Slain Indian techie’s wife in GoP’s immigration ad
Topeka (US), Oct. 10: Kansas Republican Kevin Yoder launched a new TV ad on Tuesday with a testimonial from the widow of an Indian engineer murdered in a Kansas City-area bar about his efforts to help her remain in the US afterward.
The 30-second spot featuring Sunayana Dumala praising Yoder comes with the four-term Congressman locked in a tough race against Democrat Sharice Davids.
Yoder, chairman of a House subcommittee on homeland security, received President Donald Trump’s full endorsement in July, after the GOP unveiled a plan that included $5 billion that could help build a wall
along the US-Mexico border.
Yoder’s new ad began three days after Trump had a campaign rally in Topeka in a neighboring district that Yoder didn’t attend. The new ad also highlights how immigration is a tricky issue in the Kansas City-area 3rd District, which Trump narrowly lost. Bob Beatty, a Washburn University of Topeka political scientist, said many anti-Trump voters view the president as “anti-immigrant,” and the ad allows Yoder to “put some distance” between them.
“In a way, an ad like this has to come out after the Trump visit,” Beatty said. “This ad is for a relatively small group of moderate Republicans that are thinking of voting Democratic this time.”
Dumala’s husband, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was an Indian immigrant working for GPS Device-maker Garmin. He was shot to death in February 2017 at a bar and witnesses said the man convicted of the killing yelled “Get out of my country!” before opening fire.