How Kamala Harris’ rise helped Indian Americans in politics: The Los Angeles Times

(Swetha Kannan, Sandhya Kambhampati and Rahul Mukherjee are writers at Los Angeles Times. This piece first appeared in LA Times’ July 27 edition.)

• In a sign of the group’s growing sway, more Indian Americans than ever are running for Congress. In the last six years, nearly 80 candidates made it on the ballot, soaring far beyond numbers seen in past elections. Leading the wave are successful candidates from California, like Kamala Harris, who rose from a Senate seat to become vice president. Thanks to a long-standing immigration pipeline to the U.S., Indian Americans have become one of the country’s fastest growing ethnic groups. Their numbers have increased five times over since the 1990s and make up 1.3% of the U.S. population …