Andy Kim

At a campaign stop in Texas for Senate candidate James Talarico last month, Sen. Andy Kim said he heard one thing over and over from Asian American voters: They’re not sure either party is really listening to what they have to say.

“They don’t feel like they’re being courted, or being targeted, or being sought after,” Kim told POLITICO. “And they think that’s going to reflect in how people govern.”

Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, says he’s on a mission to change that. The first Korean American senator and one of three Asian Americans currently serving in the chamber, Kim sees the country’s fast-growing but oft-neglected Asian American electorate as a pivotal part of Democrats’ efforts to take back the House and Senate this November, and he wants his party to pay attention.