iwen Chu

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Nothing tends to attract crowds of Democratic candidates quite like an open seat in Brooklyn. There’s a four-way primary to succeed Sen. Diane Savino in a district that includes the southwestern corner of the borough, a five-way contest in a new Senate seat in the northwestern corner and an expansive field for the new Congressional District 10.

But that’s not the case in a new Senate seat in South Brooklyn. Iwen Chu was able to clear the field in the redesigned District 17.

With an Asian population of nearly 49 percent, the Senate seat is the first in the borough’s history where Asian voters have a plurality.

Chu will face Republican Vito LaBella, a retired detective, in November. She says she’s not taking anything for granted in what she worries might be the area with the lowest turnout in the state. But in neighborhoods that often vote for Democrats by comfortable margins, she has as strong a chance as any candidate in New York to be a member of the Senate’s freshman class in 2023.

Here’s what the 44-year-old candidate had to say about her background and candidacy in an interview with POLITICO in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.

How did you get involved with politics?

I myself am a first-generation immigrant. I came here at the age of 27 [from Taiwan] to get my master’s degree in sociology from Brooklyn College.

Once I graduated, I became a Chinese newspaper reporter, and that’s how I started to learn about Southern Brooklyn communities. At that time in Southern Brooklyn, there were no elected officials who provided Chinese-speaking staff. So those families, when they need help, they actually come to the media, and I became the constituent agent for them.

Ten years ago, Assemblyman Peter Abbate, because of redistricting, started to represent Brooklyn’s Chinatown … He was looking for a partner to join him to provide services to the community, [and Chu joined his staff].

There was talk of creating a new Asian-majority district in the area throughout the drawn-out redistricting process. When did you decide to run for it?

Honestly, I didn’t expect [the district to be drawn as advocates wanted]. It’s like thinking about winning the lotto. Yeah, you hope you’d get it. I hoped the map would come out.

When I saw the lines first come out, I was like ‘I’ve been providing service in the community for 17 years. I’ve been with Assemblyman Abbate for 10 years, a reporter for seven years. I’m so happy this is coming because finally our needs are being addressed. This is an underserved, unrepresented area.’

I started to call people and was like ‘here’s an opportunity, I guess I’m going to jump in.’ When I called them, they said yes, you’ve got to do it. This is an immigrant community, not everybody comes with the capacity or the ability to actually win an election, and that’s why I’m all in for this run.

That’s why at the beginning of this race I did have Democratic opponents … but after they contacted community leaders, they were told they trust me more than anyone else and that’s how my potential opponents decided they wouldn’t run.

What is the importance of having a district with such a large Asian and immigrant population?

When a [community] is split into multiple districts, they don’t get enough resources, they don’t get enough attention.

When you come here [as an immigrant], it’s a lot of panic here, you don’t understand a lot of it, you don’t even know when you get scammed where to call. I was [recently] with another press conference in Bay Ridge a few blocks down; it’s a new condo [where potential owners] totally got scammed. The developer sold 20 units to 20 new immigrant Chinese families and took their cash, and he fled. Now those families put their life savings in this guy based on an oral contract. For us, we’d be like ‘how could you buy a condo and not sign a contact?’ They were new immigrants. They don’t know how things work; they don’t know how to protect themselves.

There’s an opportunity — we can see someone who understands the district, the needs of the families, their lives’ struggles. Thankfully, I have the language capacity so I can figure it out myself, but for this majority immigrant community in this district, not just Asian — I have Russian, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian and also some Jewish — this is an immigrant-heavy district, so I can foresee the struggles they’re facing every day.

What does your community need from Albany?

Asian Americans have a little distrust with government, especially in New York City.

As an immigrant, you put your hope in education. I have a friend who was a high school math teacher back in China. But when he immigrated here without language capacity, he could only work for a restaurant — we’re talking about 12 hours a day, six days a week. What he could do was provide everything he got, everything he earned, he sacrificed himself so that his son could do better, and have a higher education.

Unfortunately, in 2017 and 2018, the de Blasio administration was trying to take away the specialized high schools. And that gave the Asian and immigrant community a lot of panic, because you’re taking opportunity from them. You don’t take something from one group and give it to another group — you should create more opportunities for everybody … If you’re a gifted and talented kid, you need more challenge in your life when you’re learning, or else you will just get bored in a classroom and just distract yourself and then probably your potential just gets [wasted] and everyone just thinks you’re a troublemaker.

Public safety is a major issue for Asian communities. Last year, we saw a 400 percent [increase in hate crimes].

Why do we have seniors worrying about ‘is it safe to go grocery shopping?’ Why do we need to have moms worrying about ‘is it safe to go to the playground to play?’ We need to address this in many ways. It’s not enough to address crime issues. Mental illness is one issue, supporting local organizations is one issue so that the family will be more comfortable.

So where does that leave you on bail?

I’m not a typical Democrat. I want to reform the reform. I believe every system is not a perfect one. If we can make it better, that’s our duty to make it better.

I think judges should have actual discretion. If it’s hate crime related, if it’s a repeat offender, if it’s a weapon used, there should be bail set. I understand if you’re a first-time offender, you can’t afford bail, that’s a totally different category.

Everybody wants a fair system, they need to feel they are protected, but when your daily life is talking about all the crime, all the attacks, a bodega owner needs to think about ‘oh my god this guy comes back and robs me 20 times’ … those bodega owners cannot feel they are protected.

What else should people know about you?

I changed my name back. I was known from the community as Irene, because as an immigrant it’s easier when you give yourself an English name; it’s easier for you to make friends; it’s easier for others to pronounce your name.

When I decided to run, I thought about it: I’m going to run with the name I’m most well-known as, or run with Iwen, which my community will feel proud of.

So I decided to reintroduce myself to all my friends in South Brooklyn … My thought process is if I’m going to be the first Asian elected from Brooklyn, I need to go back to my own heritage, I need to make the next generation feel proud of their first name, their last name and their heritage. Asian American is American; even though we’re immigrants, we can do everything.