[VT | November 11, 2026 | Washington, DC]
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) will welcome 23 Asian American and Pacific Islander members in the 120th Congress, the largest AAPI membership in the caucus’s history. CAPAC Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06) introduced four of them at the House Triangle on Wednesday: Guam Delegate-Elect Alicia Garrido Limtiaco (GU-At-Large), Dan Koh (MA-06), Dr. Richard Pan (CA-06) and Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01).
Each marks a first. Limtiaco is the first CHamoru woman to represent Guam in Congress; Koh, the first Asian American to represent Massachusetts; Pan, the first Chinese American elected to represent California’s 6th Congressional District; and Shah, the first South Asian American to represent Arizona. Pia Dandiya (FL-22), the first South Asian American elected to Congress from Florida, did not attend. The four are in new member orientation, and the 120th Congress begins its term on January 3, 2027.
Meng said AAPI voters swung nine points since the 2024 election, the second-largest shift of any racial group after Latino voters. She said AAPI voters were the margin of victory in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada, that one in eight AAPI voters cast a ballot for the first time, and that for the first time AAPI voters were more likely than white voters to be contacted about registering and voting. Those voters ranked inflation, jobs and the economy, and health care costs as their top concerns, she said.
Limtiaco: SSI and RECA for Guam
Limtiaco, a former Attorney General of Guam and U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, named two priorities. One is extending Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to Guam; the program covers eligible residents of the neighboring Northern Mariana Islands but not Guam. The other is including Guam in the downwinder provisions of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for survivors of Pacific nuclear testing, which she said Guam residents have pursued for 26 years.
Koh: from the executive branch to Congress
Koh, the grandson of Korean immigrants from Jeju Island and great-grandson of immigrants from Lebanon, is the first Arab American and Asian American elected to Congress from Massachusetts. He served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Biden White House and as chief of staff of an agency at the Department of Labor. He framed his campaign around the American Dream and the cost of living, and said he wants to build pipelines for more AAPI candidates.
Shah: “stop the hemorrhage”
Shah, an emergency physician, said his mother came to the United States to study engineering after a chance encounter in Bombay led a traveler from Michigan to sponsor her. He pointed to rising health insurance premiums and a water crisis in Arizona, and said the first task of the new Congress is to “stop the hemorrhage.”
Pan: representation and funding
Pan, a pediatrician and former California state legislator whose parents came from Taiwan for graduate school after World War II, was the first Asian American to represent Sacramento in the state legislature. As chair of California’s Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus during the pandemic, he said, the caucus secured $165 million in an API Equity Budget to respond to anti-Asian hate, and many community nonprofits had never received that level of funding. AAPI communities are “not only underrepresented, we’re also underfunded,” he said. He added that health care access must include interpreter services.
The committee question
Our question went to the first institutional decision every new member faces: the committee seat. Committees are where the House shapes the rules on health care, technology and AI, energy, taxes and trade, immigration and defense, and where it conducts oversight of the executive branch. We asked the four Members-Elect: As you prepare to enter the 120th Congress, which House committee will you seek, and what legislative agenda will you pursue within its jurisdiction? All four answered.
Shah said he wants a seat on a health committee to lower costs, including premiums that have risen sharply in his district, and to cut the delays patients face from insurance denials and prior authorization.
Koh said he wants to serve on the Oversight Committee, which can investigate any agency of the federal government, and to bring his executive-branch experience to holding the administration accountable. He said AAPI voices belong on that committee.
Pan said assignments will be decided by leadership. As a physician he is also interested in Energy and Commerce. What matters most, he said, is that CAPAC members sit across the full range of committees so AAPI communities are represented in every area of decision-making.
Limtiaco said she will seek Armed Services, Natural Resources or Ways and Means. Each maps onto Guam: the island hosts major U.S. military installations; Natural Resources holds jurisdiction over the U.S. territories; and Ways and Means writes Social Security law, including SSI. As a delegate she cannot vote on final passage on the House floor, but delegates serve and vote in committee. She said she will work with the delegates from the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico on federal equity for the territories.
Other questions
Indian American media asked whether the new members would co-sponsor Meng’s bill to make Diwali and Eid federal holidays, and Meng said she would ask them after they are sworn in. Asked about first priorities, Pan said the first order of business is to “stop the bleeding” on health care cuts and rising prices, while Limtiaco noted that the RECA claim deadline falls in December 2027. Korean American media asked about the U.S.–South Korea alliance; Koh said it has been ironclad under presidents of both parties and that he will work to restore it.
The 120th Congress begins its term on January 3, 2027. Committee assignments will be set around the opening of the new Congress.
