Vice President Kamala Harris is now the leading candidate for the Dem. Party nomination of President. This is a consequence of the withdrawal from the race by Pres. Biden. In 2020 both Biden and Harris were contenders for the Dem. nomination then, and in televised debates Kamala was the only contender to scrap with Biden over his earlier anti-black comments in the early days of integrating schools in Delaware. There were about 29 official Dem. candidates running for the nomination, and early polls indicated Harris won so little support that she withdrew from the contest prior to any of the primaries. Indeed, the race quickly narrowed to 11. The reporting of votes for the Iowa caucus was bungled, and delayed; while Sen. Bernie Sanders received more votes, South Bend Mayor Buttigieg gathered more delegates. Sanders narrowly defeated Buttigieg in New Hampshire, and handily defeated him again in Nevada. In all these contests, Biden did poorly. Next up, South Carolina, where most Dems are black voters, and Rep. Jim Clyburn was determined to get a Dem candidate more attuned to the black community. With Clyburn's help, Biden carried South Carolina. There was talk that Biden made a deal to select a black woman as Veep, and soon other Dem leaders and donors were backing Biden to prevent the "socialists" Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, or newcomers like Buttigieg or Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar found funds had dried up. Biden won the nomination in 2020 and selected for VP Cal. Sen. Kamala Harris, who was half black and Indian, her dad Jamaican, her mom from Chenna (formerly, Madras) India.
Now that Kamala is the presumptive Dem. nominee for President, whom will she choose for VP? There are various Dem. governors and Senators making the lists of speculation. However I might suggest a man with real experience at the job, Mike Pence. A former Congressman, Gov. of Indiana, a Republican and former VP under Trump. Kamala would show her outreach to those outside her party. And few others have had the experience of being a Vice President. Note also that some like Roger Stone had predicted that Trump in 2024 would choose as his VP, Hawaiin former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Dem. who had run against both Biden and Harris in the 2020 Dem. primary. Had Trump chosen Gabbard instead of Vance, Gabbard followed her mother's sentiments and became a Hindu, so though not born in India, Gabbard would have brought an Indian connection to the Trump ticket.
Of course, J.D. Vance brings another Indian connection to the ticket, his wife. Usha Chilukuri whom he met a Yale Law School, is of Indian background, and their wedding was both Christian and Hindu. If Trump/Vance ticket wins, the Indian influence will continue even if Harris is replaced. In one case, half the person, in the other, half the family.
What we forget is that there was an earlier vice president of the US, who was a full Indian. He was VP elected in 1928 as a Republican on the ticket headed by Herbert Hoover. Of course, VP Charles Curtis was not an East Indian but an American Indian, born in Kansas of the Kaw Nation. Of course, events of 1929 would bring changes, and though many tiny villages sprang up named Hoovervilles, it was not because they were promoting the Republican President whom they blamed for causing the depression and forcing them to live in shacks or tents shanty towns. In 1932 the Hoover Curtis ticket lost the election to a Franklin Roosevelt.
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