Indian American leaders in Iowa say they feel abandoned by Nikki Haley

With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, leaders with some of the largest and most active Indian and South Asian American associations in the state say Nikki Haley has missed a major opportunity to push her margins against her opponents. increase: engaging Indian American voters.

As one of the few Indian-American candidates to ever run for President of the United States and the only woman in the Republican primary, Ms. Haley has inherently sparked interest in the Indian and South Asian-American communities, and she has a number of prominent Indian American donors. But like other Republicans who have competed in the primaries this cycle, she has not aggressively courted voters of color and rarely plays up her identity to attract new voters.

In interviews, former and current leaders of the Indo-American PAC-IA, the Iowa Sikh Association and the Indo American Association of Iowa said they began reaching out to the Haley campaign in the late spring and early summer — when they were still on it was voting. the single digits and found little traction in the state. They hoped to host her at their temples, town hall-style events or house parties.

But no such phenomena have occurred since Tuesday evening. According to some, the lack of reach is frustrating and alienating for some members.

“It really begs the question: Who are you willing to engage in dialogue with?” Prakash Kopparapu, chairman of the Indo-American PAC-IA, which focuses on encouraging the political participation and civic engagement of Indian Americans in Iowa. “Do you want the support and support the involvement of Indian Americans across the board?”

A Haley campaign spokeswoman, Olivia Perez-Cubas, said only that “Nikki is working to uplift all Americans by making America strong and proud.”

While Ms. Haley has tried to define her identity, she has also faced attacks from her Republican rivals and their allies. Up social media site on Tuesday, former President Donald J. Trump tried to cast doubt on her U.S. citizenship — an attack that came as polls showed her cutting into Trump’s lead in New Hampshire.

Mr. Trump has participated in fewer events in Iowa compared to his rivals. Mr Kopparapu’s group is far too small to host him, he said, and they did not pursue this option. Campaign officials with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently offered a surrogate, he said.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also Indian-American, has made several appearances at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Iowa, where many patrons met his parents, and he will participate in an Indo-American PAC-IA event this week. His wife, Apoorva, a surgeon and cancer researcher, has participated in at least three events at Indian-American families’ homes and one at a Sikh temple.

The Republican presidential field started out as the party’s most racially diverse six color candidates, but in recent months it has sunk. Indian American voters, a small but powerful segment of the American electorate, tend to lean Democratic but have the power to influence elections. The demographic composition now makes up for almost everything 20,000 voters in the state, and their participation in the caucuses has grown rapidly.

Himanshu Pathak, who has served as president of the Indo American Association of Iowa, suspected that Ms. Haley may have viewed the electorate as too small to make a difference. That would be a mistake, he added.

“We are low in numbers – but not that low,” Mr Pathak said. “And we are growing every day.”