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Political Strategist Trip Yang explains why the “bubble tea strategy” doesn’t work and breaks down how Zohran Mamdani secured a commanding lead in the New York City mayoral race.
Romen (00:00)
Hey, I’m Romen Borsellino with the GoldSea Podcast and I’m joined today by Trip Yang. Trip is the founder and CEO of Trip Yang Strategies, an award-winning political consulting firm based out of New York. And he’s also an old homie of mine from the Obama campaign. Good to see you, Trip.
Trip (00:17)
Hey man, it’s great to be here and it’s great to see you after so many years.
Romen (00:21)
I know, right? So we met, as I mentioned, on the Obama campaign. That was in 2012. I had a great time on that campaign, but it was very hard work. And I left that campaign saying to myself, I don’t think I ever want to do this kind of work again because it is so laborious and soul crushing in some ways, all the hours you spend talking to people and just the nonstop days. You though, 13 years later are still like, in the thick of it. How did you and I come to such different conclusions about wanting to pursue campaigns, you think?
Trip (00:57)
Yeah,look, I had such a great experience that 2012 campaign in terms of connections and obviously that big win when President Obama won re-election and he won by a big margin in Iowa. But I’m also a glutton for punishment. To your point, it was really hard work. I mean, it’s…You know, I think some folks, I don’t want to sound like an old geezer because, know, Romen we’re only in our late 30s. But, you know, if folks today who were field organizers on the presidential campaigns now realized how many hours we worked back then for the salaries we agreed to, it would be a very eye-opening conversation.
But look, back then it was, you know, was so much fun, it was so much work. You really have to love this type of work to stay in it.
Romen (01:52)
And you’ve been in it, has it gotten easier? I would imagine you’re not spending quite the same amount of hours, are you?
Trip (01:54)
Yeah. It’s so basically, um, if you stay in campaigns, essentially what you do is that, you know, for me, I became a campaign manager for a local race. Then, you know, I became a campaign manager for a citywide race in New York, which is 8 to 9 million residents and then a statewide campaign, which, you know, in some States can get northwards of 20 million residents. You essentially climb the ladder.
Trip (02:21)
Now when you climb the ladder as a campaign operative, whether it’s in campaign management or you become a comms director or some type of specialty, you know, essentially, you know, your time is being valued a little differently. It’s being valued a little bit more because you’re supervising people. You have a specialty. So I did that for a number of years. I worked on two more presidential campaigns, the Hillary 2016 general and the Bernie 2020 presidential primary campaign. And, you know,
Romen (02:50)
I mean, look, I supported both those campaigns, but if you were solely in it to win a presidential race, you could have just quit while we were ahead in 2012.
Trip (02:57)
That’s a good point. That’s the other thing you realize. Politics, political campaigns especially, it treats you to a lot of humility because you realize very quickly on, no matter how many hours a week you work, it really takes a lot of things rolling in the same direction in the country to win one of these large presidential campaigns. So humility is something that the business teaches you fast.
But look, to finish that thought, as you get more experienced in politics, a lot of us, become strategists. Some may call them consultants. You essentially, you you start your own business or you work for a company where you do more specialized type of work. So what we do now, you know, I’m about six years into my firm Tripp Gang Strategies. We do a lot of media ads in terms of direct mail and digital ads on behalf of candidates, know, governor, Congress, the more local level, as well as, you know, we provide political strategy, advice for candidates and for corporations etc.
And at that level it’s look you’re not physically knocking on doors anymore obviously you’re off you’re often not even in the campaign office that you know managing the younger day-to-day staff at that level at the strategist consultant level you’re really doing very very specialized work and in a lot of ways it’s what you know is what a natural progression if you’ve been in this business for a dozen or 15 years what what often looks like it’s much more sustainable right because as you get older you really just want to you want to essentially use your skill set all your specializations in a very very targeted way and that’s you know professionally clients you know people who bring you in they’re paying you a higher amount of money for a very specialized skill set
Romen (04:48)
I want to talk more about political consulting specifically in your firm. I noticed on your website on Trip Yang strategies, it boasts that you guys are an AAPI run business, which of course you are and is super bad ass. But my thinking was, my question was, you when you put that up there, was it more for you because it’s something just you’re proud of or was it because it’s good for business? What’s sort of the main impetus?
