washington — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ meteoric rise to the top of the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket has energized many Indian Americans, raising the fast-growing community’s political profile and sparking widespread excitement.

Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, appears set to become the first female presidential nominee of color after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. But the fervor isn’t solely about her nomination.

Many Indian Americans, regardless of political leanings, are equally electrified to see other notable figures of Indian descent in the national spotlight: Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, as well as former presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I’m very proud that Indian Americans are making it on every stage,” said Shaker Narasimhan, chair and founder of AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters and supporting Democratic candidates.

Narasimhan recalled being on a call with about 130 people when news broke that Biden had dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Harris.

“Everything lit up, literally: the chats, the DMs, the phones,” Narasimhan said. “But it was all with excitement, not wonderment, like, ‘Wow.’ It was like, ‘Oh my God, let’s go,’ This is just the opportunity of a lifetime, as far as I’m concerned, for us to show our muscles.”

The enthusiasm cuts across the political spectrum. Priti Pandya-Patel, co-founder of the New Jersey Republican Party’s South Asia Coalition, said the community is buzzing about the prospect of Usha Vance becoming the country’s first Indian American second lady.

“I think it’s just a proud moment to see our community actually being out there and being noticed,” Pandya-Patel said. “I think that is definitely getting our Indian community very excited.”

5 million in US

Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities, surging more than tenfold since the early 1990s.

Today, there are roughly 5 million people of Indian descent living in the United States, making them the largest Asian ethnic group and the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans.

While Indian Americans vote Democratic more than any other Asian group, roughly 20% identify as Republican.

The Indian American community has traditionally been perceived as politically less active than some other ethnic groups. However, there are indications of growing political engagement within the community.

A recent survey of Asian Americans, including those of Indian descent, found that 90% intended to vote in the November election even though 42% had not been contacted by either party or candidate.

The Asian American Voter Survey, of nearly 2,500 voters, was conducted between April 4 to May 26 by several Asian American groups.

“So that suggests a potential gap in engagement,” said Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the non-partisan American Hindu Coalition.

Shukla said the election presents a “tremendous opportunity” for the Indian American community as well as the two major political parties.

“I think Indian Americans need to recognize their power, especially because many of us do live in either purple states or purple districts,” Shukla said in an interview with VOA, referring to battleground states in the U.S. presidential election. “On the flip side, I think that it’s a real opportunity for the parties to do not just a checkmark or a checkbox-type outreach, but genuine outreach. Have town halls. Have listening sessions.”

Spokespeople for the Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to questions about their community outreach efforts.

Both campaigns mobilize voters through grassroots organizations.

Deepa Sharma, deputy director of South Asians for Harris and a delegate to next month’s Democratic National Convention, said her group is “working closely with people on the ground who will knock on doors, will do phone bank and outreach to this community.”

Indian Americans comprise less than 1% of U.S. registered voters, according to a 2020 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But almost one-third live in closely contested battleground states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

That puts them in a position to sway the outcome of the November election, said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, a progressive group.

“The South Asian American population far exceeds the margin of victory in the closest elections in these states,” Patel said.

Voter turnout steadily climbing

In 2020, the Biden-Harris ticket carried more than 70% of the Indian American vote, according to Patel, adding that support for Harris is likely to edge higher this year.

“She has drawn considerable support from the South Asian American community because she has consistently shown up and fought for our values, fought for our issues,” Patel said.

Earlier this year, Harris spoke at Indian American Impact’s “Desis Decide” summit, where she credited Indian Americans and Asian Americans with helping to get two Democratic senators elected in 2020 and 2021.

Patel said voter turnout among South Asian Americans has been steadily climbing in recent years. In 2020, for example, more than 70% of registered South Asian American voters turned out to vote in Pennsylvania, he said.

“I think they’re going to be instrumental in delivering the White House this November,” Patel said.

Similar predictions by groups such as Muslim Americans have sometimes failed to materialize.

But Narasimhan said turnout could be boosted with the right voter mobilization strategy, adding that voter education is key.

“Just because you’re a citizen doesn’t mean you can vote, you have to register,” Narasimhan said. “Teaching people the basic rudimentaries of what’s early voting, what’s absentee balloting, what’s going to the polls, navigating the system is critical, and we have to do that basic education.”

On the Republican side, activists are betting that Trump’s close ties to India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi will translate into votes for the former president.

“Trump has been friendly to India and that makes a big difference,” Pandya-Patel, the Republican activist in New Jersey, said.

Whether Indian American support for Trump is rising remains unclear.

In the recent Asian American Voter Survey, 29% of Indian Americans said they intended to vote for Trump, largely unchanged from four years ago.

Trump has called Modi a “true friend.” In 2019, he and Modi addressed a joint rally in Houston, Texas, that attracted more than 50,000 people, many supporters of the Indian prime minister. At the “Howdy, Modi!” rally, Trump called Modi “one of America’s greatest, most devoted and most loyal friends.”

Pandya-Patel said the rally boosted Indian American support for Trump, whose friendship with Modi, she added, is a key reason many Indian Americans back him.

