[4] Qi began her career in politics with under the administration of Montgomery County executive Ike Leggett, who asked her to serve as a liaison to the Asian American community after his election win in 2006.[13] In June 2020, Qi coordinated the donation of 20,000 masks from Xi'an, a sister city of Montgomery County, Maryland, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14][15] In August 2020, Qi joined a half dozen Maryland legislators in sending a letter to Governor Larry Hogan to push for widespread antibody testing and public disclosure of the results.[20] In April 2016, Qi endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries[21][22] and Chris Van Hollen in the 2016 United States Senate election in Maryland.[26] In March 2018, Qi testified in support of naming an elementary school in Montgomery County after Bayard Rustin, noting that her son came out as gay the summer before he began college.