Trip (05:14)
Yeah, absolutely. I’ll talk about it from both perspectives. So, you when I started my company some around 2019, 2020, like right before the pandemic, I noticed a couple things about politics. The higher you go, the people with the bigger titles and the people who get the bigger contracts and the bigger jobs, it gets whiter and whiter despite America being getting more and more diverse.
We know that AAPIs are, in New York it’s 18 % the fastest growing demographic. Nationally it’s somewhere around 7 % and the fastest growing demographic. However you slice it, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders are just the fastest growing demographic across America. But you don’t have a lot of diversity when it comes to people making the decisions and people really in charge of political organizations. There is a very distinct element I’ll describe in that the elected officials are getting more diverse, which is a good thing because communities are diverse, but the people making decisions are not diverse. It actually gets whiter and whiter and male and older, the higher you go in politics.
And I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing. I don’t want to take a paycheck from anyone. I’m not arguing for that at all. What I am saying is it helps where there’s a real pipeline for people like us who have a different experience and can empathize a little bit differently to one day, you know, have an opportunity to earn their ability to climb the ladder. And so when I started my own company, you know, we’re 100% AAPI owned because I own 100% of the business.
It was really an opportunity to reflect the fact that, look, a lot of political campaigns, they don’t do their media ads and they don’t do their strategy designed for AAPI audiences in mind. And in a state like, for example, in New Jersey, that’s double digit Asian Americans, half of New Jersey AAPI population is Indian American. In a state like Nevada, which is perennially a battleground presidential state where you have the Filipino population as the as largest AAPI demographic.
We’re in a state like California where AAPI as a whole is over six million California residents. You know, that’s a huge gap in the market of voters communities who are not being communicated to in a culturally competent way. So as soon as we start our firm, we wanted to do a couple of things. We wanted to do professional translation of direct mail pieces, which are great for middle aged and older voters and digital ads, great for younger voters. So capturing really the political electorate here, it needed to be translated these different languages and they need to be culturally competent, right? What you say in English, you can actually, you know, nuance the message a little bit when you’re talking to a Chinese American or Indian American or Muslim audience to really have more of a connection.
And one of the final things I’ll say on this is that, look, 10 years ago, it used to be what I call kind of campaigns would just kind of bubble tea their AAPI strategy, meaning they would pour no effort, no resources into communicating and putting in ads or hiring field staff for Asian American communities until probably a month or two before the election. And it’s some really bad shinglish type of written ad.
You know, it was just to me like I always felt growing up that was you know in this business It was really disrespectful and that was just poor quality and in the day that doesn’t help a campaign win And so when we started our firm, we wanted to have, you know, culturally competent Communication and ads and strategy that was catered to AAPI audiences and we’ve done. You know probably ads in about ten different languages really, you know all the East Asian major South Asian as well as Arabic.
And we really wanted to see our communities thrive and be the center of attention. The final thing I’ll say, and to answer your question directly, is that these things go hand in glove. The market in politics for outreach investment in Asian American AAPI communities used to be very small.
You know, 12, 13 years ago, Romen, when we started, it wasn’t much. It really wasn’t much. But, you know, as America changes, the political consulting industry changes as well. And there’s a little bit more investment. You see this from the National Democratic Party, from the state democratic parties in the large states, especially like New York and California, where there’s more intentional budget and investment and thinking set aside to how do we communicate to AAPI audiences. So I like to think, you know, our firm, we’ve contributed a small amount to some of that work, certainly in New York, but it really goes hand in glove. You know, the growth of our firm and growth of our professional trajectory, it really rises in parallel with how in America, political parties put more effort into Asian American communities.
