Kamala Harris is the candidate most like me

But it’s not enough to earn my vote

I have been voting in presidential elections since 1980. Readers may be surprised to learn that over those 44 years, the candidate most like me is Kamala Harris! How is that possible? I am a conservative Republican, and Harris is a liberal Democrat. It turns out that we have a lot in common.

In the ABC News presidential debate, moderator David Muir asked Harris, “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”

Harris famously answered and said, “So, I was raised as a middle-class kid. …” She didn’t really answer the question, but to be fair, politicians rarely do. What Harris did was to try to connect or identify with a large segment of voters: the middle class.

That’s one thing we have in common: I was raised as a middle-class kid too!

Harris’s parents were well-educated. Her estranged father was a college professor, and her mother was a scientist. My parents were also well-educated. My father was a college professor, and my mother was a college instructor and teacher. I was not estranged from my father, so that is a slight difference.

Harris is a first-generation American. I am also (sort of) a first-generation American. Like Harris, I was born in the United States. My father was not a U.S. citizen, but my mother’s citizenship is a special case. She was born on Guam in 1938, and she was not a U.S. citizen at birth. However, she did not become a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process. In 1950, Congress passed the Organic Act of Guam, which granted citizenship to the people of Guam. Thus, she was a citizen by birth but not at birth!

Harris is multiracial. She has both Jamaican and Asian roots. I, too, am multiracial. My mother was from Guam, and my father was from Jamaica, like Harris’ father. My father was part Chinese, so while Harris’ Asian roots come from India, mine come from China.

Harris and I even have religion in common! While she had some exposure to Hinduism, she identifies as a Baptist. I haven’t had any exposure to Hinduism, but I am a deacon, Sunday schoolteacher, and sometimes preacher in a Baptist church.

So, Harris and I are both middle-class kids with well-educated parents who worked in academia. We are both multiracial, first-generation Americans. We both have Jamaican and Asian roots. Finally, we are both Baptists. With all these things in common, you would think I would be voting for Harris.

This week President Barack Obama, suggested that Harris had failed to generate the same kind of energy in the Black community that he did. In Pittsburgh, at a Harris campaign rally, Obama said,

“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.” (emphasis added)

In essence, Obama (who is fully half white) was telling Blacks that they should support Harris because she is Black. According to Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, being Jamaican, both Harris and I are classified as Black or African American. Since I self-identify as a man, I guess that makes me one of the brothers, he is talking to me!

Yes, Harris and I have many things in common and Obama thinks that because of my race I should vote for Harris, who looks the most like me. This reminds me of the West Wing episode, “The Portland Trip.” There is a bill that will, among other things, define marriage at the federal level as “a union between a man and a woman.” Josh Lyman, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, calls in a gay Republican congressman and asks him if he supports the bill. When the congressman says that he does, Lyman is flabbergasted and says, “Congressman … you’re gay!”

The congressman eventually explains,

“I agree with 95% of the Republican platform. I believe in local government. I'm in favor of individual rights rather than group rights. I believe free markets lead to free people and that the country needs a strong national defense. My life doesn't have to be about being a homosexual. It doesn't have to be entirely about that.”

Like the fictional congressman, I agree with the vast majority of the principles and policies of the Republican Party. I am not voting for the candidate that looks the most like me, I am voting for the party and the candidate whose platform most closely aligns with my views.

David Chung is a Gazette editorial fellow. david.chung@thegazette.com