Kamala Harris’s journey to the top of the presidential ticket was historic and inspirational for Weinberg second-year Aiden Lam, who identifies as Chinese and Bangladeshi American.

“I was extremely motivated just knowing the barriers she broke,” Lam says.

If elected, Harris could have been the nation’s first Black and Asian American female president. But during her campaign, her multiracial identity became both a point of representation and criticism. 

Across campus, Asian American and biracial students expressed pride in her momentous candidacy, but her campaign also allowed reflection on identity in American politics. While Harris didn’t emphasize her identity, students did ask themselves what she means to them — and their families.

Harris’ mother emigrated from India, and her father emigrated from Jamaica. She also attended the historically Black Howard University and joined a Black sorority.

More than 33 million Americans identify with two or more races, according to the 2020 Census. That number grew by about 25 million over the past decade.

“Showing people that those positions are open and possible for people of all races,” Lam says. “Especially those who are mixed and struggle with finding one specific identity, [her nomination] can help them find a lot of clarity.”

Race and gender in the Harris Campaign

But Harris’ multiracial identity came under attack. At the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention, President-elect Donald Trump doubted Harris’ racial identity, asking, “Is she Indian? Or is she Black?”

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said.

Prof. Nitasha Tamar Sharma, who teaches Asian American studies and Black studies, identifies as Indian American and Russian Jewish. She says Trump’s comments draw on stereotypes questioning multiracial people’s authenticity.

“Donald Trump was attempting to make it seem like she’s not authentically or sincerely Black,” Sharma says.

Contrary to Trump’s claims, Harris has long made her heritage clear. Her White House biography says she is “the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American” elected vice president.

Sharma says Harris has been consistent in her story — possibly to “help locate for people who she is” as a nonwhite candidate.

“[Harris] calls upon her mother’s story as a solo young woman, immigrant from South India who came to the Bay Area,” Sharma says. “She does discuss the fact that her father is a Black man from Jamaica who also came to the Bay Area. [Harris] very much says she is a Black woman with Indian ancestry.”

Even though Harris has been vocal about her Indian heritage, Americans hear more about her Black identity because of the persistent Black-white paradigm in the country, political science Prof. Julie Lee Merseth says.

“Even as we make progress, it still constrains the way that we talk about race,” Merseth says. “Asian American voices have only recently become a much more prominent presence in the mainstream media environment.”

Weinberg fourth-year AnnaRose Jones, who identifies as Korean American and Black, didn’t know Harris’ Asian background until her campaign launched. That’s when Jones started tuning in to the news more.

But Harris had not been focusing on her racial identity or gender in her campaign, Sharma notes — a contrast to previous Democratic nominees Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Jones pointed out that conservatives have called Harris a “DEI hire.” Identity politics is polarizing, Jones says, so Harris’ team likely wanted to minimize her identity.

In an interview with CNN, Harris was asked about Trump’s comments at the NABJ convention. She gave a pointed response: “Same old tired playbook. Next question, please.”

“She has these short and pat answers about her mother and about being a Black woman of Indian ancestry,” Sharma says. “But she’s really not focusing her campaign on her story on her racial or gender background. It’s smart.”

Harris previously said she believes that she is the “best person to do this job at this moment, for all Americans, regardless of race and gender.”

Harris and the South Asian American vote

Weinberg second-year Richard, who asked to go by a pseudonym because of potential family backlash, says some relatives who lean moderate to center-right Republican don’t view the Harris campaign as a milestone. They see her as unqualified, he says.

Richard’s grandparents, who are Indian immigrants, struggle to comprehend her multiracial identity.

“From their perspective, it’s like you have to choose — are you Black or are you Indian?” Richard says.

A 2016 study shows that racial linked fate, the sense of connectedness among a racial group that propels voting patterns, is stronger among Black people than Asian Americans.

“At the same time, there has been plenty of evidence and reporting underscoring how enthusiastic, how energetic South [Asian], and in particular Indian voters, are to have a candidate,” Merseth says. “They do feel a sense of representation.”

Right after Harris announced her candidacy, the group South Asian Women for Harris organized a call with more than 4,000 women, raising $250,000 in about two hours.

While most Asian Americans lean Democrat, Sharma says some wealthy and conservative South Asians believe in Republican approaches to small government and tax breaks.

“In a lot of ways, she really resonates as a Black woman candidate more than she resonates as a South Asian candidate,” Sharma says. “In some ways, she resonates as a Black and South Asian candidate to South Asians, and as a Black candidate to Black folks.”

That’s because South Asians and Black people are differently conceived in the United States — racially, economically and in their relationships to incarceration, Sharma says.

Sharma has researched anti-Black racism in South Asian communities. For racially conservative South Asians, Harris’ gender and Blackness “dilutes the celebratory nature of voting” for the potential first South Asian American president, she says.

Ultimately, Sharma says Harris’ and Obama’s candidacies help Americans engage with race.

“Multiraciality in that pause — in that ‘What are you?’ — reminds us that race is a total construct,” Sharma says.

Lam says being biracial is simultaneously a “curse and blessing.” It’s not about representing both aspects of himself equally, he says, but carving out his own path.

“That’s what she’s trying to do at the end of the day — not that she has to be the perfect Indian candidate or the perfect Black candidate,” Lam says. “[If people recognize that], people resonate with her a lot more.”

PHOTOS FROM KAMALA HARRIS AND CAMPAIGN