Shukla of the American Hindu Coalition said there is a perception among some Indian Americans that the Democratic Party is not “a Hindu-friendly party.”

That may partly explain a recent “shift” in Indian American party affiliation, she said.

In the Asian American Voter Survey, the number of Indians who identify as Democrats fell from 54% in 2020 to 47% in 2024, while those identifying with the Republican Party rose from 16% to 21%.

Anang Mittal, a Virginia-based commentator who previously worked for House Speaker Mike Johnson, said the apparent shift reflects less a “sea change” than shifting political attitudes.

“I think the country as a whole is sort of shifting towards Republicans because of the larger issues that are plaguing this election,” Mittal said.
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washington — U.S. diplomats and military officials rejected concerns that recent — and sudden — changes to the American political landscape are a sign of weakness, warning America’s adversaries Thursday against trying to seek any sort of advantage.

“They should think again,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, briefing reporters.

“They should be disabused of the notion that we are anything but focused on the national security challenges that the country faces,” he added. “That includes responding to our adversaries when appropriate.”

At the Pentagon, officials insisted that whatever challenges U.S. adversaries might have in store, the U.S. military is ready.

“As to whether or not our adversaries are testing us at this particular time, they’re always testing us,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“It’s just a nature of who they are and what they do,” he told reporters. “I don’t think that this particular point in time is any different.”

The warnings from Washington come less than a week after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection, instead endorsing fellow Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris to run against former president and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump.

In an address from the White House late Wednesday to explain his decision to quit the race with just more than 100 days to go until the presidential election, Biden spoke in stark terms about the future of the country.

“Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said.

“America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division,” he added. “We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy?”

Adding to the public concerns, the U.S. military announced just before Biden’s speech that, for the first time, Russian and Chinese long-range strategic bombers flew a joint training mission, coming within 350 kilometers of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska.

Other officials have also warned of emboldened U.S. adversaries.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday told lawmakers that Iran still seeks retribution against Trump and some of his advisers for the January 2020 killing of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

“We need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime, including right here in the United States,” he said, while declining to share details of a reported assassination plot against Trump.

“I expect there will be more coming on that,” he said.

Others have voiced concerns about the actions of Iranian proxy forces, like the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, or attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.

“We are taking away capability from the Houthis,” said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown Jr., speaking to reporters Thursday at a Pentagon briefing.

“But at the same point, it’s going to take more than just a military operation,” he said. “This is an engagement with the international community, but also the [U.S.] interagency to use the various tools to put pressure on the Houthis to cease this.”

At the State Department, spokesperson Miller said no matter the challenge, U.S diplomats will be up to the task.

“The president has made it incredibly clear to the secretary and the rest of the national security team that he expects them to be focused for this next six months, that he expects them to advance the foreign policy objectives that he laid out from the outset of the administration and we have put into place over the course of the last three and a half years,” he said.

And should any adversary seek to weaken the U.S., the Pentagon’s Austin said, the military will be waiting.

“I think we’ll continue to see this going forward,” he told reporters. “But again, we have the world’s greatest military, most capable military, and we will continue to protect this nation.”
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Who will she pick? That’s the big political question in America after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and Vice President Kamala Harris became the likely Democratic nominee. The selection in question is Harris’ running mate against Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman is at the White House and has this report. (Camera: Anne-Marie Frederick)
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday explained to American citizens and to the world why he decided not to stand for reelection in the 2024 presidential race. Biden, speaking from the Oval Office, also outlined what urgent challenges he sees as the nation careens toward a November vote. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports.
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washington — After three days of silence over his stunning decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, U.S. President Joe Biden took to prime time television Tuesday to give Americans, and the world, an explanation in a speech that was at times hopeful, at times determined, and at times wistful.

Biden spoke of his five decades in public office, touted his presidential record of domestic and political achievements – but then called for energetic new leadership to face tomorrow’s challenges.

“I revere this office,” said Biden, his hands resting on the glossy, hulking Resolute Desk, the gold-brocade drapes of the Oval Office framing his sloping shoulders. “But I love my country more.”

“Nothing – nothing – can come in the way of saving our democracy,” he said. “That includes personal ambition. So, I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices. Fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”

Biden also thanked Vice President Kamala Harris, who has taken to the campaign trail with his endorsement and enough delegate pledges to net the nomination. He described her as “experienced,” “tough,” and “capable” but added: “the choice is up to you.”

He did not name-check his Republican opponent in the race. But analysts say Biden’s stark warnings all point to one man.

“He talked about polarization,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University. “He talked about violence and political violence. Those are all things that harken back to Donald Trump and his presidency. He talked about the threats facing the nation when he first took office, January 2021. And so that was certainly about Donald Trump. But yeah, this wasn’t a place for him to talk about Donald Trump. It wasn’t a place for him to give a campaign speech.”

