NEW YORK (WPIX)—
John Liu became the first Asian-American to win an election for a citywide office.The Democratic council member from Queens defeated Republican challenger Joe Mendola in Tuesday's election for comptroller 76 percent to 19 percent.
"This is a historic night for New York City and a milestone for Asian-Americans across the nation," he said.
Voters elected another Asian-American, Peter Koo, in District 20, where Liu has represented for the past eight years. Koo will be the first Asian-American of the Republican Party to serve on the city council. He won with 50 percent of the vote, five percent over Democratic candidate Yen Chou.
In District 1, residents elected Democrat Margaret Chin to become the first Asian-American to represent Chinatown in the council. She had 86 percent of the vote over her Republican opponent Irene Horvath.
Asians make up 12 percent of the city's 8.3 million residents.
