In razor-thin Georgia, Harris campaign eyeing Asian American voters
CNN
The mobilization of Asian American voters is on full display in Georgia, where they make up a critical piece of Kamala Harris’ game plan against Donald Trump.
The moment Kannan Udayarajan decided to become politically active is seared into his memory. It was four years ago when Republican Sen. David Perdue struck a mocking tone at a Donald Trump rally as he repeatedly mispronounced Kamala Harris’ name. The Middle Georgia crowd laughed right along as he stretched out his words: “Ka-MAL-a or what, Kamala or Ka-MAL-a, Ka-MAL-a, -mala, -mala, I don’t know, whatever.” That remark became a call to action for Udayarajan, 42, who now leads the Forsyth County Democratic Party and is part of the changing face of Georgia. “I saw some people rationalizing that mispronunciation, and I felt there was a need to stand up, to speak up, because we should not be normalizing this kind of behavior,” said Udayarajan, who moved to the US in 2007 after growing up in India. “That’s what initially triggered me to mobilize myself and my friends.” That mobilization is on full display here in Forsyth County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, where the Asian American population has more than doubled in the past two decades, as it has in neighboring counties. Those voters are a critical piece of Harris’ game plan in her race against Trump. “In 2020, when Joe Biden won Georgia by 11,780 votes, Forsyth County delivered 16,000 brand new Democratic votes,” Udayarajan said. “Now, four years have passed since then, and the demographics of the county have shifted considerably.”