ATLANTA — Indian American voters in Georgia are charged up, volunteering and donating this election cycle.

The reason is simple: Vice President Kamala Harris is set to make history Thursday night as the first South Asian and Black woman to accept a major party’s presidential nomination  in the United States.

And she’s not the only Indian American to rise to national prominence in American politics in 2024. Both Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy both ran for the Republican nomination, and now Usha Vance, wife of Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, could be the next second lady.

In swing state Georgia, which President Joe Biden won in 2020 by just 12,000 votes, Asian American turnout has been growing faster than any other group. And their recent representation in American politics has many Indian American voters extra excited.

The Indian American voter turnout rate has always been high, at 71% in 2020, according to an analysis conducted by AAPI Data. For many, however, that’s where their political engagement ended. This election cycle, many organizers and leaders of groups like Post March Salon and South Asian Women for Harris say they’ve seen a surge in Indian Americans looking to volunteer or donate money.

 Jasmina Chhabra, a 43-year old working mom who lives in the Atlanta area, says she’s one of those energized voters. “The minute that V.P. Harris was nominated, I felt a sudden surge. It was extraordinary to think that we have yet another chance for a female to be president. To think that she is a South Asian woman, a woman of color,” Chhabra said.

She has now volunteered to be the Georgia chapter lead for Post March Salon, a group that organized a fundraising Zoom call for South Asian women supporting Harris and raised over $300,000 from approximately 9,000 attendees in 2 hours. 

Chhabra says she also supports Harris because of her stance on women’s rights and equity. She says as a mother, having her daughter see someone who looks like her being elected president makes her emotional. Many Indian Americans who are rallying behind Harris have started social media memes and are selling merchandise touting “Lotus for POTUS,” playing off Kamala’s name — which means Lotus in Sanskrit. 

There are 4.4 million Indian Americans in the United States, making them the largest subgroup within the Asian American community and the second-largest immigrant group in the country behind Mexicans. Experts say Indian American voters can play a role in the outcome of the 2024 election, especially in battleground states. According to AAPI Data, the Asian American voter turnout rate has been increasing more rapidly than the Latino, white and Black voter turnout rate in Georgia, a battleground state that went for Donald Trump in 2016 but flipped blue in 2020.

“In a close race, Asian Americans can make a difference,” especially Indian Americans as they are the largest national origin group within the Asian American population in the state, said Bernard Fraga, a professor of political science at Emory University. “They are really poised to have a big impact on 2024 if the election stays close here.”

A 2024 AAPI Data survey found that 55% of Indian Americans identify as Democrat, 25% identify as Republican and 15% identify as independent. While still a majority, the number of Indian Americans identifying as Democrats has been decreasing since 2020, as the number of Indian Americans identifying as Republicans has been increasing.

Kartik Bhatt, a Georgia voter, who emigrated from India when he was 19, is equally energized for the 2024 election for the Republican Party. Now 42, he went from working at a grocery store to owning a shopping plaza in suburban Atlanta. He’s even run for statewide office. He says he cares more about the issues than identity politics and believes that Trump is the better candidate when it comes to policies that will help small-business owners like him and that he’ll be tougher on the border. He says he’s seen a jolt of excitement in his Indian community surrounding this election.

 “Before, our Indian, Asian, South Asian community, India, Pakistan, Nepal, they don’t know about the election. … Now a lot of people are registering to vote,” Bhatt said.

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