The Lesser-Known Side of Harris’s Identity: Asian American

Some Asian American leaders are rooting for Kamala Harris to become the first Asian American president. But she is not widely known as Asian American, reflecting the complexity of the identity.

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Daniel Chiang can remember one Asian American who ran for president in 2020: Andrew Yang, a Taiwanese American entrepreneur. But he was surprised to learn last week that there was another person running for president then, and in 2024, who counted herself an Asian American: Kamala Harris.

“I never got that impression,” said Mr. Chiang, 38, a Taiwanese American from Connecticut.

Ms. Harris, the vice president and likely Democratic nominee for president, is known widely as the first Black woman to be elected vice president.

But Ms. Harris, whose mother emigrated from India and whose father emigrated from Jamaica, is less known as an Indian American and Asian American. Asked to name a famous Asian American, only 2 percent of Americans said Kamala Harris, according to a recent survey by The Asian American Foundation.

Ms. Harris does not shy away from talking about her Indian heritage and Asian American identity. She speaks often about the strong influence her Indian mother and grandfather had on her life. When she has addressed gatherings of Asian American leaders as vice president, she has often spoken in terms of “we” and “us” and referred to herself as a “member of the community.”

As a freshman senator, Ms. Harris, who assumed that role in 2017, was a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, as well as the Congressional Black Caucus. She has been a high-profile surrogate for the Biden administration to Asian Americans, hosting Diwali and Lunar New Year celebrations and even an Asian-themed night market at her residence in Washington.

ImageNam Nguyen said that it was “kind of neat” to see someone who also identified as Asian American at the top of the ticket. But Mr. Nguyen said he was more excited about the possibility that Ms. Harris could be the country’s first female president.Credit…Lawren Simmons for The New York Times

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