"I missed that last debate, I was still the 4th most tweeted about candidate, despite not even being there," exclaimed Yang to a jubilant crowd at his San Francisco fundraiser Thursday night.
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Fierce online and in line, the so-called "Yang Gang" weathered the storm, for a spot at the event, where tickets cost between $250 and $5,600 each.
"It's incredible to see Asian Americans represented on a political stage," said Jeanette Cheah, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. "Even though he might not be at the top of the polls, he's here to solve a problem like all good entrepreneurs."
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Matthew Wong lives in San Jose and came to the fundraiser with friends and a giant "Yang buck". "He's going to give everyone a thousand dollars a month, universal basic income!"
Like many Yang supporters, Joe Orduna showed up in his MATH hat. "It stands for Make America Think Harder," said Orduna, who added, "I guess the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who loves math!"
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"I gotta say, I love coming back to the Bay Area, it feels like a homecoming each and every time," said Yang, who is from New York, but is often mistaken for a Bay Area guy.
ABC7 News reporter, Kate Larsen, asked Yang to explain his connection with Bay Area voters, who said: "I think many people here in the Bay Area are working on the future. So the people here know what's coming and we need to let the rest of the country know what's coming too.
When asked if he could still win, despite relatively poor polling numbers, Yang said, "this race is very much up in the air. Anyone who's looked at it knows that no one has decided who they're going to support down this stretch, and we've been growing faster than any other campaign, so we're really excited about the next few weeks."
Yang says he's looking forward to the Iowa caucuses in February and the entire primary season, including Super Tuesday in March, when California gets to vote.
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