Suwanee, October 21, 2026 – With less than two weeks until Election Day, the races that matter most to Georgia’s Asian American Pacific Islander community are not the ones dominating the airwaves. Away from the governor’s and U.S. Senate contests, they are being fought door to door in Gwinnett County and Johns Creek, where a few hundred votes could decide a seat and AAPI voters could tip the balance.
No Asian American Pacific Islander candidate made the statewide general election ballot this year. Former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes, the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, came close: she forced a runoff for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination before losing to state Sen. Josh McLaurin in June, 54.9% to 45.1%. Down the ballot, though, the community’s stakes are as high as ever.
Kang, Reeves Meet Again in HD-99
No race carries more weight for Georgia’s Korean American community than the rematch in House District 99, which covers parts of Duluth, Suwanee and Sugar Hill.
Democrat Michelle Kang, a first-generation Korean American who came to Georgia in 1992, is challenging Republican Rep. Matt Reeves for a second time. Two years ago she won 48.93% of the vote and fell 621 votes short. This May she cleared her primary with 71.5%, while Reeves ran unopposed.
The Korea Daily estimates that Korean Americans make up about 4,000 voters, or roughly 10% of the district. That makes HD-99 a rare seat where a single community could decide the outcome.
Kang is running on affordability, childcare and tax relief for working families. Reeves, an attorney first elected in 2022, has emphasized property tax relief, lower insurance costs and senior homestead exemptions, steering clear of the culture-war messaging common elsewhere in his party.
The race has also turned prickly. Earlier this month, the Georgia Democratic Party’s AAPI Caucus posted a photo of a defaced Kang yard sign. Reeves answered with a Facebook post showing a Kang sign blocking his own.
Two Chinese Americans Face Off in Johns Creek’s HD-50
In Johns Creek, voters in House District 50 have a contest rarely seen in Georgia politics: two Chinese American women competing for the same seat. Asian Americans make up nearly 30% of the district’s residents, so the community’s influence here is hard to overstate.
Democratic Rep. Michelle Au is an anesthesiologist with a master’s in public health and describes herself as a proud Chinese American. She first won a seat in the state Senate in 2020. After Republican-led redistricting redrew her Senate district, she moved to the House and won HD-50 in 2022 with 54% of the vote. She is seeking her third House term, focused on health care access, public schools, property taxes and gun safety.
Her Republican challenger, Azure Duan, is a first-time candidate originally from Wugang in China’s Hunan province. Duan earned computer and software engineering degrees in Minnesota and spent years as a software engineer at Accenture and Best Buy. She later earned a doctorate in integrative medicine and founded Harmony Acupuncture & TCM in Johns Creek. Duan ran unopposed in the GOP primary. She is campaigning on property and income tax relief, eliminating “double taxation” such as inventory taxes, cutting business regulations and expanding school choice. She also supports Georgia’s six-week abortion law.
The two met at a student-moderated debate on September 16 at Chattahoochee High School. Au’s campaign has since labeled Duan a “MAGA Republican” and pointed to her stated opposition to background checks. Whatever the result, HD-50 shows how far Chinese American political participation in north Fulton has come.
Mughal Seeks His Seat Back in HD-105
If HD-99 is close, House District 105 may be closer.
Former Rep. Farooq Mughal, a Pakistani American Democrat from Dacula, represented the district from 2023 to 2025. He lost it in 2024 to Republican Sandy Donatucci by just 80 votes, after redistricting brought more conservative voters into the seat.
The two meet again in a district covering parts of Lawrenceville, Dacula and Buford. Mughal is running on lowering property and income taxes, education, and investment in public safety and mental health.
Singh Eyes History in HD-97
In the open House District 97 seat, Democrat Jyot Singh is running to become the first Sikh and first Indian American in the Georgia legislature. Singh is a Gwinnett native, a Yale graduate and the son of Punjabi immigrants. He won his May primary with 59%, carrying every precinct, and faces Republican Yassin Moghazy in November.
Singh is best known locally for leading the renewal of Gwinnett’s E-SPLOST, which directed $1.4 billion to county schools. His endorsements include U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson and Ro Khanna and state Reps. Sam Park and Long Tran.
Romman Faces Tight Fight for Senate District 7
The HD-97 seat Singh hopes to win belongs to state Rep. Ruwa Romman, who is now running for the Georgia Senate in District 7. The seat opened when Parkes resigned to run for lieutenant governor.
Romman, the first Muslim woman and first Palestinian American elected to the Georgia legislature, began the year running for governor. She left that race in February, citing “dark money” and grassroots dollars flowing to other states. She led a three-way May primary with 38%, then beat civil rights attorney Rahul Garabadu in the June runoff with 60% of the vote. “This was a moment where the many beat the money,” Romman said on runoff night.
Her November opponent is Republican Aizaz Shaikh, an Air Force veteran, real estate broker and Gwinnett substitute teacher running as a moderate. Shaikh is no long shot. In June’s special election to finish Parkes’s term, he lost to Democrat Adrienne White by only 51.1% to 48.9%, a striking result in a district Kamala Harris carried by 14 points. Afterward, Shaikh said the race is “far from over.”
If elected, Romman would be the first Arab American and first Palestinian American in the Georgia Senate. She is campaigning on Medicaid expansion, tenant protections and a $15 minimum wage. Shaikh is focused on property taxes and homeownership.
Incumbents on the Ballot
Several other AAPI lawmakers are seeking re-election:
– Marvin Lim (HD-98)
– Akbar Ali (HD-106), the youngest person ever sworn into the legislature, who first won his seat by just 153 votes in a December 2025 runoff
– House Minority Whip Sam Park (HD-107)
The Bigger Picture
At the top of the ticket, a late-September InsiderAdvantage poll showed Republican Rick Jackson leading Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms 48% to 46% in the governor’s race, with Sen. Jon Ossoff ahead of Republican Mike Collins 50% to 42%. In contests that close, Georgia’s more than 600,000 Asian American residents are a constituency neither party can afford to ignore.
How to Vote
Advance voting runs through Friday, October 30.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Friday, October 23.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Any race in which no candidate wins a majority goes to a December 1 runoff.
