Vasant Bhatt, a 21-year-old Indian American student at the University of Houston, has questioned his support for the Republican Party after facing backlash from conservatives over his decision to back a Democratic candidate in Texas’ Senate race.
Bhatt, whose parents are of Indian origin, had previously been involved in conservative politics. He interned with Senator Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign in 2024 and worked as a correspondent for Campus Reform, a right-wing news platform that reports on issues affecting higher education.
However, he recently announced on social media that he would support Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, citing what he described as growing hostility towards his identity.
Bhatt said he was “disgusted by the xenophobia, racial resentment, and increasingly brazen attacks on my identity” as an Indian American.
Rather than receiving understanding from conservatives, his announcement attracted a wave of criticism. A writer for the conservative outlet The Federalist described his decision as “a really strong case for limited legal immigration,” while a conservative online streamer called him a “parasite.” Prominent right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec also suggested that Bhatt had secretly supported liberal politics all along.
The backlash reflects a wider debate within the Republican Party over immigration and the treatment of Indian Americans, as anti-Indian rhetoric has become increasingly visible during the first two years of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Some conservatives have called for tighter restrictions on Indian immigration, the abolition of H-1B work visas and further debate over what they describe as “the Indian Question.” Others have questioned the presence of Indian American students at sporting events, raising concerns about immigration and cultural identity.
These developments have drawn attention within the Indian American community, which is among the most highly educated and economically prosperous immigrant groups in the United States.
Although Indian Americans have traditionally leaned towards the Democratic Party, a notable number shifted towards Trump during the 2024 presidential election. However, the growing hostility from sections of the conservative movement appears to be prompting some of those voters to reconsider their political allegiance ahead of the midterm elections.
A recent survey commissioned by Indian American Impact, an advocacy organisation, found that about one-quarter of Indian Americans who voted for Trump in 2024 intended to support Democrats in the midterms.
The poll also identified the rising cost of living and healthcare as major concerns among Indian American voters. While Democrats held a lead of approximately 66 per cent among likely voters in the survey, nearly two-thirds of independent South Asian voters remained undecided.
Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, said some voters were beginning to regret their decision to support Trump.
“There are a large chunk of Indian American voters who are, for lack of a better word, having buyers remorse,” Patel said.
“That’s something that is building across the community as we’re talking about hate and discrimination.”
The political implications could extend beyond Texas to other competitive races across the country. New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District and Pennsylvania’s 1st District, both considered significant opportunities for Democratic gains, have sizeable Indian American populations. The community is also present in battleground states such as Georgia and Michigan.
In Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, has faced criticism from some conservatives linked to his Indian ancestry and Hindu faith.
However, tensions within the community appear particularly pronounced in Texas, where the Senate contest is expected to be among the country’s most expensive races.
Sugar Land, a wealthy suburb of Houston, is home to a 90-foot statue of Hanuman, the Hindu deity associated with courage and self-restraint. The monument, located within the grounds of Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple, is the fourth-tallest statue in the United States.
Its unveiling attracted criticism from some on the right, with detractors describing the statue as “demonic” and warning that it could provoke the “wrath” of the Christian God.
Alexander Duncan, a former law enforcement officer who contested the Republican primary for the Texas Senate, also described the deity as “false” in a social media post last year.
The controversy over anti-Indian sentiment gained further national attention last month when Bo French, a Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, shared an image of South Asian students attending a University of Texas at Austin football game.
French claimed the racial composition of the crowd showed that Americans were being “displaced by foreigners.”
Although his comments attracted widespread condemnation, several prominent Republican leaders did not directly address the anti-Indian implications of the post. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, one of the few party figures to respond, said it was “not my message.”
Other conservative commentators subsequently added to the debate. Chris Rufo, a prominent right-wing activist, hosted a podcast episode titled “The Indian Question” last month, during which he and co-host Jonathan Keeperman argued that Indian immigrants came from an “alien” culture and were less likely to assimilate into American society.
The growing hostility has also raised concerns about the safety of South Asian communities.
In September, Gurvinder Singh, a Sikh truck driver, was stabbed 17 times at a highway rest stop in Wyoming. The incident occurred amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant truck drivers, a policy that has particularly affected Sikh drivers.
