How Andrew Yang Quieted the Asian American Right

Yukong zhao wasn’t always a Republican. The Chinese American businessman and longtime independent started to drift to the right in 2014, when he led Asian activists in a campaign against affirmative action that culminated in a high-profile lawsuit against Harvard University. When the Trump administration came out in support of the cause in 2018, he started to give the GOP a closer look. In December, Zhao announced his bid for a Florida congressional seat on the Republican ticket.

The movement against affirmative action, spearheaded by Chinese Americans like Zhao, generated...