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Kelowna’s connection to the U.S. election

City councillor Mohini Singh is the aunt to the press secretary of Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris
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Kamala Harris speaks to get out the vote in Detroit, MI. Twitter. (File)

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris has a connection to Kelowna.

Her press secretary, Sabrina Singh, is the niece of city councillor Mohini Singh, proving politics clearly run in the family.

The third-term city councillor was raised by Sabrina’s grandfather and considers the press secretary’s father to be something of a brother.

“My family has deep ties in the U.S, Sabrina’s grandfather was my grand-uncle and he was the only dad I knew,” explained Mohini. “Her father and I were raised like brother and sister, he is very cool.”

Harris appointed Indian-American Sabrina as her press secretary in August of this year. At 32, Sabrina has already been the press secretary to two Democratic presidential hopefuls, Cory Booker and Michael Bloomberg. The UCLA graduate also worked as a regional communications director on the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

“She is an amazing young woman, whose heart is in the right place and she really believes strongly in diversity in America,” said Mohini. “I believe she has a true dedication to her country. She is really passionate about what she does and giving everybody a voice.”

According to Mohini, the Singh family is ripe with political endeavours. Sabrina’s grandfather had a connection with the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which allowed a quota of 100 Filipinos and 100 Indians from Asia to immigrate to the United States per year, which was the first time these people were allowed to naturalize as American citizens. As citizens, these new Americans could own property under their names and even petition for their immediate family members from abroad.

While Mohini hasn’t spoken to her nice in some months due to Sabrina’s intense work schedule on the campaign trail with Harris, she did see her two years ago at the press secretary’s wedding in California.

“I’ve been closely watching the election closely, I can’t even sleep,” said Mohini. “And, I obviously want Joe Biden to win because that is the side my niece works for.”

Former vice-president Joe Biden and U.S. President Donald Trump have been in a close battle for the White House for the last two days since Nov. 3, as thousands of ballots are still to be counted.

READ MORE: More than a dozen arrested in U.S. cities as protesters demand vote count

READ MORE: Biden needs 1 more battleground state to win the White House


@Jen_zee
jen.zielinski@bpdigital.ca

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Jen Zielinski

About the Author: Jen Zielinski

Graduated from the broadcast journalism program at BCIT. Also holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science and sociology from Thompson Rivers University.
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