Biden’s job now, he said, will focus on domestic challenges like civil rights and voter freedom, gun safety reforms, the quest to end cancer and Supreme Court reform. He also cited the various challenges the U.S. faces abroad, with wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine and China becoming more emboldened in the Indo-Pacific.

It’s those foreign fires, analysts say, that are likely to concern voters who were already worried about Biden’s future.

“That’s really the concern I think people will have, which is: How does a lame duck president deal with foreign policy crises?” said Thomas Schwartz, a history professor at Vanderbilt University.

That question may be answered as soon as Thursday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House in what administration officials told reporters Wednesday is an attempt to stitch up the first phase of a longer cease-fire deal that will end the brutal nine-month conflict in Gaza.

In a sign that foreign leaders may be hedging their bets in this electric American election cycle, the Israeli leader is also holding two other meetings while in the U.S., with Harris and Trump.

But for the final act of this presidency, Joe Biden remains the protagonist on America’s biggest stage. The ending, analysts say, is a classic.

“What has stopped Joe Biden is the thing that has stopped every human being since the beginning of time, and that is, we age,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the policy and research firm Third Way. “And it got to the point where I feel he could do the job, but he couldn’t convince the American people that he could do the job.”

But this could also be a triumphant moment for the 81-year-old president, who was widely thanked by Democrats for making the decision to step aside.

”In some ways,” Kessler said, “he’s like an athlete that is going to make the Hall of Fame and is retiring and gets the cheers from the crowds, finally, for a long, 50-year, tremendous career.”

Biden clearly understood that this address would be a dramatic peak. So, he used his final words to break the fourth wall, with a message as old as America:

“The great thing about America,” he said, “is here, kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands.”

Kim Lewis contributed from Washington.
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washington — President Joe Biden said he is “passing the torch to a new generation” as he explained his abrupt departure from the 2024 presidential race to Americans for the first time on Wednesday night, during an Oval Office address capping more than 50 years in politics.

“I revere this office,” Biden said. “But I love my country more.”

Biden, 81, rebuffed weeks of pressure from Democrats to step aside after a disastrous debate performance on June 27, saying at one point that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to go.

“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” said Biden. “That is the best way to unite our nation.” 

The president made his decision after days of soul-searching and agonizing over internal polling that predicted he could lose to Republican Donald Trump in November and drag down fellow Democrats with him.

“The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule. The people do,” he said. “History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America — lies in your hands.” 

First major address since announcement

It was Biden’s first extended public remarks since he announced on Sunday via social media that he had decided not to seek reelection on November 5.

Biden is the first incumbent president not to seek reelection since 1968 when Lyndon Johnson, under fire for his handling of the Vietnam War, abruptly pulled out of the campaign on March 31.

Biden also joins James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, Calvin Coolidge and Harry Truman as presidents who all decided not to stand for a second elected term.

Biden faced calls to step aside after his rocky performance in the debate against Trump raised troubling questions about his mental acuity.

Party praises president

Since he stepped aside, however, Democrats have rallied around him, paying tribute to his character and his record as president.

A crowd of staff walked into the White House earlier in the evening to watch the speech together. An official said a reception and viewing party were being held across the White House.

Biden said he will focus on his job as president over his remaining six months in office. He is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday on efforts to negotiate a Gaza cease-fire.

It was the fourth time Biden used the formal setting of the Oval Office since taking office in 2021. His last Oval Office speech was on July 15 when he urged Americans to cool the political rhetoric after the attempted assassination of Trump.

Biden’s political career began when he was elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, becoming the sixth-youngest U.S. senator. He will conclude his White House tenure on January 20, 2025, as the oldest American president when he will have already turned 82.

“The defense of democracy is more important than any title,” Biden said. “I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our Union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures. It’s about ‘We the People.'”
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washington — The 20-year-old man who tried to kill former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally earlier this month appeared to have set his sights on the attempted assassination at least a week before the incident.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Wednesday that while many questions remained unanswered, analysis of a laptop connected to Thomas Matthew Crooks showed the would-be assassin seemed to be fixated on high-profile public figures and searched for information on the 1963 killing of then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy by lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for – quote – ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,’ ” Wray said. 

“That’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray added. “That is the same day that he registered for the Butler rally.”

Seven days later, on July 13, Crooks climbed onto a roof overlooking the campaign rally in western Pennsylvania and fired at least eight shots from an AR-style assault rifle, leaving Trump with a bloody ear while killing a rallygoer and injuring two others.

Crooks, who was killed by a U.S. Secret Service sniper, also carried a remote detonator for two explosive devices left in his car, though the FBI director said the receivers had not been activated and likely would not have gone off had he tried to activate them.

“What else he had in mind is something that I think is very much an open question,” Wray told the House Judiciary Committee. “We’d love to have a road map that tells us exactly what he was thinking. We haven’t found that yet.”

What investigators have found, Wray said, is evidence that the shooter had developed a fascination with high-profile figures, using his mobile phone to get more information.

“The shooter appears to have done a lot of searches of public figures in general … news articles and things like that,” Wray said, adding that images of high-profile officials and politicians found on the shooter’s phone were linked to the articles.

