As Kamala Harris races toward US presidential nomination, Thulasendrapuram village prays for her success

CHENNAI: As Kamala Harris is pipped to become the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for US president, residents of Thulasendrapuram, her ancestral village in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu, have already begun their prayers and wishes.

Huge banners of President Joe Biden's running mate and US Vice-President Kamala has been put up at the Dharma Sastha Temple in Painganadu, Thulasendrapuram village. Pictures of residents taking selfies with the banners have surfaced on social media.

Harris was born to immigrant parents -- a Black father and an Indian mother. Her father, Donald Harris, was from Jamaica, and her mother Shyamala Gopalan was a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from Chennai.

Kamala Harris on Tuesday received a wave of endorsements from potential rivals, lawmakers, governors and influential advocacy groups. Kamala, who is of Indian and African heritage, has received the backing from more than the 1,976 pledged delegates needed to win the Democratic Party's nomination on the first ballot, CNN reported on the first full day of her campaign.

In her first day as a candidate, Harris raised USD 81 million, the campaign announced on Monday, saying it was the largest 24-hour raise by any candidate ever.

"I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon," Harris, 59, said in a statement on Monday, a day after President Biden announced his withdrawal from the race for the White House on November 5 and endorsed Harris.

Meanwhile, special prayers were conducted on Monday at the Dharma Sastha Temple in Thulasendrapuram village from where her grandfather hailed. The place is 350 km from Chennai.

The villagers had made rangolis in front of their homes and conducted mass feeding programs when Kamala was elected as V-P.

Meanwhile, Harris also said that she will be "talking to Americans about everything that is on the line. fully intend to unite our party, unite our nation, and defeat Donald Trump in November."

"We believe in the promise of America—and we are willing to fight for it," Harris posted on X on Tuesday.

Harris was a senator from California, the country’s most populous state, before Biden picked her as his vice-presidential running mate in 2020.

She had been running for reelection for another four-year term as Biden’s second in command before he on Sunday relented to a growing number of calls from Democrats to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June.

(With AP inputs)