E-Paper
Kamala Harris top pick for White House run for Democratic women of colour
Harris, who is an American of Indian and African descent, is followed by Beto O’ Rourke, a congressman whose unsuccessful but valiant senate run from Texas, a deeply red state, to unseat the incumbent Republican senator turned him into a star.
Democratic women of color have spoken. Their top choice for the party’s nomination for the White House in 2020 is Kamala Harris, the first time senator from California who expects to announce her run, or not, after the holidays.
Harris, who is an American of Indian and African descent, is followed by Beto O’ Rourke, a congressman whose unsuccessful but valiant senate run from Texas, a deeply red state, to unseat the incumbent Republican senator turned him into a star. Former vice-president Joe Biden, and senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren were the others claiming the top five slots, in that order.
The survey was a straw poll conducted by She The People, an organization which describes itself as an influential network of women of color - nearly 40% of the identified as Latinx (a gender-neutral term sometimes used instead of Latino or Latina); 50% as African American, over 16% Asian, and over 5% as Native Americans. Nearly 90% of respondents identified as members of the Democratic Party
“If the Democratic Party wants to win in 2020, they must address key issues and note which candidates are appealing - or not - to the women of color voting bloc,” said the organization. “It’s crucial to invest in women of color in politics accordingly because their votes will make or break the presidential campaigns.”
And Harris it is for them. A former attorney general from California, has been seen as a potential candidate from the time she came to national attention as a senator in 2016, as one of five Indian Americans to enter US congress, who as a group are being called the “Samosa Caucus”; Harris is also the first Indian American in US senate, and the first African American woman senator.
Every step she has taken since, publicly, has been seen from that lens - specially when she has sternly, and doggedly grilled President Donald Trump’s nominees to the administration as a member of the upper chamber’s judiciary committee - clips of those exchanges have routinely gone viral.
There is a lengthening list of Democrats of considering a run in 2020 as President Trumps struggles with low popularity ratings and scandals. And Republicans lost the House in in the mid-terms in an election that showed Trump vulnerable among women, swing voters, independent voters and those who tend to vote for third-parties, according to FiveThirtyEight, a poll aggregation site.
Hopefuls include, apart from those mentioned above, Senators Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu in US congress, whose announcement is also awaited eagerly, specially by some Indian Americans.
Harris has said she will announce a decision after the holidays. “It will ultimately be a family decision,” she said at an event in San Francisco on earlier this month.”And over the holiday,” she added. “I will make that decision with my family.”
And polls such as this one are likely to influence her decision. She has figured consistently in all major polls - such as one from Iowa recently. This state kicks off the US presidential election seasons, holding the first primaries/caucuses. And Democrats of the state said in a poll by Des Moines Register/CNN recently Harris is among their top five picks.
