Just days after Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, announced she would not seek re-election in 2016, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, 50, declared her bid for the seat Jan. 13. She’s widely seen as the frontrunner even if the race becomes an insider fight among Democratic contenders given California’s open primary system.
Harris can arguably take the support of Indian-Americans for granted, not only because a majority of them are supporters of the Democratic Party in California and nationally, but also because of her heritage. Harris is the daughter of a Tamilian mother Shyamala Gopalan, and an African American father from Jamaica Donald Harris.
Democrats hope that with her tough-on-crime, law enforcement image and experience as an AG, she will also appeal to the Republicans among them. Republicans in California, however, see Harris as an Obama-liberal, one who invokes her Indian-ness opportunistically and one who has grabbed the chance Sen. Boxer’s exit regardless of the fact that she was just sworn in for her second term as Attorney General.
Meanwhile, Harris has begun to widen her appeal — from a zero-tolerance, crime-fighting image — by addressing larger issues.
“I will be a fighter for middle class families who are feeling the pinch of stagnant wages and diminishing opportunity. I will be a fighter for our children who deserve a world-class education, and for students burdened by predatory lenders and skyrocketing tuition. And I will fight relentlessly to protect our coast, our immigrant communities and our seniors,” Harris said when declaring her candidacy.
Indian Background
Harris was the first Indian-American and first African American woman to hold the AG post in the history of this country. If elected, she would also become the first in those two categories to be in the Senate.
In her biography on her website, Harris does not shy away from her immigrant heritage. As the 32nd Attorney General of the state, it says, “She is the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian to hold the office in the history of California.” Born in Oakland to a physician mother originally from Chennai, and a Stanford economist father, Harris received her undergraduate degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She recently married Doug Emhoff, a partner in a leading law firm, and is the author of the book Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer.
Needless to say, Harris thrives on her reputation as a chief law enforcement officer of the largest state in the country, combating transnational gangs, building a technology and date-driven law enforcement force, reducing elementary school truancy, but also known for negotiating a deal with banks to secure $20 billion for California home-owners during the mortgage crisis. She began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. In 1998, she joined the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she led the Career Criminal Unit. She also served as the head of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Children and Families.
Bipartisan Support
Kamil Hasan, an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, believes Harris can garner bipartisan support from Indian-Americans within California and nationally. “She is one of those unique politicians who are not only politically savvy and highly competent, but who stick to principles and do not say what the voters want to hear,” Hasan told News India Times.
She is no doubt one of the big symbols of the heights to which Indian-Americans can reach, he said, but getting elected to the Senate from the largest state, that’s a whole other ball game. “It will definitely mean that our community has finally “arrived”,” according to Hasan. He thinks this election would be an opportunity for Indian-Americans to transcend political differences and join in supporting her. “Her election will elevate the image of the community to new heights, and demonstrate to America that we are a community to contend with,” he claims.
That is not how the California Republican Party Vice Chair Harmeet Dhillon thinks. While Harris is the presumed frontrunner with the ability to raise tens of millions of dollars, she still has to contend with California’s voting system, where the top two vote-getters face a run-off, Dhillon feels. In addition, “the refrain I hear from Indian-Americans is she only uses her Indian-American (heritage) when raising funds,” Dhillon says, adding, “she barely comes to (meetings/gatherings) Indian-American groups.” Regardless of the criticism, Dhillon acknowledges that Harris will get the same support she got in her Attorney General race from the predominantly Democratic Indian-American community in California. But she “seriously doubts” Harris will get the support of Indian-American Republicans at the national level during her campaign. No Democrats supported Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal or South Carolina Gov. Nikki Randhawa Haley during their races, she notes.
But not all Indian-American Republicans are averse to supporting Harris. Sampat Shivangi, national president of the bipartisan non-profit Indian American Forum for Political Education, says he would support Harris in his individual capacity as a Republican, and organizationally through the IAFPE. “Indian-Americans will definitely support her irrespective of their party. I am a Republican and I support her. We will support her because of her caliber, integrity and because she is Indian-American.” He said he had not found Harris reluctant to identify herself as Indian-American.
Two- year Campaign
For the next two years Harris has to be the chief law enforcement officer of California even as she runs a full-fledged campaign for the Senate, a situation fraught with political consequences that might prove negative. At least that’s what opponents hope.
Dhillon agrees that as half Indian, Harris’ candidacy has generated a lot of excitement. “But I voted for her opponent (in the AG race). I think she is very liberal, very opportunistic, and has not done a good job as Attorney General in addressing safety and security issues as they affect me.” But voting day is 2 years from now during which Harris’ long record and how she got to where she is, will be laid bare, Dhillon adds. Particularly Harris being so eager to give up the Attorney General job she just swore to perform few days before declaring her Senate candidacy, will reflect on her character and commitment, Dhillon contends.
National speculation over Harris’ wider political potential going all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue has been rife, as was discussion over Boxer’s impending decision to quit. Analysts see similarities between an Attorney General race and the Senate contest. Karthick Ramakrishnan, a statistical analyst at University of California, Riverside, who focuses on Asian and Indian-Americans, says Harris has proven she can win statewide. Besides, an Attorney General wins over more moderate voters which will be handy in the Senate campaign. At the same time, Harris is seen as a progressive on gay marriage and immigration, both in her favor in California. Any challenge she faces will be from other equally regarded Democrats, like hedge fund billionaire and environmentalist Tom Steyer, or U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, each of them potentially making a dent in the environmentalist and Latino support for Harris.
Ramakrishnan does not see Indian-American Republicans at the national level supporting Harris. “Being a Republican is already a minority affair and I doubt they would step outside,” he told News India Times. However, bipartisanship has informed other situations, such as the confirmation of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, an avowed Obama supporter, when Republican and Democratic Indians came out to lobby for him on Capitol Hill. Notably, Harris zapped a tweet on Murthy’s confirmation that did not go unnoticed, praising him for being the first Indian-American to become America’s doctor.
“Being Indian-American is a genuine part of her identity and it won’t be a disadvantage especially in a state like California,” which, outside of Hawaii, is the most multiracial state, says Ramakrishnan. “If anything it could be an asset in raising funds.”
More than anything, Harris embodies the new California, along the lines of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. “She is a formidable candidate no matter what,” Ramakrishnan says. California is today even more Democratic than when Senator Boxer ran her first campaign back in 1992. The change in California’s election system to “Top Two” will be where Harris’ experience as an Attorney General will help her most with moderate voters rallying behind her.