“This does not appear to be some sort of target list,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to it so far, other than that these are all prominent public people.”

By July 6, however, that fascination had morphed into a fixation.

“In the period around July 6, leading up to July 13, he does seem to have become very focused on this particular rally and former President Trump,” Wray said. “But exactly what his thought process was in doing that, that’s something that’s still very much under investigation.”

Other searches of the shooter’s mobile phone and electronic devices have so far not provided any additional insight into Crooks’ mindset.

Wray said the investigation had failed to turn up any evidence of a political ideology or a manifesto, nor have investigators come across any indication that the shooter had help or that he alerted anyone else to his plans.

“So far, we have not found any evidence of any accomplices or co-conspirators, foreign or domestic,” Wray said, adding the investigation appeared to confirm accounts that Crooks was a loner.

“His list of contacts, for example, is very short compared to what you would normally see from most people. It doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of interaction between him, face-to-face or digital, with a lot of people,” he said. 

Still, Wray cautioned that the FBI had not been able to access all of the shooter’s social media accounts and that investigators might never get past some of the passwords and encryption.

U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, have repeatedly expressed outrage in the days since the shooting, leading to Tuesday’s resignation of the director of the U.S. Secret Service, the agency responsible for providing security to current and former presidents and their families.

The now former director, Kimberly Cheatle, drew additional ire from lawmakers the day before she resigned, repeatedly refusing to answer questions about the attempted assassination while calling the event the “most significant operational failure … in decades.”

The FBI’s Wray on Wednesday took a different tack, assuring lawmakers that the bureau would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation, while committing to provide as much information as possible. 

“We need to know what happened play by play, moment by moment, second by second,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.

“A significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation,” the Republican lawmaker said, accusing the law enforcement agency of what he described as multiple failures over the past several years.

During the more than three hours of testimony, the FBI’s Wray confirmed reports that the shooter had flown a drone at the site of campaign rally about two hours before the event got underway.

He said the flight path took the drone over an area about 180 meters from the stage where Trump was to speak, and that it appeared the drone livestreamed video.

However, the camera appeared to have been pointing away from the podium. 

“We think it would have shown him what would have been behind him [on the roof],” Wray said. “Like, it’s almost like giving him a rear-view mirror of the scene behind him.”

Wray also said investigators had determined the shooter visited the rally site at least three times. 

The first visit, which came a week before the shooting, lasted 20 minutes. A second visit, which lasted 70 minutes, took place the morning of the shooting. And the final visit was the afternoon of the shooting, when Crooks arrived and waited to carry out the attempted assassination. 

Yet for all that investigators think they know after digging into the shooter’s social media and communications, and after more than 400 interviews, Wray said there were other questions that had yet to be answered.

One of those questions is how Crooks got up on the roof of the building overlooking the rally.

Investigators found a receipt showing he had bought a 1.5-meter ladder, but that it was never brought to the scene of the shooting.

Wray said there was also still confusion about whether the shooter had placed the rifle on the roof before the shooting or had carried it up with him right before he started firing.

“The weapon had a collapsible stock, which might explain why it was less easy to observe,” Wray said, noting that the first sighting by law enforcement officers of the shooter actually holding the gun came just seconds before the first shots rang out. 
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washington — After President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee, Republicans quickly focused on Harris and her work on immigration issues, calling her a “border czar.”

Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said at a House Rules Committee hearing Tuesday that Biden appointed Harris as the border czar 64 days into his administration. The hearing focused on an emergency resolution addressing the “failures of the border czar position and its negative impact on our fellow citizens across the country.”

“With Harris at the helm, the Biden-Harris administration made good on their promise to systematically dismantle President [Donald] Trump’s secure border [policies],” Reschenthaler said.

But was Harris appointed as border czar?

Immigration experts say no.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, senior adviser on immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said that early in the Biden administration, Harris was assigned the task of reducing migration to the U.S. southern border and collaborating with Central American nations to address the root causes of migration through diplomacy, development and investment.

“She was never named a border czar. In fact, the border was not her priority issue at all. The border was the responsibility of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She was never in charge of the border per se,” Brown said.

Brown said “czar” is not a recognized term under the U.S. legal system.

“But it has been adopted into American political discourse as, I’d say, a shorthand title for somebody who is given within a White House administration – within the executive branch – broad responsibility and authority to direct the administration across different Cabinet departments on a particular issue or policy,” Brown said.

Border politics

During the pandemic, the Trump administration virtually closed the border to migration, as officials implemented a health order that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants, effectively turning away most migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum.

When President Biden took office in January 2021, expulsions continued, except for unaccompanied minors. Both Biden and Harris openly urged migrants not to come, but they did, presenting a political crisis for Biden at the beginning of his administration.

Biden soon asked Harris to spearhead a “root causes” strategy, banking heavily on using American investments to improve living conditions and discourage migrants from leaving three Central American nations where a significant number of migrants come from: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The Biden administration also reunited families separated under the Trump administration and expanded legal immigration pathways, including increasing refugee admissions and creating a humanitarian program for migrants from Central America, Venezuela and Haiti.

