“It means everything to me to have a Black woman at the top of the democratic ticket,” said Gemeem Davis, cofounder of Bridgeport Generation Now.
Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to be the Democratic presidential nominee when the party closes the delegate voting tonight.
That will make Harris the first Black woman and first Indian-American to secure a major party’s presidential nomination.
“It means everything to me to have a black woman at the top of the Democratic ticket,” said Gemeem Davis, a Connecticut delegate and cofounder of Bridgeport Generation Now.
Harris was the only Democratic to seek the nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month. Party officials announced last week that she secured enough votes but kept a virtual vote open until 6 p.m.
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Davis said Black woman have been crucial to the Democratic party for years, and Harris’s nomination is a reflection of that.
The news also excited Indian-Americans in Connecticut.
“If someone from our region does something big, whether it’s the CEO of Microsoft or – it always makes us happy,” Indian Association of Central Connecticut President Dhilan Shah said.
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The IAOCC is non-political and doesn’t make endorsements.
Republicans, though, say voters care about how a candidate will help them, not about their race or ethnicity.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care what your race is, what your gender is, what your nationality, what your religion is – if you’re running for president you better have answers for those questions,” Connecticut Republican Chairman Ben Proto said.
Shah agrees, saying members of his organization won’t vote for Harris or any candidate just because they are also Indian-American.
“It's merit is what we look at, whether they deserve to be there,” he said.
Davis said her support for Harris isn’t just because of race. She touted Harris’s career as a prosecutor, California's attorney general, U.S. senator and the vice president.
She also praised Harris’s stances on issues, notably her defense of abortion access.
“She's most definitely qualified and she’s also right on the issues,” Davis said.
Proto hopes voters are tired of having a Democrat in the White House. He tied Harris to President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration and inflation.
“All-in-all I'd say the Biden-Harris Administration has been a disaster over the last number of years,” he said.
Democrats initially scheduled a virtual vote while Biden was seeking the nomination because the party’s convention, which starts Aug. 19, at one time was too late for Ohio’s deadline ballot.
Ohio lawmakers agreed to move the date, but Democrats decided to move forward with the virtual vote even after Biden dropped out.
