Racial Politics Bite Asian PA Democrat in Butt
03/10/2014
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Rep. Patty KimRepublicans are constantly wagging their fingers at each other about how changing demographics will doom them.  There's certainly some truth to it.

But it all assumes that changing demographics will make for a nirvana for the Democrats.

'Taint necessarily so.  Harrisburg State rep Patty Kim generated some minor buzz locally for being the first Asian female to hold such a spot in the area. (These firsts are an endless supply of stories for the media:  she's the first gay woman jury commissioner!  The first disabled African-American fire chief!)

But Kim apparently made the mistake of injecting some common sense and pursuit of competent governance:  she endorsed a white (and now successful) challenger to the absolutely awful Linda Thompson, who was the black incumbent mayor, and she apparently once or twice voted with the Republican governor on some items.

Harrisburg blacks showed up in force to deny her the county nomination to the ballot:

[Party Chairman Marilyn] Levin said Kim angered party members by throwing her support behind Papenfuse in last year’s mayor’s race instead of incumbent Linda Thompson. Kim also upset members by voting for the Corbett administration-backed $2.4 billion highway funding package that included reforms to Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage law for public projects, she said.

"I think [not supporting Thompson for mayor] hurt her in the African-American community today; they were out in full-force," Levin said. "If you’re an incumbent, you support incumbents, and I don’t think she quite understood it would come back to bite her one day."

 229 comments Dauphin County Dems turn back on incumbent state House Rep. Patty Kim's bid for second term, PennLive.com, March 08, 201

It's hard to imagine that other racial groups within the party shared the bloodlust for ousting Kim.  So what you're left with are some indeed diverse—but probably unhappy and fractious—Democrats.

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