Harris says more Indian American representation is needed in government
Source: NBC News
May 17, 2024, 3:48 PM EDT
Addressing a crowd of Indian Americans this week, Vice President Kamala Harris asserted the importance of South Asians running for office, saying theres not nearly enough compared to the groups size in the U.S. Indian Americans are now the most populous Asian-alone group in the country, surpassing Chinese Americans in September.
This means 4.4 million people identified themselves as Indian-alone or 100% Indian on the 2020 U.S. Census, marking a 55% increase over the course of a decade. Despite that, there are just five Indian American members of Congress out of 535. Harris called on that to change in remarks Wednesday at the nonprofit organization Indian American Impacts annual summit Desis Decide in Washington, D.C.
Over the years, weve had so much more participation by Indian Americans in the electoral process running for office, Harris said. But the numbers are still not reflective of the size of the growing population.
She encouraged the group to participate in any way possible and to regard this upcoming election as vital to their lives. Sixty-eight percent of Indian Americans lean toward the Democratic Party, making them one of the most progressive Asian American groups.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/kamala-harris-more-indian-american-representation-needed-government-rcna152761
marble falls
(60,263 posts)Deuxcents
(18,592 posts)LiberalFighter
(53,149 posts)BumRushDaShow
(138,077 posts)notably in NJ and they have been elected/appointed to state offices there. E.g., Gurbir S. Grewal, who was AG of NJ (prior to the current one) - https://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases18/pr20180116a.html
There's also a good-sized community in NoVA as well.