Although it is not known what Harris’ immigration policy will look like, immigration attorney Hector Quiroga said he thinks Harris will continue Biden’s policies, but he noted that Harris’ immigration message has changed.

“Her record is rather interesting because in the beginning, she was very much in the diplomatic kind of way. … With experience [in the vice president office], she has said, ‘Please don’t come’ to migrants,” he said, referring to Harris’ evolution to a stricter tone and tougher message.

Quiroga is referring to Harris’ 2021 trip to Guatemala to meet with former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and address the root causes of illegal migration. During her visit, she emphasized the Biden administration’s commitment to helping Guatemalans find “hope at home.”

And she issued a stern warning to potential migrants.

“I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border,” Harris said. “Do not come. Do not come.”

The Biden administration has been highlighting progress at the border, noting that arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico dropped by 29% in June, marking the lowest number during Joe Biden’s presidency.
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In the U.S. presidential campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump is facing a new opponent with President Joe Biden’s withdrawal as his party’s presumptive nominee. VOA’s Scott Stearns looks at how Trump’s campaign is recalibrating its approach to take on Vice President Kamala Harris.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris heads to Indianapolis on Wednesday, marking one of her first public appearances since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her as the Democratic Party’s nominee on Sunday.

Harris is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta (ZPB) Sorority Inc.’s biennial convention in Indianapolis.

ZPB, founded in 1920 at Harris’ alma mater Howard University, is one of the nation’s largest historically Black sororities – social organizations with female-only memberships at colleges and universities whose purpose is to foster community, academic achievement and career development, among other things.

Earlier this month in Dallas, Texas, Harris spoke to more than 20,000 members and alumnae of her own sorority at Howard University, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., at its national convention.

Sorority figures play key roles in the group Win With Black Women, which organized a Zoom call with 44,000 attendees just hours after Biden endorsed Harris. The group said it raised more than $1.5 million for her campaign in just a few hours.

A similar effort by Win With Black Men raised more than $1 million, adding to the $100 million raised by the Harris campaign in less than 48 hours. This is in addition to money raised by political action committees separate from the campaign. The largest one, the Future Forward PAC, reported $150 million in commitments in the first 24 hours.

Sororities and fraternities

There are nine historically Black sororities and fraternities, their male equivalent, known as the “Divine Nine.”

Sororities and fraternities are among the most important networks in the African American community, said Steve Phillips, founder of the political media organization Democracy in Color, and author of several books on demographic shifts in the American electorate.

“Members are passionate, energetic and engaged throughout their entire lives,” he told VOA, so these pre-existing and highly involved groups can swiftly emerge as formidable campaign resources.

“We saw some of this with Obama in 2007 and 2008, and I expect it to be another order of magnitude fundraising and volunteering with Harris,” he said.

Sororities are pathways to another key resource – Black female celebrities.

These groups are actively recruiting notable figures and celebrities as honorary members, said Samantha N. Sheppard, associate professor and chair of the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University.

With Hollywood big names including Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, Jennifer Lewis and others pledging support for Harris, the “groundswell of Black women celebrity activism” has already begun, she told VOA.

Harris’ run for the nation’s top job has energized African American voters, a key Democratic constituency whose enthusiasm waned when Biden was on top of the ticket. However, amid the rampant racist and sexist attacks on Harris online, they are also bracing themselves.

“It’s critical for Black women with platforms to work together to rise above the misogynoir that Harris will face,” Sheppard said.

Attacks are already being launched at Harris for traveling to Indianapolis and declining to preside over Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, also happening Wednesday.

From Indianapolis, Harris heads to Houston, Texas, to speak in front of the American Federation of Teachers on Friday.
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MILWAUKEE — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris assailed Donald Trump on Tuesday at her first campaign rally since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate.

In a 17-minute speech, Harris went after Trump’s vulnerabilities, comparing her background as a former prosecutor to his record as a convicted felon.

Harris ticked through a list of liberal priorities, saying that if elected she would act to expand abortion access, make it easier for workers to join unions, and address gun violence, drawing a sharp contrast with Trump, the Republican nominee for president in the November 5 election.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” she told a cheering crowd of several thousand at West Allis Central High School in a Milwaukee suburb in Wisconsin, a battleground state with a pivotal role in deciding the election outcome.

“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?”

The raucous rally was a notable contrast to the smaller, more subdued events Biden held, underscoring Democrats’ hope that Harris, 59, can revive what had been a flagging campaign under Biden, 81. The audience danced and waved Harris signs, while chants of “Ka-ma-la!” broke out when she took the stage.

She emphasized her commitment to reproductive rights, an issue that has plagued Republicans since the U.S. Supreme Court — powered by three Trump-appointed justices — eliminated a nationwide right to abortion in 2022.

Trump and his allies have tried to tether Harris to some of Biden’s more unpopular policies, including his administration’s handling of the surge of migrants at the southern border with Mexico.

