Three Chinese American political clubs that usually can’t agree on anything just did something pretty wild: they joined forces to host a Congressional candidate forum in Chinatown. And honestly, it might be changing how candidates think about reaching Asian American voters in San Francisco.

The Saturday event at Victory Hall brought together the Chinese American Democratic Club, the Ed Lee Democratic Club, and the Rose Pak Asian American Club, groups that typically clash over endorsements and span everything from progressive to conservative politics. But with Nancy Pelosi vacating her seat, these organizations realized they had a shared interest in pressing the four candidates on their actual positions, especially around immigration and Chinese American community issues.

The candidates showed up with wildly different strategies. Connie Chan, San Francisco’s supervisor and the only prominent Chinese American running, flexed her ability to speak directly to the mostly Cantonese-speaking crowd without an interpreter. “The one thing I would do differently”, she told voters, “is be able to actually speak directly to our Chinese American community in our language”. Chan leaned heavily on her personal immigrant story, arriving in San Francisco’s Chinatown at 13 with her mom and younger brother, speaking no English, and connected that to her current work protecting sanctuary city policies and supporting immigrant families.

State Senator Scott Wiener emphasized his track record fighting for healthcare access and protecting acupuncture as a covered medical benefit, while also highlighting LGBTQ issues alongside traditional priorities like childcare and housing. Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy self-funded candidate and former Green New Deal architect, took a more national focus, pushing for banning congressional stock trading and cutting military funding. Then there was Marie Hurabiell, a former Republican and Trump appointee, who uniquely appealed to the community through local issues like the Chesa Boudin recall and merit-based admissions at Lowell High School.

When it came to immigration, the forum’s central topic, the differences were stark. While Chakrabarti called for defunding ICE and protecting naturalized citizens, and Wiener and Chan pushed for pathways to citizenship, Hurabiell focused on streamlining H1B visas and speeding up family reunification. All but Hurabiell emphasized protecting birthright citizenship, a right the Trump administration has attacked despite its constitutional basis.

But here’s the thing: real-time translation in Cantonese is genuinely hard, especially when candidates throw around government acronyms and numbers. Thomas Li, vice president of the Ed Lee Asian American Club, pointed out that interpreters had to navigate not just language but also explain political context. “Candidates need to change their message when talking to everyday individuals”, Li said, calling out politicians for using jargon that doesn’t land with limited-English-speaking voters. These forums matter because without them, who’s actually forcing candidates to have real conversations about immigration with the communities most affected by it?