28 United States The EconomistJuly 27th 2019
P
ramila jayapal, a congresswoman
from Washington state, sees rapid
change in American politics. Five years ago
she was the first South Asian elected to her
state legislature. In 2016 she made it to Con-
gress, where she is now one of four Indian-
Americans, known collectively as the Sa-
mosa Caucus, in the House. Last month she
became the first woman of South-Asian de-
scent to preside over the chamber. Across
America, she says, “more and more South-
Asian faces are running and winning.”
Her successes cheered her great-aunt in
Chennai, in southern India, who had much
to gossip about over tea with a close friend
in the city, the aunt of another American
politician, Kamala Harris. The senator,
whose mother migrated to California from
Chennai, rarely mentions the Indian side
of her family while campaigning. But as a
front-runner in the race for the Democratic
nomination, she is undoubtedly spurring
others of Indian descent to turn to politics.
(The prominence of Nikki Haley—a Repub-
lican former governor of Punjabi descent,
who served until last year as America’s am-
bassador to the un—also fuels interest.)
Ram Villivalam, a state senator in Illi-
nois, says having a half-Indian senator
running to be president gives a jolt of confi-
dence to Indian-Americans. Ms Jayapal
concurs. Indian-Americans number 4m,
about 1% of the total population, counting
both migrants and their children. Most
have arrived in America over the past two
decades. Many are highly educated,
wealthy and in professions such as engi-
neering or medicine. But whereas older In-
dian-Americans focused on becoming
model citizens and making money, Ms
Jayapal says that those below 40 are “much
more engaged” and “take democracy and
voting to be critical”.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois con-
gressman of Tamil descent, says older mi-
grants shunned politics, worried that
names crammed with many letters would
seem too strange to voters. The young are
more assured and politically sophisticat-
ed. He, too, is thrilled by Ms Harris’s cam-
paign, saying “she puts a little curry into
the narrative” of the presidential race. A de-
cade ago few South Asians ran for office of
any sort in immigrant-heavy suburbs
around Chicago, he says. But since his elec-
tion to Congress in 2016 he estimates that
40 or so candidates have sought elected of-
fice of some sort in the area.Could Indian-Americans really grow
into a significant political force? Their
numbers look too puny to matter as a na-
tional voting bloc. Devesh Kapur, at Johns
Hopkins University, estimates that only 1m
voters of Indian descent are politically ac-
tive. That number could double within two
decades through immigration, more natu-
ralisations and as children age. But even
then few will be swing-voters in close-
fought states, unlike, say, Cuban-Ameri-
cans in Florida. Most are reliably Demo-
crats—77% of Indian-Americans backed
Hillary Clinton in 2016, for example—who
cluster in partisan strongholds such as Cal-
ifornia, New York and Illinois.
Yet there are other ways to amass politi-
cal clout. Mr Krishnamoorthi and Mr Vil-
livalam both suggest “Indian-Americans
look to Jewish Americans” as a model,
since they are seen as active in charitable
and civic life, and as educated, organised
and influential in politics. Mr Kapur, who
wrote a book about the Indian diaspora in
America, also calls them “a weak equiva-
lent of the Jewish-American community.”
He notes that Capitol Hill, for example,
is crammed with staff and interns of Indi-
an-American heritage. They also appear to
be “over-represented” in academia, the
media and other influential posts. He talks
of the growing significance of informal
networks, as well-connected Indian-Amer-
icans find jobs for each other’s offspring.
Ms Jayapal also points to the prevalence of
skilled Indian-Americans (perhaps subsi-
dised in their first jobs by well-off parents)
who work as assistants to senators and rep-resentatives in Washington.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, who runs a
survey of Asian-American attitudes from
the University of California, argues that In-
dian-Americans are exceptional when
compared with other Asian groups. They
are far likelier to get involved in politics as
donors, voters or candidates. High levels of
education, English-language proficiency
and roots in a country with its own long
democratic tradition all help them to take
part in America’s political culture.
Money is also a factor. Average incomes
are among the highest of any minority
group. Although Ms Jayapal gently grum-
bles that older Indian-Americans—the
wealthiest of all—want a photo with a poli-
tician but find “parting with cash difficult”,
younger ones grasp that they can be influ-
ential as donors. Niraj Antani, a young (Re-
publican) member of Ohio’s state legisla-
ture, who is of Gujarati descent, says
Indian-Americans are responsible for a
portion of his fundraising, and sees them
as increasingly skilled in bundling dona-
tions. “They are now hosting [fundraising]
events, not just attending them”, he says.
They are also getting better organised.
Mr Antani points to lobbies such as aahoa,
a hotel association, and a political action
committee (pac) belonging to the Hindu-
American Foundation, as being influential
among Indian-Americans. More signifi-
cant still is the Indian American Impact
Fund, a Democratic-leaning pac, which de-
scribes its mission as, to “wield political
power to fight back” against xenophobia
and anti-immigrant policies under Presi-
dent Donald Trump.
“Indian-Americans have a drive for suc-
cess,” says Mr Antani, “and political suc-
cess is very measurable: how many cabinet
secretaries, congressmen, school-board
members and state legislators do we have?”
He, and his colleagues, are gung-ho about
their prospects. America will see an Indi-
an-American president before too long, he
predicts. It might even be the next one. 7CHICAGO
Indian-Americans see themselves as a coming force in politicsIndian-AmericansSamosa power
The much-claimed Kamala Harris