Several Asian-American candidates made history in Tuesday's Democratic primaries, including the leader in the city comptroller race. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.

A beaming John Liu celebrated on Primary Night Tuesday, after finishing first place in the city comptroller race and securing a place in the runoff for the Democratic nomination. If elected, the Queens councilman, seen above, would become the first Asian-American to hold a citywide office.

"This is a watershed for the community," says Hunter College Professor Peter Kwong.

To Kwong, Liu's strong showing is due to a number of factors, from the steady increase in the city's Asian populations, combined with a more sophisticated approach to politics.

"Even though the candidates are Asian, they seem to be be able to appeal to broader voter populations, and that is able to articulate issues that's going beyond simply Asian-Americans," says Kwong. "So that sophistication, that's something the candidates have learned."

Kwong points out Liu was far from the only Asian-American candidate celebrating Tuesday night in the Democratic primaries.
Taiwan-born educator Yen Chou pulled off a win in Liu's Queens City Council district.

The borough could soon add an additional Asian City Council member, as lawyer Kevin Kim defeated five rivals in the Democratic primary for the seat now held by failed mayoral candidate Tony Avella. Kim is on track to become the city's first Korean-American council member.

The biggest upset came in Lower Manhattan, where community organizer Margaret Chin unseated incumbent Alan Gerson. Chin, a Chinese-American who ran for the seat three previous times since 1991, would be the very first Asian to represent Chinatown.

"For the first time, an Asian-American will represent the city's oldest, largest and most concentrated voting block of Asian-American voters here in Chinatown," says Glenn Magpantay of the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund.

Magpantay says the historic wins are a long time coming.

"We've been struggling and becoming citizens, we're registering to vote, we're becoming educated in the process," says Magpantay. "Things like bilingual ballots really help Asian-Americans exercise the right to vote. Things like candidate guides, the Campaign Finance Board translating guides on the elections."

Yet the test is still not over. The city comptroller runoff is on September 29 and the general election is a little less than seven weeks away.