As Texas’ Hindu population grows, how will it figure into state and national politics?

In the leadup to Election Day, public radio stations across the state are exploring how Texans’ religious beliefs affect the way they’re thinking about voting in November – and the greater role of government in general. Want to share your story? Send us a voice memo. 

Like many buildings in Central Texas, ISKCON of Cedar Park is covered in Texas limestone and surrounded by live oaks. But on the last weekend of August, the temple grounds were converted into a miniature Braj – the area in India where Hindus believe Krishna played out his many lila, or divine plays. 

Among miniature mountains, rivers and even a pilgrimage path, ISKCON of Cedar Park joined  Hindus around the world in celebrating Krishna Janmashtami, the birth of the deity Krishna, with an elaborate festival. Temple president, Satya Sara Das, expected over 6,000 people to attend the three-day festival, up from 3,200 just last year. 

As the night went on, the energy and the crowd grew and grew, not unlike the temple community. According to Sara Das, reopening after COVID lockdowns was a major turning point for the community. 

“Since then, the congregation grew exponentially from 50 families to almost 200 to 250 families,” Sara Das said.

That growth is no anomaly. U.S. Census data estimates there are more than 450,000 Indian Americans in Texas, almost double the population reported in 2010 (Estimates vary, however, on what percentage are practicing Hindus). 

Along with that larger population comes more political representation. The Houston area has elected several Hindu judges and nominated a Hindu congressional candidate. 

At a national level, the presidential ticket has Hindu ties on both sides. While the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is a practicing Christian, she was raised by a Hindu mother. Her first and middle names together – Kamala Devi – mean “lotus goddess,” another name for the Hindu deity Lakshmi. On the Republican side, voters learned more about Usha Vance’s Hindu faith when the vice presidential candidate’s wife spoke at the Republican National Convention. 

At ISKCON of Cedar Park, Sara Das said he’s seen new members from both second and third generation Indian-American families and new immigrants from India – something that could play a role in how temple members ultimately decide to vote in November. 

Being part of a largely immigrant religious community may affect how people engage politically. According to Rice University political science professor Tanika Raychaudhuri, the lack of family attachments to U.S. political parties means immigrants and children of immigrants find political influences elsewhere. 

“Learning about their position in the American system would require learning about the political parties from sources outside the home,” Raychaudhuri said. “Maybe their peer groups play a role.”

While Hindu Americans may be less aligned with political parties, everyone Texas Standard spoke with at the Janmashtami festival had strong opinions about political issues. One common theme was a desire for stricter gun control measures.

“That really worries me when I send my kids to school,” said Rama Tirtha Das, who was in charge of the festival’s prasadam. “I worry that, you know, are they going to safely return back?”

Tirtha Das also wants to see immigration reform. He said, regardless of party, politicians need to work together to secure the border and simplify the citizenship process. Tirtha Das summed up his experience with the U.S. citizenship process with one word – chaos. 

Many Hindus at the festival seemed to align with Democrats on issues like gun control, some also expressed views more traditionally aligned with the Republican party. 

Satya Rupa Gaurang Das cited his religion as a reason to oppose abortion access.

“In the Vedic culture, it is the top-most sin,” Gaurang Das said. “If I am killing a 25-year-old person, a 50-year-old, or a person who is in the womb, the sin is the same.”

Despite aligning with conservative American voters on issues like abortion, Indian Americans have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats over the years. While Raychaudhuri’s research focuses more broadly on Asian-American voters, she said this aligns with some of her findings. 

“One thing that’s interesting about the Asian American community is that their perspectives on any given issue may be more liberal or more conservative,” Raychaudhuri said. “But, on average, we see strong Democratic trends within the community.”

The biannual Asian American Voter Survey released in July showed that the number of Indian Americans planning to vote for Joe Biden dropped almost 20 points – from 65 percent in 2020 to 46 percent this year. While the survey didn’t ask respondents if they would vote for Kamala Harris, it did find that 54 percent of Indian American voters said they had a somewhat favorable or very favorable impression of the vice president. The percent of Indian American voters planning to vote for former President Donald Trump grew slightly from 28 percent to 29 percent. 

When it came to Harris and Trump, attendees at the Janmashtami festival didn’t have much to say about either presidential candidate (Only one expressed excitement: A Trump supporter who declined to be interviewed). Others said the Hindu ties on either side of the ticket won’t influence their vote. 

But Raychaudhuri says that might not be the case for the broader Indian American population.

“Research in political science does find that sharing a racial or ethnic identity with a political candidate does typically help to mobilize voters from those communities,” she said. “So, that indicates we might see strong support for Harris among Indian American voters.”

But ISKCON of Cedar Park member Umesh Tiwari said the community here doesn’t see any major U.S. political leader who fully aligns with their ideals. 

As he and his wife Neha balanced the duties of organizing the festival and looking after their two young children, Tiwari said he’s looking for a political and spiritual leader who can bring about a more peaceful world.

“A world with less wars and a world where children can look up to leaders,” Tiwari said as he held his young son. “When I grew up, I could look up to leaders like Prabhupada Ji, Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. You tell me, who is the leader today who can stand with them? I don’t think there is one leader.”

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