Indian Americans win big in US elections despite deep divisions in community

Indian Americans won resoundingly in an election in which their presence was accentuated by Kamala Harris’ candidature as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate. Should the Democratic presidential ticket end up victorious, it will crown what has been a very successful election for the community.

The elections generated more excitement among Indian Americans this year than ever before and featured a record number of candidates from the community in key state and federal races across America, as well as Harris, the first Indian American vice-presidential candidate.

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To begin with, the four Indian American Democratic representatives in the US House — known as the Samosa Caucus — have all been re-elected. While Ro Khanna (California); Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois) and Pramila Jayapal (Washington) have been serving in the House since 2017, Dr Ami Bera is the longest-serving, represented California’s 7th Congressional district since 2013 and being re-elected in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

Making an impact

In a statement, issued after several of the results for Indian American candidates were declared, IMPACT, a prominent Indian American advocacy and political action committee, claimed to have raised a record $10 million to support turnout efforts in the Asian American and Indian American community to elect candidates supported by it.

The funds were invested, according to the statement, in the presidential, state-wide, and congressional races in battleground states, including nearly $2 million apiece in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas. IMPACT estimates there are nearly 500,000 Indian American voters in the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

“This year’s election represented a giant leap forward for Indian Americans’ role in US politics. Indian American voters and candidates demonstrated the burgeoning power and influence of this important voting bloc in decisive fashion, which will help make the difference in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Each and every Indian American candidate deserves to be recognised for their effort, and in particular I want to congratulate Kesha Ram for being the first woman of color elected to the Vermont State Senate, Nikil Saval for being the first Indian American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and Jenifer Rajkumar for being the first South Asian woman elected to New York state office,” Neil Makhija, executive director of IMPACT, said in a press statement.

The winners

Among the winners last night was 29-year-old Republican Niraj Antani, who became the first Indian-American elected to the Ohio state Senate. Currently a state representative, he defeated Mark Fogel of the Democratic Party to become state senator.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani, the 29-year-old son of famous Indian American filmmaker, Mira Nair, won a seat in the State Assembly of New York, representing the Democratic Socialists of America; as did 38-year-old Indian-American lawyer and Democrat Jenifer Rajkumar.

Others who have won are Nima Kulkarni (Kentucky State House); Jeremy Cooney (New York, State Senate); Vandana Slatter (Washington State House); Padma Kuppa (Michigan State House), Jay Chaudhuri (North Carolina, State Senate); Ravi Sandill (Texas, district court judge) and Amish Shah (Arizona State House).

Ranjeev Puri (Michigan State House) and Rupande Mehta (New Jersey, State Senate) are leading in their races. Democratic Indian American candidate for the sixth Congressional district of Arizona, Dr Hiral Tipirneni, was also leading over Republican opponent David Schweikert at last count.

However, Congressional Democratic candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni lost to Republican rival Troy Nehls in Texas, while Republican Manga Anantatmula lost to Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly in the 11th Congressional District of Virginia. Republican Nisha Sharma from the Republican party also lost in her maiden attempt to enter Congress.

India abroad: A community divided

However, despite the 2 million Indian American voters emerging a stronger lobby than in previous years, and Democratic supporters feeling upbeat over the re-election of the four lawmakers, the community has been more divided in the run-up to this election than ever before.

Ro Khanna, the high-profile representative from Silicon Valley, for instance, faced opposition from a section of Indian Americans in California, who rallied together to form a new political action committee, Americans for Hindus, mainly to oppose him. Their reasons included the fact that he was a member of the Pakistan Caucus in the House and also because of a ‘controversial’ tweet by him rejecting Hindutva.

The rift within the community was apparent after a group of former Democratic supporters endorsed Republican Indian American candidate Ritesh Tandon against Khanna. “Our Indian and Hindu heritage played an important part in these elections and though Khanna won with a very comfortable margin, his comments against our culture and religion as well as Jayapal’s anti-India stand were not well received by a large section of the Indian-American community,” says Dr Sampat Shivangi, a high-profile Republican supporter from Mississippi, who has raised funds for President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and also supported other Republicans in their electoral races.

Shivangi added that 12 years ago, when Khanna first embarked on a political career, things were different and many Indian Americans had supported him in a big way. “Several people of Indian origin who supported Khanna now feel let down and have moved to the Republican camp. They feel that President Trump and other Republican leaders have been friends of India and helped bolster Indo-US ties,” Shivangi added.

Meanwhile, Congressman Krishnamoorthi, who scored a strong victory defeating Libertarian Party candidate Preston Nelson, had earlier faced criticism from a section of the Indian American community for attending the mega Howdy, Modi event in Houston, Texas, last year and meeting Prime Minister Modi. It was felt that the Indian government did not represent the interests of minorities. Krishnamoorthi, however, has supported immigration reform since his first term in the House and worked towards addressing the Green Card backlog issue, which affects thousands of Indians in the US.

While most political and public policy analysts feel that Indian-Americans, like most other Americans, usually focus on local issues while voting, it was felt that this year foreign policy issues played an important role for the community, which has been gaining political clout.

“In this election, many Hindus were torn in deciding between which candidate reflects Hindu values, would best support a Hindu-American agenda and the US-India relationship, and fight Hinduphobia and anti-India rhetoric,” said Mihir Meghani, board member and co-founder, Hindu American Foundation, a non-profit organisation.

Meghani added that though a larger number of Indian-Americans still support the Democratic party, there had been a shift to the Republican party before this election as well, partly due to the anti-India and anti-Hindu rhetoric from some in the Democratic party and partly due to what is seen by some as a shift to the far Left on domestic issues within the Democrats.

(Ishani Duttagupta is a senior journalist based in Kolkata.)