Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Chairperson	Judy Chu California's 27th
Founder	Norman Mineta California's 15th
Founded	May 16, 1994; 27 years ago (1994-05-16)
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Membership	During the 117th Congress 6 Senators 72 Representatives 2 Delegates
Seats in the House	72 / 435
Seats in the Senate	6 / 100
Seats in the House Democratic Caucus[1]	72 / 222
Seats in House Republican Conference[1]	0 / 212
Website
Official website
Politics of United States Political parties Elections

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (abbreviation: CAPAC) is a caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and who have a strong interest in advocating and promoting issues and concerning the AAPI community. CAPAC was founded on May 16, 1994 by former Congressman Norman Mineta.

While CAPAC describes itself as non-partisan, all of its current members are Democrats, though some past members, such as Joseph Cao, have been Republicans. This caucus generally includes members of East, Southeast, South or Pacific Islander descent, members with high concentrations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in their district, or those with an interest in AAPI issues in general.^[2]

Purpose

• To ensure that legislation passed by the United States Congress, to the greatest extent possible, provides for the full participation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and reflects the concerns and needs of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities;
• To educate other Members of Congress about the history, contributions and concerns of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders;
• To work with other Members and Caucuses to protect and advance the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans;
• To establish policies on legislation and issues relating to persons of Asian and/or Pacific Islands ancestry who are citizens or nationals of, residents of, or immigrants to, the United States, its territories and possessions; and
• To provide a structure to coordinate the efforts, and enhance the ability, of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Members of Congress to accomplish those goals.^[2]

Current membership

Representative Patsy Mink announces the formation of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus at a press conference with (left to right) Representatives Don Edwards and Norman Mineta, Guam Delegate Robert Underwood, and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Neil Abercrombie

Map of members of House caucus members of the current 117th Congress.

  Leadership and executive board members

  Associate members

Map of House caucus members of the 116th Congress

  Leadership and executive board members

  Associate members

Leadership

• Chair: Judy Chu (D) (CA-27)
• First Vice-Chair: Grace Meng (D) (NY-06)
• Second Vice-Chair: Mark Takano (D) (CA-41)
• Whip: Ted Lieu (D) (CA-33)
• Freshman Representative: Kaialiʻi Kahele (D) (HI-02)

Executive board members

Associate members

Last updated: March 17, 2021^[3][4]

Deb Haaland (D) (NM-01) was an associate member of the caucus until she resigned her seat in Congress on March 16, 2021 to become Secretary of the Interior.

List of chairs

• Rep. Norman Mineta (CA-15), 1994–1995
• Rep. Patsy Mink (HI-2), 1995–1997
• Del. Robert Underwood (GU-AL), 1997–2001
• Rep. David Wu (OR-1), 2001–2004
• Rep. Mike Honda (CA-17), 2004–2011
• Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), 2011–present