You’ve noticed. The Democratic candidate for Vice President is a Person of Color. Kamala Harris’ father was an immigrant from Jamaica. Her mother was an immigrant from India. Kamala Harris is the first South Asian to be nominated by a major party for President or Vice President.
She is not alone among politicians. There are four other South Asians in Congress. All are Democrats: Pramila Jayapal of WA 07, Ro Khanna CA 17, Ami Bera CA 07, and Raja Krishnamoorthi IL 05. Ro Khanna and Ami Bera were born in this country. Ami Bera is running for his fifth term. The others are running for their third term.
Two South Asians attempting to follow Kamala Harris into the US Senate are particularly worth mentioning. Sara Gideon is on her way to oust Susan Collins from her Senate seat in Maine. She is the daughter of an Indian father and an Armenian-American mother. Republican physician Manny Sethi ran a strong race against Trump pick, Ambassador and hedge fund owner Bill Hagerty. .
There are candidates who want to follow the Congressional quartet into Congress. In AZ 06, Hiral Tipirneni defeated another South Asian, Anita Malik 53-37 for the chance to compete against incumbent Republican David Schweikert whose candidacy for reelection has been damaged by ethics charges.
In Texas, former Diplomat Sri Preston Kulkari won the Democratic Primary outright for TX 22, which is an open Republican seat ripe for a Democratic victory. Computer engineer Donna Imam won the Democratic Primary Runoff for TX 31 to oppose the incumbent John Carter. Cook rates this race as Likely Republican but do not rule her out. Pritesh Ghandi lost in his primary runoff to Mike Siegel 54-46 to run against incumbent Mike McCaul in TX 10.
In New York, Suraj Patel made his second try to unseat long-time Member of Congress Carolyn Maloney. He came closer this time in the Democratic primary – losing 43-39 after a very long count of absentee ballots.
With a population of slightly more than 6 million South Asians are slightly less than 2% of Americans. With four Members of Congress and a Senator (half a Senator?), South Asians are now 1% of Congress. It will not be long before they have representation in proportion to their population. And Kamala Harris – have South Asian, have African American – will be Vice President.