Walz voters react to vice presidential candidacy
After the announcement of who their governor would be Kamala Harris’s chosen vice president, Minnesota residents expressed differing views.
This election year, Nalini Rau-Murthy had prayed to the Hindu mother goddess Devi and asked for leaders who would take care of everyone.
“For women, for minorities, for everyone,” said Rau-Murthy, who moved from India in the 1980s and now teaches classical Indian dance in New York.
But even though she volunteered to register new voters, she was not very optimistic about the presidential campaign until Kamala Harris, whose middle name is Devi, became the candidate.
Vice President Harris, the daughter of an Indian immigrant and a Jamaican immigrant, is using her heritage to mobilize voters.
To win in November, Harris will need to build a broad coalition that includes a significant portion of independent and unaffiliated white voters from the suburbs of swing states, says Laura Tamman, assistant professor of political science at New York’s Pace University.
Ultimately, Harris will face Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump. Trump received 55% of the white vote in 2020.
“She doesn’t have to win over the majority of white voters, but she has to come pretty close to the success of President Joe Biden, who won 43% of white voters in 2020,” Tamman said.
Harris is making strategic decisions to appeal to this broad group, including white voters, she said. “You can see that in her choice of Tim Walz (Governor of Minnesota) as her running mate, but also in the issues she focuses on and the places she holds campaign events,” Tamman said.
With reproductive issues on the ballot in many states and abortion driving many women to the polls, Shekar Narasimhan, founder of the AAPI Victory Fund, believes even more white women will vote this fall than in 2020.
He could be right.
More than 164,000 women met on Zoom to drum up support among white women for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. The number of participants was so high that the platform crashed several times, according to published reports. The meeting, which was attended by singer P!nk and actress Connie Britton, among others, raised $8.5 million.
But people of color, and perhaps especially Asian Americans, will also play a key role, Narasimhan said.
Asian Americans have been the fastest-growing voting group in the United States over the past two decades, growing by 15 percent, or about 2 million eligible voters, in the past four years alone. That’s faster than the 3 percent growth rate for all eligible voters over that period, according to Pew Research.
Yet voter registration among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is 10 percent below the national average.
In swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the number of Asian Americans who voted in 2020 exceeded the presidents’ electoral margin, according to AAPI data.
If they vote this year, it could help Harris win the White House, Narasimhan said.
For Rau-Murthy, Hindu symbolism is already on Harris’ side.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance has derided Harris as a childless cat lady (though she actually has two stepchildren). In many stories in Hindu mythology, a Devi defeats a selfish opponent, often riding a lion or a tiger – a big cat, Rau-Murthy said, laughing at the parallels.
“It is an act of justice that a strong woman who is smart, intelligent, composed, confident, who knows right from wrong and is multicultural is taking on him,” Rau-Murthy said.
Can she be both black and Indian?
Although Trump recently asked a group of black journalists how Harris could be both black and Asian, more than 10 percent of the US population now identify as biracial.
Mr. Rangaswami is the father of two biracial children. He is an Indian immigrant married to a Greek-American. He says he was confused by Trump’s comment., which implied that Harris identified as black in order to get votes.
Being biracial is “a great strength,” he said. “You have to deal with two cultures and dual identities. When my children are with their Greek relatives, they can identify with that side, and when they are with my Indian relatives, they feel like Indians. They are both. It’s fluid and nuanced.”
In fact, Harris has always accepted both sides of her heritage.
She grew up singing in a black church choir and joined a black sorority at her historically black college, Howard University.
More than 44,000 black women joined a call for support the night Harris announced her candidacy, helping to raise more than $1.5 million.
A similar virtual appeal called “South Asian Women for Harris,” launched by actresses Mindy Kaling and Poorna Jagannathan, both of Indian descent, attracted 9,000 women and raised $250,000.
Four years ago, when she was a California senator and a brief presidential candidate, Kaling invited Harris into her kitchen to make dosa, South Indian lentil and rice crepes. Harris talked about how she grew up eating yogurt rice, “lots of idli,” potato curry and dal – the ultimate South Indian staples.
When Harris married Doug Emhoff in 2014, she placed a garland of flowers around his neck and a mangalustra, a sacred band worn by Hindu brides, around hers, both nods to her Indian heritage. The ceremony in a Santa Barbara courthouse ended with the breaking of a glass, marking his Jewish roots. (Coincidentally, Harris will be the keynote speaker, closing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, their 10th wedding anniversary.)
The most effective communicators and leaders fully embrace their own life story and connect it to a larger story, in this case the history of America, said Terry Szuplat, a former speechwriter for Obama and author of “Say It Well,” a forthcoming book on public speaking.
History ‒ including Barack Obama‘The two elections, according to the politician, show that voters want leaders who are proud of who they are, where they come from and the life experiences that have made them who they are, he said.
In that sense, Harris’ legacy is part of what makes her such a compelling leader for many Americans.
“Her family’s story embodies America at its best – a unique place in the world that truly welcomes all people in a diverse, inclusive democracy,” Szuplat said.
The more she shares her inspiring life story, the more people will see her life path as a reflection of their own.
“The kind of deep, emotional connection that drives people to volunteer, donate and knock on doors can make all the difference in a close election,” he said.
Daigre Thomas, who immigrated from Jamaica 20 years ago, says she immediately felt a connection to Harris.
“I know she loves music because she’s always dancing and always smiling,” Thomas said. “Jamaicans are happy people. No matter what we go through, we’re probably laughing about it.”
Harris’ intersectionality also speaks to Hermian Charles, who moved to the United States from Grenada at age 21 to attend Baruch College in New York City.
Seeing the meteoric rise of a Caribbean islander’s daughter made her proud.
“I am so excited about the possibility of having the first woman president make history and that the first woman of color in the presidency could be of Caribbean descent,” she said.
As a black mother of a 20-year-old daughter, she said representation is important to her.
“It will make a huge difference when people of color have experienced first Barack Obama and now Kamala as president of the United States,” Charles said. “The ancestors are smiling.”
Does the party still matter?
According to the 2024 Asian American Voter Survey, conducted in partnership with AAPI Data, a growing number of Asian Americans now identify as independent – 31% compared to 25% in 2020.
This offers the opportunity to reach communities that would not normally be targeted, says Narasimhan.
Thomas said she was “undecided” about voting in this election until Harris was nominated. But now “I’m ready to vote,” she said.
She believes Harris is good at understanding what wealth inequality means and what impact it can have on a country.
“In Jamaica, there is the poor side and the rich side,” she said. “I think she is exposed to all of that. We don’t have to explain it to her because she understands.”
Rau-Murthy, for her part, believes that the fact that two Hindu festivals are taking place shortly before the election – one dedicated to the goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga and called Navaratri, the other Diwali – is another good sign.
“Both mark the victory of good over evil,” she said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @SwapnaVenugopal
