WASHINGTON: The first Indian-origin US Senator has said she will utilise the holiday season to consider whether she will run for presidency in 2020. The 54 year old said the ultimate decision will be a family decision. Speaking at a talk show on the weekend, in San Francisco, Harris said, “It will ultimately be a family decision and over the holiday I will make that decision with my family.” Harris ranked fifth in a November poll of Democratic voters' preferred nominee to take on President Donald Trump's re-election bid. Daughter of an Indian mother who migrated to the US in 1960, Harris was born in Oakland, California, and has a Jamaican-American father.
Her mother Shyamala Gopalan studied science, specifically endocrinology and complex mechanisms of cancer, while her father Donald Harris became a national scholar in Jamaica and earned the opportunity to study economics in the US. Kamala herself, is extremely popular amongst the people and was often called the “female Obama” during Barack Obama's regime. She is considered as being close to the former president. Obama had even endorsed her in her various elections including that of the US Senate in 2016.
Tulsi Gabbard pins her possibility of Presidential bid 2020 on Indian-Americans
America's first Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress, Tulsi Gabbard is currently seeking views from eminent Indian-Americans on the possibility of a Hindu running for American presidency. The 37 year old Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii said a formal announcement could be weeks away or even before the end of the year. If she decides to announce her candidature, she could be the first ever Hindu to be seeking presidential ticket from either of the two major American political parties.
Over half a dozen eminent Hindu-Americans wrote an email on Thursday to some of the top members of the community from across the country to share their “thoughts” with the lawmaker on “the possiblity of a Hindu running for the US Presidency” for the first time in history and the “impact” that could have on the Hindu-American community. A copy of the email shows Gabbard, who was re-elected last month for her fourth consecutive term in the House of Representatives with a record margin, is expected to be in a listening mode.
She expects community members to share thoughts with her on the possibility and chances of a Hindu woman running for American presidency. The community members are also expected to talk about the fund-raising potential of the community and what kind of logistics or voluntary support the community can provide to her in case she does decide to run. An Iraq war veteran, Gabbard has maintained a silence on the issue, but her team has been working hard and gathering as much support as possible.
