Community Conversation
with Farooq Mitha
NEHA DEWAN
Neha has long been active in both local and national politics. Most recently, she founded and served as the National Director for South Asians for Biden, an organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Neha served as the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary and was appointed by Hillary Clinton to the National AAPI Leadership Council.
Previously, in 2015, Neha was appointed as a guest of honor by the Consulate General of India in New York City where she was selected to speak about gender equality for International Women's Day. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Neha chaired the New York Chapter of South Asians for Obama and also served on the steering committee for Lawyers for Obama in New York. For several years, Neha served as an Officer of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, an organization affiliated with the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee and comprised of Democratic lawyers and voting rights activists. Similarly, for many years, Neha served as an advisory board member of New Leaders Council, a national organization focused on training and supporting progressive political entrepreneurs. She has also been active in her local community board and political clubs. Neha served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2012, and now sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Mobilizing the South Asian Community & Building Political Power
SAFA IN 2023 ELECTIONS
In 2023, critical elections were held in multiple states, including gubernatorial and state legislative elections, as well as numerous citizens initiatives, mayoral races and elections for a variety of other local offices, with legislative elections held for both houses in Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia and New Jersey.
SAFA focused our organizing efforts on turning out the AAPI and South Asian vote for state legislature and local races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as for specific races in New Hampshire & Florida, and for the Ballot Initiative Issue 1 in Ohio. SAFA partnered with more than 15 coalition groups nationwide - including Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia, Virginia Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus Fund, Sister District Project, Freedom Virginia, Blue Wave Postcard Movement, New Jersey Democrats South Asian American Caucus, New Jersey Young Democrats, New Hampshire AAPI Democrats, Florida High School Democrats, OPAWL, Target Ohio & Vote Riders - to organize phonebanks, text banks, canvasses, postcard campaigns, and GOTV rallies and to help translate voter outreach and education materials into South Asian languages.
Our collective efforts helped Democrats retain majority in the Virginia State Senate and flip Virginia House blue; helped pass Issue 1 in Ohio protecting reproductive rights; and expand the Democratic majority in New Jersey State Legislature, among other successes at the polls. Scroll through the posts below for a visual snapshot of our organizing efforts in the different states.
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