The AAPI Victory Alliance is an advocacy group that promotes left-leaning policies on behalf of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It is a fiscally sponsored project of Tides Advocacy.

The nonprofit targets four issues: restricting private firearm ownership, promoting climate-change narratives, combating supposed misinformation, and opposing regulations on voting. It gained prominence in 2021 by highlighting hate crimes towards Asian Americans. The group lobbied to reinstate the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. ¹

In April 2021, the AAPI Victory Alliance created the first-ever think tank dedicated to AAPI issues. ²

Background

AAPI Progressive Action rebranded itself as AAPI Victory Alliance in 2021. It was founded in 2017 as a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization. Most members are former commissioners from President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. ³ The nonprofit is a project of Tides Advocacy, a left-leaning 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit focused on the creation, financing, and consultation of various left-of-center groups.

Leadership

Varun Nikore has been AAPI Victory Alliance’s executive director since the group’a start in 2017. After the 2020 presidential election, Nikore led a successful lobbying campaign. In an interview with CBS in 2021, Nikore described the nonprofit’s influence under the Biden administration: “Now we feel like we can go on the offense, we can work with the White House, state legislatures, state governments.” ⁴

Tung Nguyen is the group’s chair. He served as a Commissioner on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from 2011 to 2014, and as the chair of that Commission from 2014 to 2017. ⁵Dr. Nguyen holds other prominent roles, such as the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) and director of the UCSF CTSI Research Action Group for Equity (RAGE) Program, which advocates for more diversity among UCSF research participants. ⁶

Activities

The group was most active in 2021 during an alleged spike in hate incidents targeting Asian Americans. It successfully lobbied lawmakers to reinstate the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. ⁷In total, the AAPI Victory Alliance had lobbied for more than 11 pieces of legislation in 2021. ⁸

The nonprofit amplified its efforts to restrict the sale of firearms after the 2023 Monterey Park shooting. In April 2023, it joined forces with March for Our Lives for a rally and news conference in San Francisco. At the news conference, Varun Nikore expressed his desire to cancel corporations working with gun manufacturers: “As Asian Americans, we have the power to stop a lot of this. We have a choice in where we invest our dollars and where we deposit our paychecks.” ⁹ The protesters criticized San Francisco’s Wells Fargo for its financial ties with the gun industry. ¹⁰

In June 2023, AAPI Victory Alliance signed a statement along with more than 200 groups which criticized Target for what they claimed was inadequate commitment to the LGBT community. The signatories’ demands included placing Pride merchandise back on the sales floor and online in full, and a 24-hour deadline for Target to publicly reaffirm its commitment to the LGBT community. Signatories included left-leaning groups such as Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, Acadiana Queer Collective, Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus, and NCR LGBTQ+ Dems. ¹¹

1. Jiang, Weijia, and Grace Segers. “White House Announces New Actions to Address Violence against Asian Americans.” CBS News, March 30, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asian-american-violence-white-house-response/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h.
2. “Think Tank.” AAPI Victory Alliance. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://aapivictoryalliance.com/think-tank#:~:text=In%20April%202021%2C%20the%20AAPI,first%2Dever%20AAPI%20think%20tank .
3.  “About.” AAPI Victory Alliance. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://aapivictoryalliance.com/about-3.
4. Navarro, Aaron. “‘now We Are Flexing Our Political Muscle’: AAPI Group to Take ‘Next Step’ and Lobby for More Targeted Policies and Legislation.” CBS News, April 12, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aapi-progressive-action-lobbying-political-muscle/.
5. Navarro, Aaron. “‘now We Are Flexing Our Political Muscle’: AAPI Group to Take ‘Next Step’ and Lobby for More Targeted Policies and Legislation.” CBS News, April 12, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aapi-progressive-action-lobbying-political-muscle/.
6. “Tung Nguyen, MD.” Tung Nguyen, MD | Department of Medicine, January 1, 1970. https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/tung-nguyen#Websites.
7. Navarro, Aaron. “‘now We Are Flexing Our Political Muscle’: AAPI Group to Take ‘Next Step’ and Lobby for More Targeted Policies and Legislation.” CBS News, April 12, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aapi-progressive-action-lobbying-political-muscle/.
8. Navarro, Aaron. “‘now We Are Flexing Our Political Muscle’: AAPI Group to Take ‘Next Step’ and Lobby for More Targeted Policies and Legislation.” CBS News, April 12, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aapi-progressive-action-lobbying-political-muscle/.
9. “San Francisco AAPI Community Rallies, Calling out Banks Supporting Gun Manufacturers.” ABC7 San Francisco, April 17, 2023. https://abc7news.com/aapi-community-march-for-our-lives-banks-supporting-gun-manufactures-wells-fargo/13143618/
10.  “Corporate Accountability Campaign.” AAPI Victory Alliance. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://aapivictoryalliance.com/corporate-accountability.
11.  Killian, Joe. “More than 100 Organizations Call on Target, Other Businesses to Stand up to Anti-LGBTQ Threats.” NC Newsline, June 1, 2023. https://ncnewsline.com/2023/06/01/more-than-100-organizations-call-on-target-other-businesses-to-stand-up-to-anti-lgbtq-threats/.