Bobby Jindal 2016 President Race: Iowa Visit Could Signal Launch Of Historic Campaign For Indian-Americans

By now, Bobby Jindal is used to making history, having become the nation’s first Indian-American governor in 2008. On Tuesday, the Republican governor of Louisiana is scheduled to visit Iowa, a key early presidential campaign state, to seek support among a group of Christian evangelical pastors for a possible run for the White House, the Associated Press reported.

Should Jindal choose to run, he’d be the first Indian-American to seek the presidency. Jindal, 43, is a Catholic convert raised by Hindu parents, and checks all the boxes on social issues dear to conservatives. He opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and has been as publicly critical of the Obama administration as any prominent conservative.

Jindal, nearing the end of his second term as governor, would join a growing field of potential Republican presidential candidates, several of whom also are courting the party’s evangelical base for the 2016 election cycle. Former Arkansas Gov. and Fox News host Mike Huckabee rallied the Christian right in his 2008 Republican primary run but eventually faded. In 2012, former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum suddenly emerged as the favored candidate, but lost in the end to Mitt Romney. He is reportedly considering another run.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are also considering entering the GOP race. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another Christian conservative who ran in 2012, is said to be mulling a second try.

Jindal’s trip to first-to-vote Iowa on Tuesday is his fifth since June 2014, the AP reported. Jindal told reporters Monday that he hadn’t decided on running for president but would do so after prayer and consulting his family. But the number of rival candidates in the field won’t weigh on that decision, Jindal said.