South Asian And Proud: How Kamala Harris Is Winning Over Indian-Americans

Kamala Harris’s mother is Shyamala Gopalan, who emigrated to the US at the age of 19.

New Delhi:

In her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Kamala Harris vowed to resist the influence of authoritarian leaders, who she implied have allegedly manipulated Donald Trump’s foreign policy by appealing to his autocratic tendencies. In a bid to position herself against Republican frontrunner Trump, Harris is stressing her resolve on national security, portraying the billionaire as a riskier alternative.

In her speech, Harris made it abundantly clear that her presidency would mark a definitive break from the Trump era, particularly in foreign policy. “I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators,” she declared.

As Dr Sweta Chakraborty, a Climate Surrogate for the Harris campaign, explains, Harris’s approach to policy formation is rooted in a clear-eyed assessment of the threats facing the country, both from foreign adversaries and from within. Dr Chakraborty, who has been closely involved in the campaign and was present at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, noted that Harris’s message is resonating strongly with Indian-Americans and other minority communities who see in her as their leader.

Indian-American Perspective

“Kamala Harris is polling a few points ahead of Donald Trump and will surely get a surge following the DNC. Indian-Americans like myself are banding together and supporting her through various efforts and speciality collaborations. For example, we are raising funds through ‘South Asians in Climate’ after the DNC and ahead of the ‘Harris for President Climate Group’ official launch this September. South Asians are in. Climate voters are in, and as a South Asian climate surrogate, I represent both voter groups that broadly support Kamala Harris for President,” Dr Chakraborty told NDTV.

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Born in Oakland, California in 1964, Harris’s father is Donald Harris, a man of Afro-Jamaican descent while his mother is Shyamala Gopalan, who emigrated to the US at the age of 19 to pursue her doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology.

“Having a President who shares ancestry with South Asians in America shows that South Asian immigrants and their offspring have a clear place in America. A daughter of India can make it to the highest elected office in the United States, which shows that the sky is the limit for the Indian diaspora in the US. Indians in the US already enjoy the status as the highest-earning demographic. An Indian will elevate that status and make history for minorities and women more broadly,” Dr Chakraborty said. 

The Usha Vance Factor

However, Harris is not the only Indian-American whose name and image are plastered across the US presidential campaign. Over at the Republican camp, Trump’s Vice President pick JD Vance’s wife is Usha Vance who traces her roots to Andhra Pradesh’s Vadluru. 

Usha’s father, Chilukuri Radhakrishnan, was brought up in Chennai but went to the US to pursue higher studies. Usha was raised in San Diego, California and she met JD Vance at Yale Law School before getting married in 2014. 

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“Usha Vance and her husband are trading in their morals for power,” Dr Chakraborty alleged. “It is clear they had authentically shared liberal values with friends and classmates from university, but edited and adjusted their stances to maneuver in the conservative party, which they perceived would be the easier route to power.”

Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump 

Dr Chakraborty highlighted a stark contrast between Harris and Trump: where Trump has prioritised tax breaks for billionaires and deregulation of corporate polluters, Harris has pledged to hold the oil and gas industry accountable, invest in a clean energy economy, and ensure that the benefits of climate action are shared by all Americans, not just the wealthy elite.

When Harris ran for vice president in 2020, her climate plan was even more aggressive than what ultimately passed during Joe Biden’s presidency as the Inflation Reduction Act – a landmark climate legislation in American history. Now, as she prepares to release her full climate agenda in September, Harris is positioning herself as the ‘Climate President’ for the United States, Dr Chakraborty said. 

“As an Indian woman, she also represents members of American society that have been historically disenfranchised. She is physically the opposite of Biden and represents the ascendency of women and a future society that is more equitable and fair to all genders and races,” she said.