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Trump expressed confidence in his ability to defeat Harris, noting that her previous presidential run in 2020 did not even survive until the first statewide nominating contest.

Trump offered to debate Harris multiple times. Trump and Biden had one more debate scheduled on September 10 after their encounter on June 27. Biden’s poor performance that night led to Democratic calls for him to step aside.

“I want to debate her, and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies,” Trump said.

Harris swiftly consolidated her party’s support after Biden abandoned his reelection campaign under pressure from members of his party who worried about his ability to beat 78-year-old Trump, or to serve another four-year term.

Harris has received pledges from enough delegates to win the nominations, the campaign said. But nothing is certain until next month’s Democratic National Convention, when the delegates will vote to determine the nominee.

Her campaign said it had raised $100 million since Sunday.

Most Democratic lawmakers have lined up behind her candidacy, including the party’s leaders in the Senate and House, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who endorsed Harris on Tuesday at a joint press conference.

Harris’ rise dramatically reshapes an election in which many voters were unhappy with their options. As the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, she would make further history as the first woman elected U.S. president.

Wisconsin is among a trio of Rust Belt states, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, that are critical to Democrats’ chances of defeating Trump.

Alyssa Wahlberg, 19, chair of the Whitewater College Democrats, said Harris had reenergized young voters, particularly women who want Harris to break the ultimate U.S. glass ceiling.

“I talked to my grandmom. We are both excited that she may live to see the first woman president,” said Wahlberg while attending Tuesday’s rally. “It’s taken too long.”
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President Joe Biden returned to the White House Tuesday after an eventful news week that he spent entirely out of the spotlight – yet still managed to dominate with news of his exit from the presidential race. Meanwhile, his vice president hit the road launching her presidential campaign. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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washington — Who will she pick? That’s the big political question in America after U.S. President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has quickly collected a critical mass of Democratic Party support and funding.

The selection in question is Harris’ running mate, the person who would step into the role she will shed if the Democrats are victorious in November’s presidential election against Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm are vetting Harris’ potential vice presidential candidates, according to media reports.

The campaign has requested vetting materials from five Democratic governors — Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tim Walz of Minnesota and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois — and one U.S. senator, Democrat Mark Kelly of Arizona, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Those who pass the vetting “will probably have a one-on-one conversation with Harris and then she’ll make a choice, probably in the week or so before the convention,” William Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA. “The danger of an accelerated process is that you know things will be overlooked. Mistakes will be made that a more leisurely process would have prevented. But she has no choice. She has to do it fast and get it right.”

Quest to balance ticket 

It “is most likely” that Harris, as the daughter of a Black father and a mother who emigrated from India, will choose a white man to be her number two, according to Joel K. Goldstein, a scholar of U.S. vice presidents and the Vincent C. Immel professor of law emeritus at the St. Louis University School of Law.

Geographical balance is another factor. Harris, who is from California, a solidly Democratic state, likely desires someone who can boost the party’s chance in one of the critical swing states — territory that spans westward from Pennsylvania to Michigan, as well as the southern state of Georgia.

“Someone from the Midwest or even from the South would be a good choice,” said Jay Chen, Democratic National Committee delegate from California and co-chair of Taiwanese Americans for Progress.

“Andy Beshear, he’s a governor from Kentucky. I think he would make a good choice. We want to make sure that we’re balancing out the ticket, because we have someone [Harris] from California,” said Chen. “I think we do have to make sure that folks in the Midwest on the East Coast from the South, that they don’t feel like they’re going to be ignored by this administration and this is an excellent opportunity to try to try to balance out the ticket.”

Historically, geographic balance “was perhaps the most common type of balance that you would see on tickets,” according to Goldstein. Nowadays, “the idea of geographic balance is not really as important a calculation as some other things.”

The governors of both Pennsylvania and Michigan, who are Democrats, endorsed Harris on Monday. That quashed any speculation that Shapiro or Whitmer might challenge Harris for delegates ahead of the party’s national nominating convention next month. It also appeared to automatically place them into consideration to be the vice presidential nominee.

Pennsylvania in play

Pennsylvania is practically a must-win for either party. The Keystone State offers 19 electoral votes — the most of any 2024 battleground state — of the 270 required to reach the threshold for victory in a U.S. presidential election.

In an on-air conversation about Shapiro, CNN chief national correspondent John King said the governor is a contender, but “he’s Jewish. There could be some risks with putting him on the ticket.”

Commentators on social media quickly responded that Harris may be hesitant to select Shapiro, who is a strong supporter of Israel, as he could jeopardize her chances in Michigan, where there has been a primary election backlash against the Biden-Harris ticket from Arab American voters because of the president’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas.

“It says a lot about the state of American politics, and perhaps especially in progressive circles that one of the ‘cons’ of Kamala Harris selecting” Shapiro as her vice president, is that he is Jewish and the pushback this might receive, Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, a global network of lawyers supporting Israel, wrote on X on Sunday.

Harris’ husband, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish.