Romen (10:35)
Awesome. Thank you, man. That was a really cool answer. Very cool that it’s just good business. It’s good for like, yes, obviously we all want to pat ourselves on the back and say, you know, we’re woke and we hired, you know, diversity, but it’s also at the end of the day, like if you really want to win, you know, diversity is the way to do it.
Trip (10:52)
Yeah. Yeah. I’m not naive enough to think that you know in modern American politics people just you know They want to check a box because they feel good about themselves. I don’t think that’s how. Quite frankly, you know reality works in politics. And so, you know our pitches, you know with a lot of success is “hey if you invest in Asian American voters It increases your chances of winning and we have a long record of that.” So it’s good for the communities of course and it’s good, you know if whether it’s corporations or public officials having a relationship with Asian American communities but I always center around look if you invest in this it’ll help you win and that seems to you know resonate.
Romen (11:35)
Well, you guys have a pretty good track record, so it seems to be working, and you’ve been winning awards left and right. So you mentioned that if there isn’t diversity from the start, then you end up seeing whiter demographics making decisions, whether it’s at City Hall or in a certain office. A lot of people who start on campaigns have aspirations to then work in administrations. Is there ever a world in which you would want to be one of those folks who sort of works on the governing side, rather than just the campaigns?
Trip (12:07)
Yeah, yeah. So I worked in New York City government for about two and a half years. I was able to do a lot of the community relations with a large elected office in New York, as well as doing intergovernmental affairs, which is a fancy term for essentially coordinating with different government agencies. It was a lot of fun. It’s very fulfilling.
And look, I think a lot of folks who want to work in a congressional office or in city hall or administration, think it’s, look, it’s laudable. It’s just a different atmosphere and it’s a different vibe. I like that experience. I’m very grateful for those several years, but I really like what we do as a company, you know, in terms of running political campaigns and public affairs campaigns and changing public opinion.
Romen (12:50)
That’s great. I feel you on that. I worked for the last two years of the Obama administration and I interviewed in the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior. Energy was like, “we get in at 6 a.m. and leave at like 9 p.m. We wear suits, da da da.” Interior was like, “we dress conservation casual.” like, it was a very chill campaign-esque vibe. I don’t think I would have lasted five minutes in like a really buttoned up, you know, sector of the government. So I feel you.
Trip (13:20)
You nail that on the head. The dress code is probably one of the most immediate things you notice. It’s different. But also say, the thing I like about campaigns, no matter what level you are on the campaign, whether you’re the main strategist deciding the main decisions or the day-to-day manager or the field organizer, campaigns are very fast-paced, which I like. Government is meant to be more deliberative, you know, especially in agencies. So, you know, there is something about that adrenaline rush ⁓ on a campaign of being able to get feedback pretty quickly and seeing results of your work pretty quickly and, you know, in metric form too. It’s a very particular feeling, which I know it’s something you’ve experienced before.
Romen (14:05)
It totally is, but I’ve never really thought of it in those terms about the sort of immediate gratification. And I think that’s probably one of the reasons I was attracted to it in the first place. For example, you know, when I do TV writing, I tend to do late night, which means you write jokes about current events that are on TV later that day. And that’s very different from, say, a sitcom where sometimes it takes years for it to come out. So I think as today’s youth who are addicted to dopamine rushes and quick TikTok videos, I probably suffer from a little bit of that myself of needing those immediate results.
So I obviously got to ask you about the Zohran Mamdani race for Mayor. We ran a piece the day after he won the primary where we looked at the different AAPI demographics and how they really turned out for Zohran. But it seems to me what’s really cool —— AAPI is such a broad term. It can mean South Asians, East Asians —— It seems like you would think South Asians would come to the table for him because he’s South Asian, but East Asians turned out in big numbers too, not to separate them as if there’s some, but what do you think explain that?
