Senator Kamala Harris whose mother was Indian and whose father was African American, is losing out on Indian American voters.
Harris, whose first name means “lotus” in Sanskrit, hasn’t made her Indian ancestry a central part of her presidential campaign. Sumit Ganguly, a political science professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, called it a smart choice given the breakdown of African American and Indian American voters in the country according to the Washington Examiner, but said it was “a source of a little bit of unhappiness in the Indian American community.”
The Indian American community is four-million strong and left leaning. Representing more than 1% of the population, it has increasing political clout. Almost 50% of voting-age Asian Americans cast a ballot in the 2016, and about 1.5 million of them were Indian, according to India New England News.
Harris raised more than $387,000 from Indian Americans through June. Despite Harris dominating Gabbard in a slew of early primary polls, the first Hindu elected to Congress, boosted by her pro-Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stance, was only a touch behind with $374,000. Booker’s active role in his local Indian American community helped him attract $248,000. Biden, in comparison, earned $173,000 since he entered the race in April from the community who’s seen him take part in annual White House Diwali celebrations, according to the Washington Examiner.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story.
