Usha Vance is the 4th person of South Asian descent to be part of the 2024 presidential campaign. Why that matters

CNN
 — 

Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar was filled with pride Monday night as Donald Trump made his highly anticipated announcement of who would be his running mate in the 2024 election.

But it wasn’t Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s name alone that elicited the reaction for the founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition and the chair of the Hindu and Indian Coalition of the Republican National Committee.

It was Vance’s wife, Usha, a 38-year-old Yale graduate and the daughter of Indian immigrants.

“Hindus have come a long way,” Kumar said, noting the growth of their population and political power since he moved to the United States in the late ‘60s. “It’s about time,” he said, adding the Vances “are going to represent a new generation of Americans.”

The 2024 presidential campaign has seen three politicians of South Asian descent vying for the White House: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both competed during the Republican primaries, while Vice President Kamala Harris is running for a second term with President Joe Biden.

On the second night of the convention, both Haley and Ramaswamy unequivocally backed the Trump-Vance ticket during prime-time speeches at the Republican National Convention.

And Wednesday night, Usha Vance will introduce her husband as Trump’s running mate in a speech that marks her first official move as a member of the Trump-Vance campaign.

As Asian Americans take a more central role in the 2024 presidential campaign, political activists from both parties say they hope the increase in representation will correspond with a push to connect with a voting bloc that has long been overlooked.

The increase in South Asian representation in politics is “phenomenal,” said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, a national organization that works to increase representation and civic engagement among Indian and South Asian communities.

“Since Impact was founded in 2016, representation within South Asian communities went from approximately 50 elected officials to more than 300 nationwide, including obviously the vice president of the United States Kamala Harris,” Patel told CNN.

That representation, Patel added, is key because “it helps reimagine what’s possible for our community.”

Trump campaign sources tell CNN they think Usha Vance could appeal to minority voters.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group of eligible voters in the United States, according to a recent analysis by Pew Research Center.

Since 2020, according to Pew, the number of eligible Asian American voters has increased by 2 million – roughly the population of Nebraska.

But despite their growing electoral power, both parties need to do more to engage with this critical voting bloc, said Christine Chen, executive director of APIAVote, a nonpartisan group dedicated to empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

“Heading into this cycle, we believe that the scars of 2020, in terms of what we experienced with the rise of anti-Asian hate as well as dealing with the pandemic, that everyone understands the role that elected officials play and the importance of us casting our vote,” Chen said.

“We’re also trying to reemphasize to the campaigns and the parties that they really need to do a better job in terms of reaching out to our growing base of (the) electorate, but also doing it early.”

Last week, APIAVote, in collaboration with AAPI Data, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the AARP released the 2024 Asian American Voter Survey, a survey of the key issues driving Asian American voters this election cycle.

While 90% of Asian American voters surveyed said they plan to vote for president, Congress and other offices this November, the survey also notes that half said they have not been contacted by the Democratic Party, and 57% said the same of Republicans.

“This is disturbing because this has consistently been the case cycle and after cycle,” Chen said.

That lack of outreach, she said, has the potential to swing elections in battleground states like Georgia, where APIAVote’s data shows the number of eligible Asian American voters exceeds the margin of victory in 2020.

But, Patel said, like every voting bloc, the powerful symbol that representation brings also has to be married with substance and commitment to the issues that matter to Asian American voters.

According to the Asian American voter survey, the economy, education, inflation and immigration were “highly important” for Asian Americans this election cycle.

Kumar said immigration is top of mind for many South Asian Republican voters because of the backlog facing millions of Hindu and Indian Americans who are waiting for green cards.

And while they differ politically, Patel said his organization has heard from many progressive Indian American voters who are also concerned about immigration, particularly the plans outlined in Project 2025 – the conservative blueprint for the next Republican president – that call for mass deportations.

Chen said the work must continue to engage with Asian American voters – many of whom are immigrant, first-time voters – to understand the key role they could play in the upcoming election.

“It’s actually for us to protect a democracy,” she said. “Everyone needs to participate. It’s no longer a democracy if only a few participate in the election process.”