Press Release

IMPACT Raises Groundbreaking $10M in Three Months, Makes Major Investments in Electing 2020 Slate and Boosting Asian American Turnout

Leading Indian American political action committee will support state, national candidates in battleground states across country

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, IMPACT, the leading Indian American advocacy and political action committee, announced that it had raised $10 million over the past three months. The considerable war chest will be spent to support turnout efforts in the Asian American and Indian American community and to elect IMPACT’s 2020 slate of candidates, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the first Indian-American on a national ticket, as well as Indian-American candidates running up and down ballots in states across the country.

“IMPACT’s fundraising strength reflects trends we’re seeing across the country,” IMPACT Executive Director Neil Makhija, said. “There’s a level of enthusiasm and excitement about this year’s election among Indian American voters that is palpable, and unrivaled in previous cycles. With an Indian American on the presidential ticket for the first time in history, and a record number of Indian American candidates running for office, Indian American voters are poised to exert a considerable amount of influence in this year’s election, and IMPACT will help mobilize and harness this emerging power.”

IMPACT will invest in the presidential, state-wide, and congressional races in battleground states across the country. Investments include committee contributions, paid advertising, targeted turnout operations, and infrastructure building.

This groundbreaking investment comes at a time when Indian Americans – the second largest immigrant group in the U.S. – are beginning to flex their political muscle on the national political stage. In addition to an Indian American being a historic Democratic nominee for Vice President, the number of Indian Americans in Congress has grown five-fold in just the past eight years and the campaign arm charged with electing Democrats to Congress released its first-ever Hindi-language political ad earlier this year.

All of these developments have come less than 75 years since South Asians began emigrating to the U.S., and 55 years after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended discriminatory quotas and opened the doors to Asian immigrants.

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CONTACT: Kristin@iaimpact.org