Stella Hsu and Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
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Voters in the United States are facing a new presidential campaign with incumbent Joe Biden dropping out and Vice President Kamala Harris likely to be the Democratic Party’s nominee to face Donald Trump in November. VOA’s Scott Stearns looks at how some voters are reacting to the change. VOA footage by Michael Eckels.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has not yet won the Democratic Party’s support for her presidential candidacy, but she has the endorsement of U.S. President Joe Biden, along with several senior Democrats, after his withdrawal from the race on Sunday.

If chosen by the party, and elected president, analysts agree Harris would likely continue the Biden administration’s foreign policy, including the management of one of the most tense and consequential relationships — that with China. 

When she first became vice president, Harris, a former U.S. senator and attorney general for California, was considered by many analysts to be somewhat of a novice in foreign policy. Over the past 3 ½ years as vice president, she has visited more than 19 countries and met with more than 150 foreign leaders, according to the White House website.

VOA compiled some of Harris’s remarks on China policy during her tenure as vice president and earlier as a U.S. senator.

US-China economic relations

In September 2023, Harris traveled to attend the ASEAN summit in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. After the meeting, she spoke about U.S.-China relations and Indo-Pacific policy on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“We, as the United States, in our policy, it is not about decoupling, it is about de-risking. It is about understanding,” she said.

“It’s not about pulling out, but it is about ensuring that we are protecting American interests, and that we are a leader in terms of the rules of the road, as opposed to following others’ rules,” Harris said.

China’s economic downturn

“It’s no secret that China is experiencing economic problems,” she said during the “Face the Nation” interview.

“And what you will find — certainly in my conversations with American business leaders — is that they are looking at the future in terms of their capital investments and taking into account which countries are engaged in practices that are about abiding by the rule of law and international rules and norms in a way that they can be guaranteed that there will be some stability so they can make long-term investments.”

“There is increasingly an understanding that China may not be the best bet when you are looking for stability, when you are looking for an investment in a place where there is an adherence to and respect for international rules and norms,” Harris added.

International aid

During her visit to Africa in March 2023, at a news conference with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Harris reiterated her call for “all bilateral official creditors to provide a meaningful debt reduction for Zambia” — an oblique reference to China, Zambia’s top foreign creditor. However, she stressed that “our presence here is not about China.”

US-China relations

Harris’ first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping was at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok in 2022, when she held brief talks with Xi and stressed the importance of maintaining “open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries.”

Taiwan

In a September 2022 meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Harris reaffirmed that the U.S. would continue to support Taiwan and oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo.

The White House said Harris underscored that the effort to preserve peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is an essential element of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. 

During a visit to Japan that same month, she said aboard the destroyer USS Howard at Yokosuka Naval Base, “We have witnessed disturbing behavior in the East China Sea and in the South China Sea, and most recently, provocations across the Taiwan Strait.”

China considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary, and often sends military air and watercraft nearby to assert its claim to the self-governing island. 

South China Sea

During her visit to Japan, Harris commented on China’s aggression in the South China Sea.

“China is undermining key elements of the international rules-based order. China has challenged the freedom of the seas. China has flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors,” she said.

“We will continue to fly, sail, and operate undaunted and unafraid wherever and whenever international law allows,” Harris added.

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Chinese ships on several occasions this year used water cannons and blocked its rivals’ ships in the disputed territories. 

Last year on “Face the Nation,” Harris said, “What is happening in terms of unprovoked actions against the Philippine interests in the South China Sea is significant and we have been very clear that we stand with the Philippines.”

Beijing and Manila on Sunday announced a deal they say aims to stop the clashes.

China’s human rights, Hong Kong

During her tenure as a U.S. senator for California, Harris actively pushed for legislation to uphold human rights in Hong Kong, which analysts say has seen its autonomy gradually stripped away by Beijing.  

In 2019, she co-sponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act introduced by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, which aims to promote human rights in Hong Kong and sanction officials involved in “undermining Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms and autonomy.” The bill was later signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.

Xinjiang

Harris also co-sponsored and facilitated the passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, which became law in 2020. The bill authorizes the United States to impose sanctions on “foreign individuals and entities responsible for human rights violations in Xinjiang,” China’s westernmost province that is home to the ethnic Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim minority.        

China denies there are any rights violations in Xinjiang.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware — President Joe Biden’s “symptoms have almost resolved completely” from COVID-19, according to his physician, as the president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day.

Biden called into the Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters of his former campaign during a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose bid for the White House has been endorsed by Biden. The president sought to pep up the staff, urging them to give “every bit” of their “heart and soul” to Harris. Biden also vowed to be “out on the road” campaigning for his vice president.

“If I didn’t have COVID, I’d be standing there with you,” said Biden, whose voice sounded a touch gravelly.

The president was last seen in public late Wednesday after arriving at a U.S. air base in Dover, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier in the day. He then motorcaded to his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said that the president had completed his 10th dose of the COVID-fighting medication Paxlovid on Monday morning and continued to perform all of his presidential duties.

