In the campaign for Virginia Governor, there is a lot of rhetoric about who can lead Virginia forward. We hear about creating jobs, strengthening our economy, and building partnerships and coalitions with diverse groups of people. But you rarely see the candidate personally engage, especially in the Asian communities, until now.

As the Vietnamese American National Chamber of Commerce, we were founded on creating opportunities for and representing the political interests of our members, building strong relationships with other communities, and fostering a friendly environment to grow businesses.

In this election, we took a hard look at the outreach efforts that each gubernatorial candidate has made to our community and we looked at the candidates’ policy proposals on the economy, transportation, and taxes.

Mr. McDonnell has gone to great lengths to reach out to various new American communities, particularly the Asian American communities. His outreach efforts have been impressive and substantive. We have seen McDonnell campaign materials in Vietnamese and other ethnic languages, he has made several visits to Vietnamese American businesses to listen to their concerns and he has attended many events hosted by the Vietnamese community in Virginia.

Press Release: VietAmCham Makes Official Debut

For Immediate Release

September 20, 2009

Arlington, VA - The Vietnamese American National Chamber of Commerce (“VietAmCham”) held its Inaugural Reception on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Ballroom of the Westin Arlington Gateway, Arlington, Virginia. The highly anticipated event marked the official debut of VietAmCham and kicked off its membership drive.

Following months of intense groundwork building, the evening started off with a cocktail networking hour, during which nearly 250 guests mingled with VietAmCham board members and honored guests. Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) was in attendance and also delivered opening remarks. Congressman Cao, an Honorary Co-Chair of VietAmCham, also presented VietAmCham with a commemorative certificate of the occasion, which Executive Director Katie Dang accepted on VietAmCham's behalf.