Democratic National Convention Day Three: Obama argues 'America is already great, America is already strong'

Seven months ago, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) introduced Hillary Clinton to a packed hotel ballroom full of Asian American voters in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Chu, the chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus who will speak at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, pointed to Virginia Sen. Mark R. Warner's razor-thin 2014 defeat of his Republican opponent, in which one exit poll found 68% of Asians voted for the Democrat.

“We've gone from being marginalized to becoming the margin of victory,” Chu said at the time.

Clinton received a warm reception at that event, and Chu has continued to reach out to Asian American voters for the Democratic presidential nominee in Southern California and swing states. Many of the supporters in the ballroom that day were bused in from Nevada. 

Chu became the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress in 2009 when she succeeded Rep. Hilda Solis. She has a dramatic family history on which to draw when she speaks Wednesday with the caucus. Chu's father, Judson Chu, was born in California, and his wife, May, emigrated from China under the War Brides Act.

Speaking to The Times in 2009 after she was elected to Congress, Chu said she was inspired in college when she saw Pat Sumi, a third-generation Japanese American and civil rights activist, speak. 

"It was the very first time it occurred to me that an Asian American woman could be a leader," Chu said.