Aarohi Dalal and Anshu Jain gained’t be capable to vote in November’s common election — Dalal, at 15, is simply too younger, and Jain doesn’t have U.S. citizenship.
However that’s not stopping the Milpitas mom and daughter from getting concerned on this yr’s unprecedented presidential race, with Kamala Harris, the kid of an Indian immigrant, making an attempt to make historical past as not solely the primary girl elected as president of the USA but additionally the primary president with South Asian heritage. Each Dalal and Jain have been concerned in a letter-writing marketing campaign to steer different South Asian individuals in swing states to vote for Harris.
Anshu Jain, left, and her 15-year-old daughter Aarohi Dalal at their Milpitas residence on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group)
They’re not the one ones.
For most of the a whole bunch of 1000’s of Bay Space residents with South Asian roots, Harris’ roots within the area and background as an Indian girl — even when they see it as secondary to her insurance policies — have elevated their curiosity on this yr’s presidential race.
Jain, who has lived within the Bay Space for 17 years, mentioned she had by no means concerned herself in politics earlier than Harris grew to become the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July.
“Just the fact that a person, a child of immigrants, she could get to such a position within our political system and is contending to be a president, that’s kind of a big deal for me,” Jain mentioned.
Indian-born residents are the biggest inhabitants of immigrants in Santa Clara and Alameda counties, the 2 largest counties within the Bay Space, with a mixed inhabitants of 250,000 first-generation immigrants in each — and that would have an effect on the election.
They See Blue, a Bay Space-based group that seeks to mobilize South Asian voters to help Democratic candidates, is a testomony to the dimensions and affect of South Asian Bay Space residents. The group was created in 2018 after its co-founders had been annoyed with former President Donald Trump’s administration. Its membership swelled after Biden dropped out and Harris rose, co-founder Rajiv Bhateja mentioned.
“I would say the engagement level just blew up. It just exploded,” he mentioned.
“They see” is a pun on the phrase “Desi” — one other time period used to confer with individuals of South Asian descent. Bhateja mentioned they selected the identify as a result of South Asian individuals would perceive it, however it could nonetheless be accessible if non-Desi individuals had been interested by getting concerned.
They See Blue now has chapters all around the nation, and has been serving to supporters host “postcard parties” — occasions the place they meet to write down playing cards to different South Asian individuals in swing states, urging them to vote for Democrats this yr. Attendees on the postcard events will usually customise their notes and write them in South Asian languages like Punjabi or Gujarati if the origin of a recipient’s identify signifies that they could perceive them. Bhateja mentioned.
Along with the roughly 200,000 handwritten postcards the group has despatched out, it has additionally put out radio and TV ads in not less than 9 completely different South Asian languages, and its members usually attempt to cellphone financial institution and canvas within the native language of the particular person they’re talking to.
“We really try to leverage our relational connection with these voters,” he mentioned.
South Bay resident Radhika Rangarajan is worked up about the potential of a Harris presidency — it means Harris may very well be somebody her two daughters may look as much as, she mentioned. Along with speaking politics on the postcard events, Rangarajan can be gearing as much as pitch a Harris presidency at household gatherings this month, since Election Day this yr can be 4 days after the Hindu vacation Diwali.
Akin to discussing politics across the Thanksgiving dinner desk, Rangarajan is anticipating the subject to come back up as she celebrates Diwali and the occasions that precede the annual pageant of lights.
“As long as we all actually stay within the boundaries of civility, it’s fine. That’s what makes these gatherings very exciting to be very honest,” she mentioned with amusing.
Alternatively, California Republican Nationwide Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon mentioned Donald Trump’s insurance policies may attraction extra to the Bay Space’s South Asian diaspora. Dhillon mentioned her dad was a health care provider in India and needed to redo a lot of his medical coaching when he legally got here to the USA to observe right here. For individuals like him, Trump’s efforts to crack down on unlawful immigration may very well be a draw, she mentioned.
Dhillon mentioned she’s supportive of Trump due to his insurance policies but additionally feels that Harris hasn’t completed a lot to attraction to South Asian individuals in the USA.
“The only time she ever engaged and identified as South Asian was in some media stories in the South Asian press and in fundraisers,” she mentioned. “Otherwise, she did not identify with the South Asian community, and now she’s sort of changed that over the years to get votes, but it isn’t authentic to me.”
Dhillon mentioned she doesn’t assume Usha Vance, J.D. Vance’s spouse, and her Indian-American background has drawn in voters both — although “it’s a nice footnote,” she mentioned.
After posting it on Instagram, the submit unfold like wildfire, making its method by WhatsApp group chats across the nation. A Google search of “Lotus for POTUS” immediately ends in a whole bunch of T-shirts, stickers, pins and different merchandise brandishing the slogan.
Dandekar mentioned he didn’t anticipate it to have such an influence however felt prefer it was a snapshot of the sentiment that many South Asian individuals in the USA shared when Harris grew to become the nominee.
“There was just a lot of joy and exuberance then, so I think it sort of, more than anything else, captured that exuberance and really framed it around what our community represents when it comes to the Indian-American experience,” he mentioned.
For nonetheless different South Asians within the Bay Space, Harris’ id is an added bonus to the insurance policies she helps. San Jose resident Shachi Patel has been interested by politics since she first volunteered with Barack Obama’s marketing campaign in 2008 and this yr isn’t any exception — although it’s what she sees as Harris’ general competency for the job of president that drew Patel’s help.
“It doesn’t matter — gender, ethnicity, and all that,” she mentioned. “You have to do work, and this is hard work. And we need to have people who are going to actually do the work.”
Dandekar agreed. “As far as I’m concerned, her identity is a great way for people to relate to her, but they’re not to distract from her record and her agenda and her policies.”