Trip (15:19)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So Zohran in my opinion, ran the best modern campaign in New York history. Never before has a modern New York history in the last couple of decades has a mayoral campaign turned out 40,000 new voters who never voted before in a local Democratic primary. That’s a big number because a mayoral primary. Usually it’s about 1 million voters or so 1 million is on the high end. You can turn off 40,000 new voters who’ve never voted before in a local primary. That’s 4 % of the electorate you’re adding. It’s incredible. This is, statistically it’s like a Barack Obama in 2008 or Bernie in 2016.
Trip (16:04)
People talk about expanding electorate, but know, Romen, unless you, you know, unless, you know, folks have done campaigns like we have, it is ridiculously hard to actually expand the electorate and change voter behavior, especially if it is not a presidential election. So what Zohran did was just historic, remarkable. Look, no one expected a 33 year old, relatively junior state lawmaker. No one expects him. He was at maybe less than 0 % a year ago.
You know people probably weren’t taking his calls a year ago a 33 year old democratic socialist to trounce the Cuomo dynasty In New York he is on a as long as he doesn’t make significant mistakes in the next couple weeks He’s on a glide path to becoming mayor. He’d be the first Muslim American mayor of New York the first South Asian mayor of New York He’s got a rich. you know identity. He is of Indian descent He spent a lot of time in Uganda
Of course he’s identified often by his Muslim faith, for example. so ⁓ he’s also, do know him ⁓ bit. Zohran’s a very intelligent, really kind, charismatic person, great, great listener.
So look what he did was remarkable and to answer your question directly AAPIs which are usually were about 18 % in New York City’s electorate were the fastest growing so it’s a huge amount a close to
Half of that is Chinese American by itself, right? And then you have Korean American and then you have South Asian demographics in there. Zohran did extremely well with South Asians, whether they’re Indian American, Pakistani American, Bengali American. You look at some of these neighborhoods, I’m gonna get specific for a bit. Kensington and Brooklyn or Parkchester in the Bronx, they had massive turnout spikes. So he really monopolized the South Asian bloc.
People expected him to because his campaign did make some investment in it, know wise decision But the big surprise was you know about two-thirds of all AAPI’s which are East Asian largely Chinese and then Korean American He won a bunch a lot of these East Asian areas people expected to go for another candidate the reason why is because East Asian Americans in New York have a reputation for voting for a pro safety candidate often especially for an older Chinese American. You may like a tough on crime message from a Democrat. There was another candidate Andrew Cuomo who ran on a tough on crime message.
Romen (18:40)
I’ve heard of that guy, yeah.
Trip (18:41)
Yeah, exactly. But however, Zohran is a great example of you don’t necessarily need to check every box for a voter or demographic. If you’re a charismatic, genuine, you talk about an area they actually do care about a lot, which is affordability, the high cost of living in New York. You can make a lot of inroads. To everyone’s surprise, he won a lot of East Asian areas. And so chalk that up to if you have a good campaign, you can you can go on the offense in a lot of ways.
Romen (19:14)
That’s really cool. I appreciate all of those insights. I mean, I think we both expect that we’ll see the same thing in a few weeks in the next election. Would be a shocker if it went any differently. But a question I wanted to ask about your business, about your own consulting.
How much do you put your own personal beliefs into taking on clients? Will you ever look at a client that wants your services and say, “they’re a little further left than I am or a little more moderate than I am?”
Trip (19:48)
That’s a great question. So the answer is nuanced. There are certain lines you have to draw that you don’t cross. For example, we never do Republican candidates. We never do conservative causes. If someone is MAGA or MAGA affiliated, has some type of a real Trump connection, it’s not something we are comfortable associating with, right, from a value standpoint.
Does that cause us to lose out on some business, especially on the corporate side? Absolutely. But that’s okay, right? You know, there are…Making money is important, especially as you have dependents and fixed costs as you get older, but it cannot be 100 % of your decision making. So really early on as a business owner, ⁓ you draw the line on what you will and will not do. So let’s say we eliminate the 50 % of potential business because it’s conservative, it’s MAGA, it’s anti-LGBT, it’s anti-reproductive freedom, et cetera, right? Let’s eliminate that potential pool of business.
