The star of this trend is Nikki Haley, born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, who is favored to win the election for governor of South Carolina, but has faced her fair share of criticism and accusations of abandoning her culture:
Indian heritage is where Haley's similarity with the other candidates seems to end. She is the only Republican, the only one who has been widely mistaken for a white woman, the only one who has been accused of abandoning her heritage for converting from the Sikh faith to Christianity.Reshma, Surya, Manan, Raj, Ami, Ravi, Nimrata and Kamala. Some have chosen to downlplay their Indian-ness. Other wear it more prominently (it's not something you can really hide for long). Whatever the case, it's obvious we're a country that's still getting used to the idea that public office can be held by someone other than white Christian men.
Yet when Haley's motives are questioned and some suggest Indians must become less "foreign" to get elected, many of these new candidates are quick to ask: Who are we to judge the mashup of American ambition with an ancient culture?
Manan Trivedi, a doctor and Iraq war veteran who recently won a Democratic primary for Congress in eastern Pennsylvania, said he did not view his ethnicity as a handicap: "The American electorate is smarter than that."
He called criticism of Haley's name and religion unfounded. "Nikki Haley and (Republican Louisiana Gov.) Bobby Jindal are on the wrong side, but they worked their butts off, they had the bonafides to get the votes, and I think it had so much more to do with their work ethic than the fact that they may have changed their names and adopted a different religion."
