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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline NOVEMBER 06, 2026 | The Indian Eye 18

The Indian American Vote:

From Success Story to Civic Power

OUR BUREAU
New York, NY

he 2026 midterm elections will
mark an important turning
Tpoint for Indian Americans.
The community has long been cele-
brated for its achievements in med-
icine, technology, entrepreneurship,
hospitality, academia and business.
But increasingly, another measure of
success matters: civic power.
On November 3, Americans will
elect all 435 members of the House
of Representatives and 35 senators,
along with governors, state legisla-
tors and local officials. With control
of Congress finely balanced, com- Irving illustrate how Indian American
paratively small groups of voters con- voters have become part of the battle
centrated in competitive states and for the suburbs.
congressional districts can matter This does not mean Indian Amer-
enormously. icans constitute a predictable political
That’s where the Indian Amer- bloc.
ican vote comes into play. Decisive Recent data point instead to a
and with ability to swing electoral out- community becoming more politically
comes in key states and districts. diverse. The 2026 AAPI Voter Survey
More than 5.2 million people of found that 66 percent of Asian Indian
Indian origin live in the United States, respondents preferred Democratic
according to research cited by the candidates for the Senate, versus 22
Carnegie Endowment for Interna- percent preferring Republicans. But the Trumbull portion of the 2024 and Suhas Subramanyam are among
tional Peace. Its 2026 Indian Ameri- the subgroup samples were compar- State House District 122 contest, the those seeking reelection to Congress
can Attitudes Survey was based on a atively small, meaning these numbers Democratic and Republican candi- in 2026. Vivek Ramaswamy is running
nationally representative sample of should be understood as survey pref- dates were separated by just 11 votes. for governor of Ohio as a Republi-
1,000 Indian American adults. erences, not election forecasts. In the townwide Registrar of Voters can. In California, Ro Khanna faces
The community’s geographic That independence may ultimate- election, only 85 votes separated the Republican Ritesh Tandon, while in
footprint is politically significant. Cen- ly increase the community’s political two candidates. Washington Pramila Jayapal faces Re-
sus-based 2020–2024 estimates put the relevance. Neither Republicans nor These results do not prove that publican Nirav Sheth.
Asian Indian population at approxi- Democrats should assume they own Indian Americans determined either Neil Makhija, president of Indian
mately 551,000 in Texas, 427,000 in New the Indian American vote. contest. They demonstrate something American Impact and an election-law
Jersey, 177,000 in Georgia, 160,000 Issues ranging from inflation, arguably more important: in local and expert, once described second-gener-
in Pennsylvania, 128,000 in Michi- healthcare, education, immigration, state races decided by tens or hun- ation Indian Americans as “a bridge”
gan and 131,000 in North Carolina. public safety and discrimination com- dreds of votes, an engaged communi- between immigrant communities and
Those numbers alone do not pete for voters’ attention. In other ty that registers, votes and participates American civic life: “We have the ex-
translate into votes. Not every Indian words, Indian Americans are increas- consistently can possess influence perience, we grew up in immigrant
American is a citizen, not every citizen ingly voting not simply as members of vastly greater than its percentage of families, but we are also very much a
is able to vote, and not every eligible a diaspora but as Americans making the population might suggest. part of the American public and civ-
voter turns out at the polls. Yet geog- judgments about their families, com- Trumbull is a microcosm of the ic life, and want to see the two come
raphy matters. Indian Americans are munities and country. larger American story. The question together.”
increasingly concentrated in precise- My own town of Trumbull in Con- is not whether Indian Americans are For decades, Indian Ameri-
ly the suburban communities where necticut, offers a compelling lesson in numerous enough to dominate an cans have accumulated educational,
close elections can be won or lost. how civic participation can translate election. They need not be. The real professional and economic capital.
Consider Georgia, Michigan, into political influence. Census data question is whether they are concen- The next frontier is to translate that
Pennsylvania and Texas. Reporting show that Asians now constitute 9.2 trated, registered, informed and mo- achievement into democratic par-
on the midterms has identified these percent of Trumbull’s population, al- tivated enough to matter when the ticipation. The community does not
states, together with New Jersey, as though that figure includes Asian com- margin is narrow. need to speak with one political voice.
places where Indian American voters munities beyond Indian Americans. The rise of Indian American In fact, it should not. Democracy is
could become consequential in com- The significance of such num- candidates reinforces that evolution. strengthened when citizens debate,
petitive contests. In Texas, commu- bers becomes clearer when measured Democratic Representatives Ro disagree and then vote according to
nities such as Sugar Land, Plano and against actual electoral margins. In Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera their convictions.

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