At first, I think, not much. Mr. Yang filed his paperwork to enter the race in the fall of 2017, but he didn’t generate any buzz until our colleague Kevin Roose wrote about his campaign months later. And even then, it took an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2019 for people to really start to learn his name.

Because, in the beginning, he was talking so much about the automation of jobs held by the white working class (truckers, for example), and because the audience for podcasts like Mr. Rogan’s is mostly white men, white men formed the base of his support.

But as college students and other young voters started taking notice, Asian-Americans began showing up at his events in significant numbers. They were not shy about telling me that they were drawn to him in part because of his race. And in general, I think his supporters — Asian-American and otherwise — are sad he dropped out, but confident that this isn’t the last they’ll hear from him.

Do you think race was a reason he lasted longer than other candidates? Was the #YangGang diverse?

The Yang Gang certainly became diverse, both racially and ideologically. He attracted Trump voters and Bernie Sanders supporters and everyone in between.

Research from AAPI Data has shown that as Mr. Yang’s campaign grew, so did financial support from Asian-Americans. And money keeps a campaign viable. But I think he hung on so long, mostly because it was impossible to leave a town hall of his and not feel like he was genuinely normal, very likable and extremely concerned about the future. For many voters sick of politics as usual, that was more than enough.