Contesting the Last Frontier

In Contesting the Last Frontier, Pei-te Lien and Nicole Filler examine the scope and significance of the rise of Asian Pacific Americans (APA) in US elective office over the past half-century. Drawing on an original dataset of APA electoral participation and in-depth interviews with elected officials, Lien and Filler take an unprecedented look at APA officials' trajectories to office, their divergent patterns of political socialization, the barriers and opportunities they face on the campaign trail, and how these elected officials enact their roles as representatives at local, state, and federal levels of government. Ambitious and comprehensive, Contesting the Last Frontier fills an important gap in American electoral history and uncovers the lived experiences of APA women and men on the campaign trail and in elective office.