Earlier this month, authorities in Illinois reportedly stopped an attempted mass shooting at a Hindu temple after a co-worker alerted them to a suspect’s alleged plan to “kill Indian people.”
Community leaders have linked the suspected plot to the growing circulation of anti-Indian hostility online.
“We could have been talking about a massive tragedy,” Patel said. “That’s the kind of environment we’re in right now.”
In the Houston metropolitan area, which accounts for nearly 30 per cent of Texas’ Indian American population, community representatives said the recent incidents had forced some residents to reconsider their relationship with the Republican Party.
Rishi Bhutada, a Houston businessman and board member of the Hindu American Foundation, said some Indian American voters were considering supporting Democrats across the ballot to express their dissatisfaction.
“I’ve seen a few people who say they’re just going to vote Democrat straight down the ballot, to send a message to the Republican Party that they’re not going to tolerate it,” Bhutada said.
He explained that previous controversies, including protests against the Hanuman statue in Sugar Land, had largely appeared to be confined to online discussions and fringe groups.
However, French’s comments and the reported plot against the Illinois temple had changed how some members of the community viewed the situation.
“I think that really changed the conversation,” he said. “A lot of people got concerned very quickly.”
Judge Manpreet Monica Singh, the first Sikh judge in Texas, also expressed concern about what she described as fear-inducing rhetoric from the Trump administration. She cited the crackdown on Sikh truck drivers and criticism of H-1B visas as examples of developments affecting Indian Americans.
Singh, a Democrat who serves on Harris County’s civil court, said she had observed conservative members of Houston’s Sikh community reconsidering their political loyalties.
“They’re questioning: What have we been backing, and why have we been OK with this?” she said. “I see regret and the regression of support.”
Texas state Representative Suleman Lalani, a Democrat, said he had heard similar concerns from Indian Americans and other South Asians in Houston’s suburbs.
“Some of them have been told to their face that they don’t belong,” Lalani told HuffPost on Wednesday during a Talarico campaign event in Richmond, Texas.
“It’s not only happening to the Indian community. It’s happening to immigrants all over, in temples and mosques and other places.”
The controversy could have implications for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton as he seeks to help his party retain control of the chamber. Paxton is contesting a seat that Republicans have held for a generation, amid efforts by Democrats to make gains in the state.
Paxton was among the Republican figures who did not publicly respond to French’s post targeting South Asian students. Bhutada said Paxton’s most significant reaction to the controversy was to criticise his Democratic opponent, Talarico.
“That was it,” he added. “No one else said anything.”
Apart from Abbott, only a handful of prominent Republicans have openly criticised the increase in anti-Indian rhetoric.
Senator John Cornyn, the outgoing Republican lawmaker who lost a contentious primary contest to Paxton, said he would not vote for French, describing him as an “embarrassment to the Republican Party.”
Longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove also said he would vote for a Democrat rather than support French following the controversy.
However, the perceived silence of other senior Republicans has continued to frustrate members of the South Asian community.
Patel specifically criticised Vice President JD Vance for not publicly addressing the alleged plot against the Hindu temple in Illinois. He said the silence was particularly troubling given that Vance’s wife, Usha, is Hindu.
Vance, who is widely viewed as a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, has also taken a position on an issue of major concern to Indian Americans. Earlier this month, he said H-1B visas should be eliminated entirely.
As voters prepare for the midterm elections and political parties look towards the next presidential contest, it remains uncertain whether Republicans can retain the support they gained among Indian Americans in 2024.
Some conservatives have begun expressing concern about the direction of the debate. Right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who has previously made anti-immigration comments, wrote on X on Thursday that “a lot of people on the right have been conditioned to irrationally hate Indians.”
Nevertheless, Bhatt said the hostility had made it difficult for him to imagine returning to the Republican Party, despite his longstanding conservative beliefs.
“Right now, it’s very difficult for me to say if I could ever return to the GOP,” he said.
“It’s a difficult thing for me to admit, because I’ve had real conservative convictions. But seeing all this rhetoric, I’m asking myself why I was working so hard to defend a political party where I felt increasingly compelled to defend my own place within it.”