“His symptoms have almost resolved completely. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” O’Connor wrote. “His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”

The White House said Biden received separate briefings on Monday from homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Both briefings were conducted virtually.

Biden’s public schedule for the week has remained clear as he recovers from the virus, but he said in his letter on Sunday that he planned to deliver an address to the nation this week to discuss his decision to end his candidacy.

According to his official schedule, Biden is planning to return to the White House on Tuesday.

Biden plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, according to a person familiar with the president’s schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Biden also plans to meet at the White House later this week with the families of Americans who are still being held hostage in Gaza, according to a statement from the group of families who met privately with Sullivan earlier Monday.

It would be the second time that Biden has met with the families. The families again publicly urged Israel and Hamas to come to an agreement on a cease-fire deal that would release their loved ones. Biden in late May proposed a three-phased deal aimed at returning remaining hostages taken by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and could potentially lead to a permanent truce to end the nine-month war in Gaza.

“We’re going to keep working to an end to the war in Gaza,” Biden said during his call-in to the campaign headquarters. “I’ll be working really closely with the Israelis and with the Palestinians to try to work out how we can get the Gaza war to end, and Middle East peace, and get all those hostages home. I think we’re on the verge of being able to do that.”
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President Joe Biden’s Sunday decision to step out of the presidential race sent shock waves through the White House and beyond, leaving uncertainty about the Democratic nomination in its wake. VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell reports.
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President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek reelection has upended the U.S. presidential campaign just days after the opposing Republican Party formally chose Donald Trump as its nominee. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports on voters’ reactions to the shifting political landscape. Contributor: Nina Vishneva  Videographer: Michael Eckels
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Washington — Shortly after Joe Biden announced that he is withdrawing from the November presidential race on Sunday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump demanded that Biden resign from office.

“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!” Trump said in a social media statement that included a new fundraising push.

Trump called Biden “the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation,” and said that Biden, “quit the race in COMPLETE DISGRACE!”

House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican lawmakers loyal to Trump echoed Trump’s demands.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson said in a statement.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, the fourth-ranking House Republican, added: “If Joe Biden can’t run for reelection, he is unable and unfit to serve as president of the United States. He must immediately resign.”

“If the Democrat party has deemed Joe Biden unfit to run for reelection, he’s certainly unfit to control our nuclear codes. Biden must step down from office immediately,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer the No. 3 Republican in the chamber, said on social media.

Legally, Republican demands for Biden’s resignation have no bearing. The president has the authority to serve the remainder of his term, said Michael Thorning, director of Structural Democracy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“There is no constitutional requirement for a president to seek reelection in order to continue serving as president through the succeeding election and inauguration,” he told VOA.

The White House has not responded to VOA’s request for comment regarding the Republican demands.

Democrats heap praise

As of Monday morning, there have been no response from Democratic leaders to Republican calls for Biden to resign. But in response to his withdrawal from the race, they heaped praise on the president’s legislative track record and lifetime of service.

“Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader, but he is a truly amazing human being,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first.”

In a statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Biden “one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history.”

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who reportedly was one of several lawmakers encouraging Biden to withdraw, called him a “patriotic American who has always put our country first.”

“His legacy of vision, values and leadership make him one of the most consequential Presidents in American history,” she said in a statement.

Biden’s decision to withdraw is a reminder “that he’s a patriot of the highest order,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement.

“Joe understands better than anyone the stakes in this election – how everything he has fought for throughout his life, and everything that the Democratic party stands for, will be at risk if we allow Donald Trump back in the White House and give Republicans control of Congress,” Obama added.

Playing politics

Republicans’ demands for Biden’s resignation have added turmoil to American politics following Biden’s announcement that have left the path forward for Democrats uncertain.

They are “playing politics,” Larry Sabato, director of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said of the Republicans.

“Common sense tells us that Biden has two full-time jobs right now — being president and running for president,” Sabato told VOA. “Now he’ll have one full-time job, and he’s proven himself to be good at it. He can finish the remaining months and tie up some loose ends — and leave with dignity.”

Biden announced he was withdrawing from the Democratic presidential ticket in a letter to the country that he posted on social media Sunday afternoon. He said although he intended to stand for re-election, he believes “it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”

The announcement reversed his decision about staying in the 2024 race amid mounting pressure from Democrats following his weak performance at last month’s debate against Trump.

With Biden stepping aside, the national attention now shifts squarely upon the Democratic Party, and they would do well to put this attention to good use, said William Howell, Sydney Stein professor in American politics at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

“They should showcase their talent, advertise their vision for the future, and do their very best to change the narrative of this presidential campaign,” he told VOA.

That’s a difficult task amid their opponent pushing a message of Democrats in disarray. Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democratic presidential nominee and said that he will speak more about his decision later this week.

In a statement released hours after Biden’s withdrawal announcement, the White House said that Biden has “spoken to a number of Members of Congress, governors, and supporters, and will continue to engage with key stakeholders tonight and tomorrow.”
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