SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Harmeet Dhillon won her bid to become a Republican National Committeewoman from California during last weekend’s state GOP convention, becoming the first Indian American to do so in the party’s history.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, @CAGOP, for electing me @GOP National Committeewoman from the great state of California! Honored to serve!
The feat equals the second such milestone Dhillon has accomplished — she was also the first woman to be elected as the party’s vice chair, where she is currently serving in her third year. With her election into the role, she will be charged with representing the California Republican Party during July’s national convention.
While her campaign for committeewoman was unopposed, she did receive the endorsement of nearly every major member of the party within the state.
Before her election took place, Dhillon discussed some of the changes she would seek to propose at the national convention during an exclusive interview with Diya TV.
“I don’t particularly like the way that our debates have been structured,” Dhillon said. “I don’t particularly like the timing and the sequence of the primaries in some states, and I think that we need some changes there.”
Dhillon also discussed which GOP candidate has been the most popular in the Indian-American community.
“I have heard a lot of support from the Indian community for Donald Trump, believe it or not,” said Dhillon. “He seems to be very popular amongst Indian-American first-generation immigrants. I think when a lot of them came to this country they wanted to become millionaires and they wanted to be real estate barons and (they see him and think) ‘look, that guy did it,’ so there’s a lot of admiration for his business acumen and his success story.”
While Dhillon agrees that rhetoric from the candidates can have a negative impact on minorities getting involved in the GOP movement, she doesn’t necessarily think it will trump the amount of animosity and tiredness voters have for the way things have transpired during the eight years under the Obama administration.
On the hotbed topic of immigration, Dhillon opined that all party members, and most in the general population, have a problem with the policies that are in place surrounding illegal immigration.The issue isn’t stopping immigration, it’s about finding the right solutions to bring a halt to the scores of people who enter the country illegally, she said.
“I for one am strongly in favor of shutting down illegal immigration in this country and getting a handle on the law enforcement aspects of it,” said Dhillon.
For those who have pegged Trump as a racist, Dhillon disagrees. “I have not seen any evidence of him (Trump) being a racist, or preferential to one (race) or the other,” she said. “But I think it’s very legitimate to say that you’re opposed to illegal immigration.”
