Haley broke a glass ceiling in 2010 when she was elected governor becoming the first woman and first non-white to win the job in the southern state, which has had a reputation for racism and social conservatism. She had to overcome a gutter campaign of personal attacks from her opponents who even accused her of adultery. But she prevailed, getting the trust of the voters.

Although most Indian Americans - about 65 percent - support the Democratic Party, members of the community have achieved breakthroughs in the Republican Party, which is called racist and anti-immigrant by its opponents.

After a gap of 48 years since the election of the first Indian American to Congress, Dalip Singh Saund in 1956, Republican Piyush Bobby Jindal broke the dry patch when he was elected to the House of Representative in 2004. He was then elected governor of Louisiana in 2007 and served two terms. He unsuccessfully ran against Trump for the party nomination.