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Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), the first Asian-American member of Congress from New York State, has been elected as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. According to a press release, she was voted into the position unanimously by Committee members at the post-Democratic National Convention meeting in Philadelphia. The chair had been left vacant since the resignation of the former vice chair, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), in February.

Rep. Grace Meng with Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile. Courtesy of the Office of Grace Meng

Meng addressed her election in the press release, saying, “I am deeply honored to be chosen for the position of Vice Chair and I thank my DNC colleagues for having confidence in my ability to serve in this leadership role.”

The congresswoman also expressed optimism for her party’s agenda moving forward.

"Democrats have an ambitious and robust agenda that includes such critical items as immigration reform, gun safety legislation, helping middle class families and much more,” she said. “I look forward to tackling these measures, and helping to get them enacted with the next President of the United States Hillary Clinton.”

Meng recently spearheaded a bill to eliminate all known uses of the term “oriental” in federal law. It was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives as well as the Senate, and was signed by the President into law on March 3.

At the Democratic National Convention this past week, she spoke with eight other members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in a presentation that marked the first time a group of Asian-American and Pacific Islander elected officials spoke at a national political convention.

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