File photo / REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

I grew up in the same California Democratic machine and San Francisco political machine as Vice President Kamala Harris. We all knew the same people. Gov. Jerry Brown and even further back his father, Gov. Pat Brown were the patriarchs of the California Democratic Party and the National Democratic Party mentoring John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Leon Panetta, Warren Christopher, Mickey Kantor, Diane Feinstein, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Xavier Beccera, Willie Brown, the Cuomos, and many others.

In fact, the first five years of my life were spent in the apartments owned by San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and his wife Gina. They were close to my parents and took me trick-or-treating on Halloween with their kids.

My father, Durvasula Sastry, used to socialize with VP Harris’ parents, Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan in Berkeley, California in the 1960s. They used to meet at the home of U. C. Berkeley South Asian Studies professors, Kausalya Hart and her husband George Hart.

My father was a founder and leader of several Indian American organizations nationally but particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Shyamala Gopalan and VP Kamala Harris used to attend some of his events. My father also founded and chaired the Shiva Vishnu Temple in Livermore, CA and the Harris family members, including Kamala’s sister, were regular visitors even doing pujas before every election or during a health ailment.

When my father passed away, Harris wrote a condolence letter. Soon, thereafter, I joined her National Finance Committee in 2019 when she first ran for president.

In 2024, I pushed vehemently that Harris should be at the top of the Democratic ticket should there be a change. I reached out to Gov. Jerry Brown and every team in the Democratic Party including Pelosi team, Obama team, Clinton team and others. I was a trustee of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and a Trustee of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Chair of the DSCC Hi-Tech Council, so I had credibility.

Once President Joe Biden endorsed her as the nominee, she did an incredible job of seamlessly integrating the Biden team and former Obama and Clinton veterans. I know some of them and have been in touch. She has energized young voters, minorities and most importantly women on the freedoms issue particularly reproductive rights and has registered voters at an historic rate.

The polls that show a Donald Trump win or a razor-thin race are wrong in my educated opinion. I predicted no red wave in 2022 because the backlash was against SCOTUS and President Trump for J6 (January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack) and the “Dobbs” decision (not conferring right to abortion) and not the incumbent Biden Administration which is usually the case. VP Harris did an excellent job of framing the reproductive freedoms issue in the 2022 midterms. The 2024 exit polls and election results will similarly shock the pollsters and pundits.

I predict that the enthusiasm among Democrats due to Harris being at the top and newly registered voters will allow Kamala Harris-Tim Walz to win 88 million votes, 340 to 400 electoral votes and Democrats to win 243 House seats and 52 to 54 Senate seats. She will win 53-55% of the popular vote which will lead to a landslide. Donald Trump will win only 39-41 percent of the popular vote.

Democrats and Harris-Walz will win unexpected Senate seats and electoral states due to anger against extremism, suppression of freedoms, dark rhetoric, policies of MAGA, TRUMP, and SCOTUS. The secret sauce for Harris-Walz is reproductive rights and contraception and medical abortion restrictions. Men and women will come out of the woodwork to vote for the duo.

It will be a blue tsunami election but the challenges for Harris now are to reach out to more men through nontraditional media like eccentric podcasts, and radio shows and innovative interview shows and platforms including sports forums. She also must cement positive views about her and her economic policies in what is a truncated campaign.

I believe if she executes properly, Harris can win states like NC, AZ, and even FL, TX, IA and some others. She will also win those Senate seats in surprise states.

There is one controversy with VP Kamala Harris and my family and friends. On Easter Sunday, 2004, the best man at my brother Manoj’s wedding to my sister-law Ally, SFPD (San Fransisco Police Department) Officer Isaac Espinoza, was shot dead by a San Francisco gang-member. I believed it was fishy because there were reports that they both read the Bible the night before.

The local Bay Area news covered my brother and our friends and our high school and our family. MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News also covered the murder. In fact, almost every politician in the state of California got involved.

District Attorney Kamala Harris prosecuted the gang member and locked him up for life but did not ask for the death penalty as my family and friends wished. I hope they have all reconciled their feelings by now. The Catholic tradition is against the death penalty as far as I know. The night he was murdered, after midnight, I wrote on my computer, “Isaac Espinoza will be resurrected!”  I did not even know it was Easter Sunday.

Around that same time Harris gave a speech as DA of San Francisco at an event about the nuanced power of Shakti in the form of Goddesses Durga and Kali.

President Kamala Devi Harris will be an historic and consequential president. She has experienced a lot of difficulties like most Americans. She will usher in a Golden Period for America. She has met the moment in spades so far.

 

The author is a business and political fundraiser and strategist.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)