23 July 2023

South Asians In U.S. Presidential Politics

Two of the candidates for the GOP Presidential nomination, of the seven who are likely to make it to the first Republican Presidential debate, and the current U.S. Vice President, a Democrat, have South Asian ancestry.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Hindu businessman, and Nikki Haley (Nimarata Nikki Haley, née Randhawa) former Governor of South Carolina and former US Ambassador to the UN who was born and raised as a Sikh, and is now a Methodist, are both running for the Republican Presidential nomination. Haley is one of the better polling candidates whose name is not "Trump". 

Vice President Kamala Harris is also of Indian decent. Her mother was from Chennai. Her father was from Jamaica. Harris was exposed to both African American Christian life and Hindu religious life as a child and is now a member of the American Baptist Church (the most politically moderate, predominantly white Baptist denomination). At this point there are no really viable announced Democratic challengers to the Biden-Harris ticket, even though a couple of candidates have thrown their hats into the ring.

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