Asian-Americans make big gains in 2012 election

Hirono said that one of her role models was Patsy Mink, a Japanese-American who went on to become the first minority woman in Congress.

"I know that Patsy's looking down on me and saying, 'You go girl!'" Hirono said. "She ran for Senate, she ran for president, she ran for mayor, she ran for governor. She lost all those races. Here's a model of a woman who did not give up. That's the model I have."

Thirty Asian-American candidates ran for national office this year — the largest number ever — up from 10 in 2010 and eight in 2008. Five new Asian-American and Pacific Islanders were elected, with one race in California still too close to call.

The Asian population was up everywhere in the U.S. throughout the past decade, but as always, California seems to lead the way in terms of the demographic's voter registration. Representing eight percent of the electorate, 1.4 million registered Asian-American voters live in California. In fact, Asian-American and Latino voters account for 90 percent of all new voters added to California’s rolls in the past two decades, said Mark DiCamillo, director of California's Field Poll.