Then you make more subjective calls. Within the democratic ecosystem, course, whether it’s progressives like Bernie Sanders or more centrist Democrats, you kind of have to make your own decision. I identify as pretty progressive. I voted for Bernie in the Democratic primary twice. I was a Bernie delegate. ⁓ But look, on the candidate end, we have worked with candidates who were trying to flip Republican congressional districts.
You know, just last year, the George Santos congressional district ⁓ over in Long Island and Queens, we did an independent expenditure that put back the Democrat in place, Tom Suozzi in the special election. And then in November, you know, we did work with the New York State Democratic Party to help the Democrat, Tom Suozzi, retain it. You know Suozzi is a centrist Democrat, right? I’m personally a little bit more left than someone like he is, but you know, have to, you have to kind of…give yourself a little bit of wiggle room Because you know for a couple reasons one in democracy
You have to have the ability to work with people who you don’t agree with 100% of time. I think that’s just part about you know being an adult You have to just collaborate people you don’t always agree with and then from a business owner perspective if you are Trying to expand your business you’re bringing on new team members You know you need to you know you need to make payroll every two weeks You need to give out or you want to give out bonuses multiple times a year You got an office in Manhattan none of this stuff is cheap in life. Right, as a business owner. So look you have to give yourself some wiggle room there as well.
Romen (22:29)
Very insightful, and I think you and I are probably pretty aligned politically. I will ask you one more question Trip and it comes with a very quick story. Your first day on the Obama campaign, you know, like any day, it was a long, long day, so we went to the only place that was open after work. Do you know what story this is gonna be, by the way?
Trip (22:48)
Man, I kinda know what you’re thinking of. But you gotta remind me.
Romen (22:51)
All right, so we went to the only place that was open after work, which is Buffalo Wild Wings. And we went around and I probably took like a couple medium wings, maybe some boneless barbecue. It was this group of new coworkers you’d never met and it gets to you, you’re like, all of the blazing wings. We’re like, hey buddy, that’s the hottest thing on the menu. And there’s just this sort of air of like, “Maybe you Iowans can’t handle your spices, but you know, we big city coastal elites.”
No, I’m just kidding, you didn’t actually say any of that, but you ordered the Blazin’ and my God, like one bite into this, you were like, what have I done? There was like sweat and tears running down your face. It was gross. It was these new people you just met. And I thought it was the coolest, funniest thing ever because you were just like. “I’m here to have a good time and meet new people and I don’t care how they judge me.”
And everyone ended up loving you for it, but that became a story for which we would roast you ⁓ time and time again. And I will still do it any chance I get. And I don’t think you finished them, though you put up a pretty valiant effort. But my question to you is, if you’re walking into a Buffalo Wild Wings right now, what flavor would you?
Trip (24:11)
Yeah, you know, I learned my lesson, ⁓ know, ⁓ humility goes a long way in life and in politics. I probably stay away from the blazing because to your point, I could not finish it at all. I tried many times, maybe got to two or three of them. That was hot. And, know, you learn real early on that you are not invincible.
So I’d probably get some, you know, I probably play conservative right now. I probably do like some, ⁓ you know, ⁓ probably, probably some honey, ⁓ you know, you know, garlic parm, you know, that’s like the go to, right? If I’m on the wild side, I’ll do like buffalo, a little bit spicy, but I would never do blazing again. I learned my lesson.
Romen (24:50)
Oh man, okay, I thought maybe you were gonna pander to our audience and say Asian zing.
Trip (25:00)
No, don’t pander, be authentic.
Romen (25:01)
Exactly, the Zohran way. Zohran Mamdani way. Alright, clearly I learned nothing. Well, thank you, man. It is great to catch up with you, and you are a badass.
Trip (25:10)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, man. It’s a pleasure to be here. And you’re doing a lot of milestones as well, my friends. So keep in touch. And this is awesome. And it’s great to see you grow your platform.
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