Indian-Americans helped Democrats win Georgia Senate race, says Impact


PTI | Washington DC | Updated: 12-01-2021 13:02 IST | Created: 12-01-2021 13:01 IST
Indian-Americans helped Democrats win Georgia Senate race, says Impact
Representative image Image Credit: Twitter @massdems)
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Asian Americans, including the rapidly growing Indian-American community in Georgia, played an important role in helping Democrats win the two crucial Senate races in the state, a political action group has claimed.

The Indian American Impact Fund said, according to preliminary results, Asian American voters favoured Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff by more than 30 points over their Republican opponents.

After African American voters, Asian American voters had the highest turnout in early votes among all non-white groups, it said.

IMPACT raised a record USD 2.5 million to ensure Indian American voters turned up in large numbers, the organisation said adding that this proved to be a key factor in the Democrats' success in the state.

Warnock and Ossoff became the first Democrats elected to the Senate from Georgia in two decades. Moreover, their victory over the Republicans will give the Democrats a majority in the US Senate come January 20 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking a 50-50 tie in the upper chamber of the US Congress.

Impact said it invested heavily in digital advertisements, mail pieces and grassroots organising, in addition to the most comprehensive poll of Asian American voters that identified important voter preferences and demographics.

Nearly three out of every four Asian American early voters received some sort of election-related mail piece from IMPACT.

“The rapid transformation of Georgia from a deeply red state to one now represented by an all-Democrat delegation in the US Senate is a testament to the growing power of Asian American -- and in particular Indian American -- voters,” said Neil Makhija, executive director of IMPACT.

''Our experience in Georgia created a blueprint for Democratic success in states once considered out of reach: build a broad-based, multi-ethnic coalition and invest in each community early with deep organising efforts and culturally competent messaging,” Makhija added.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic in Georgia (and nationally), and Indian-Americans are the largest Asian American group in Georgia.

While the general eligible voting population in Georgia grew nine per cent between 2012 and 2018, the Indian American voting population grew by 231 per cent.

There are an estimated 238,000 eligible Asian American Pacific Island (AAPI) voters in Georgia, and a population of over 150,000 being Indian-Americans.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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