Exclusive: Harris ramps up Asian American outreach with ad about her mother
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Kamala Harris with her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris (center), and sister Maya Harris on Dec. 10, 2003, in San Francisco. Photo: Kat Wad/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The Harris campaign is boosting its pitch to Asian American voters with a new battleground state ad that spotlights the vice president's personal story, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Advocates on both sides of the political spectrum say the demographic could play a key role come November, especially in swing states with tight margins.
- Asian Americans recorded the largest registration increase of any racial group from January to June compared with the same period in 2020.
The big picture: Engagement with Asian Americans, the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc, has often been an afterthought for major political parties — which had never had an Asian American presidential nominee before Harris.
- The group has historically voted Democrat, but a 2021 analysis found that the GOP made gains with AAPI voters in battleground states in both 2016 and 2020.
Driving the news: The TV and digital ad "My Mother" pays tribute to Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who immigrated from India at 19 and raised Kamala Harris and her sister as a single mom.
- Positioning Harris as "one of us," it pulls from her remarks at the Democratic National Convention: "My mother was a brilliant 5-foot-tall brown woman with an accent. … She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it."
State of play: Starting Wednesday, the ad will air in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on digital and social channels, as well as on nearly 70 Asian-serving broadcast outlets, including The Filipino Channel, KHMER TV and TV Asia.
- It's the campaign's third ad targeting Asian Americans.
- Their outreach strategy also includes hiring Asian American voter engagement staff in every battleground state.
Between the lines: The ad is a reflection of how Harris, who grew up attending a Hindu temple and a Black Baptist church, is seeking to walk a tightrope between acknowledging the impact of her dual heritage while not letting it dominate her campaign.
That could position her well with Asian American voters.
- In a Pew Research Center survey last year, 97% said that a candidate's policy positions are more important than their race or ethnicity, but 68% also said it's important to have a national leader who can "advance the concerns of the U.S. Asian community."
What they're saying: "Vice President Harris has never forgotten the values she learned from her mother that have shaped her lifelong commitment to stand up for people — a story that millions in our communities can relate to," Andrew Peng, the campaign's Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander spokesperson, said in a statement shared first with Axios.
The other side: Trump senior adviser Steven Cheung declined to discuss the campaign's outreach strategy but said via email that Trump "created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity, and prosperity were afforded to everybody."
- "The 2024 campaign is poised to build upon the strength and successes of Asian Americans during President Trump's first term to propel him to a ... second-term victory."
