US Midterms 2026: ‘Parasite’ and other insults turn some Republican-leaning Indian Americans towards Democrats

Republican insults targeting Indian Americans, alongside President Donald Trump’s immigration rhetoric and his administration’s crackdown on H-1B visas, are prompting some diaspora voters to reconsider their allegiance, according to a HuffPost report. Many Indian Americans backed Trump in 2024, but some are shifting towards Democrats ahead of the US midterms.

‘Parasite’: Republicans are insulting their way into the Indian American vote, but that might backfire

The report cited Vasant Bhatt, a 21-year-old University of Houston student who previously interned for Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign. When he recently announced his support for Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, he faced online abuse. Bhatt said he was “disgusted by the xenophobia, racial resentment, and increasingly brazen attacks on my identity” as an Indian American. Conservatives responded to his social media post by calling him a “parasite” and suggesting he had secretly been a leftist all along.

Growing anti-Indian sentiment among conservative circles in the US

Conservative commentators have increasingly targeted one of America’s most prosperous immigrant communities, with podcasts titled “The Indian Question”, calls to restrict Indian immigration, and demands to eliminate H-1B visas, widely used by Indian professionals to enter the US. Some have portrayed Indian immigrants as culturally incompatible with the US.

A poll commissioned by Indian American Impact found that a quarter of Indian Americans who voted for Trump in 2024 planned to vote Democrat in the midterms. Democrats led Republicans among likely Indian American voters by around 66 per cent, while nearly two-thirds of independent South Asian voters remained undecided.

There are a large chunk of Indian American voters who are "having buyers remorse,” Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, told HuffPost. Even Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian-origin Republican candidate for Ohio governor, faced conservative scepticism over his ancestry and Hindu faith.

The ‘demonic’ Hanuman statue and direct violence: How Indians in the US become targets

Texas is a focal point of anti-Indian rhetoric. Sugar Land, home to nearly 30 per cent of Texas’s Indian American population, houses a 90-foot statue of the Hindu deity Hanuman. Conservatives called the deity “false” and the statue “demonic”.

Bo French, a Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, posted a photograph of South Asian students at a University of Texas football game, claiming their presence showed Americans were being “displaced by foreigners”.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said the post was “not my message”, but many other GOP leaders remained silent. Conservative commentator Chris Rufo later hosted a podcast titled “The Indian Question”, portraying Indian immigrants as culturally “alien” and less likely to assimilate.

The hatred is also extending to direct violence against Indians. In September this year, Sikh truck driver Gurvinder Singh was stabbed 17 times at a Wyoming highway rest stop amid a federal crackdown on immigrant truck drivers that singled out Sikhs.

Authorities in Illinois foiled an attempted mass shooting at a Hindu temple after the suspect reportedly expressed a desire to “kill Indian people”.

“We could have been talking about a massive tragedy,” Patel said.

Will Indian Americans abandon Republicans?

New Jersey’s 7th District, Pennsylvania’s 1st District, Georgia and Michigan could prove significant battlegrounds, given their sizeable Indian American populations.

Houston businessman Rishi Bhutada said some voters planned to vote Democrat “straight down the ballot” to send Republicans a message. Texas Judge Manpreet Monica Singh and state Representative Suleman Lalani acknowledged that there are concerns about discrimination from Indian and other South Asian voters.

Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton could face electoral consequences, as he did not directly condemn French’s post, instead attacking his Democratic opponent.

A vice-president with a Hindu wife offers no reassurance

Vice-President JD Vance has faced criticism for remaining silent over the attempted Illinois temple shooting, despite his wife, Usha, being Hindu. His call to eliminate H-1B visas has also fuelled concern within the Indian American community.

Conservative provocateur Laura Loomer recently acknowledged the problem, writing that “a lot of people on the right have been conditioned to irrationally hate Indians”.

For Bhatt, the hostility has shaken his long-standing conservative convictions, said the HuffPost report.

“Right now, it’s very difficult for me to say if I could ever return to the GOP,” he said, questioning why he had worked to defend a party in which he increasingly felt compelled to defend his own place.