The ABCD of US politics: American-born Combative Desis face MAGA heat

TOI Correspondent from Washington: The daughter of Indian immigrants is challenging one of New York’s most powerful Democrats. In Colorado, an Indian-American Republican is running for attorney general. And across the country, candidates of Indian origin are seeking office under both the Democratic and Republican banners, extending a political presence that is no longer confined to Congress.While much of the attention in the US midterm elections on November 3 is focused on congressional contests and gubernatorial races featuring candidates such as Democrat Ro Khanna in California (for the House of Representatives) and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio (for the Governor’s mansion), the growing desi footprint reaches further down the ballot -- to state attorneys general, legislatures and local government.One of the most striking examples is Saritha Komatireddy, the Republican challenging New York Attorney General Letitia James. Until recently, Komatireddy was hardly a household name outside legal and Republican political circles. But a combative televised debate with James on October 8 has given her greater visibility and a much larger platform.It’s an uphill battle: New York is heavily Democratic, James is an established political figure who prosecuted Donald Trump, and Komatireddy is making her first run for elected office. Yet the challenger has turned her legal credentials and tough-on-crime message into a campaign that is attracting attention well beyond her prospects of actually winning, including an editorial thumbs-up from the Wall Street Journal.Komatireddy, 41, was born in Brooklyn to parents who emigrated from India in the 1980s. A Harvard Law School graduate, she clerked for Brett Kavanaugh before his elevation to the Supreme Court, worked as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, and served as chief of staff at the Drug Enforcement Administration under President Biden. Her prosecutorial career included terrorism and narcotics cases, and she was nominated for a federal judgeship that failed to materialise.Komatireddy is not alone in seeking a statewide legal office. In Colorado, Hetal Doshi, a first-generation Indian-American and former federal prosecutor, entered the Democratic race for attorney general. She previously served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. Her candidacy illustrates how Indian-American professionals are competing for offices that extend well beyond the familiar terrain of immigration and foreign policy.The congressional contests offer another measure of that growing reach. Four Indian-American Democrats in the outgoing House -- Ro Khanna and Ami Bera of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia -- are seeking re-election. Meanwhile, Democrat Amish Shah, a physician born to Gujarati immigrant parents, is running in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, and Pia Dandiya, an educator and former school principal whose parents emigrated from India, is contesting Florida’s 22nd District. Both have received backing from the Democratic leadership.On the Republican side, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Cincinnati-born son of Indian immigrants, is running for governor with President Trump’s endorsement. His candidacy offers a reminder that Indian-American political identity does not dictate party allegiance: Ramaswamy’s conservative message and Komatireddy’s law-and-order campaign stand in sharp contrast to the progressive politics of Jayapal and Khanna.But the path to political acceptance is not always as straightforward as a Republican label might suggest. Some hard-line MAGA activists have made clear that conservative credentials do not necessarily trump race, ancestry or religion. Ramaswamy has faced attacks from within the right, including a primary rival who derided him as an “Indian boy” pretending to be American. Other critics have questioned how a Hindu can represent a state whose population is predominantly Christian.The backlash against Indian professionals during the MAGA movement’s bitter H-1B visa debate has reinforced the contradiction: Indian-Americans can be celebrated as successful entrepreneurs and political allies while being cast by nativists as outsiders competing for American jobs and cultural influence. Even Indian-American Republicans have faced hostility over their heritage or religion. For candidates such as Ramaswamy, the test is therefore not simply whether voters accept their politics, but whether the movement they represent will accept them as fully American.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.