California Attorney Harmeet Dhillon Recites Sikh Prayer on First Day of Republican National Convention

California attorney Harmeet Dhillon, whose firm represents Trump, led an ardas, a Sikh prayer, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15. She said she was honored to recite the prayer “to thank God and seek protection and help in upholding values such as humility, truth, and justice for all.” As a member of a Sikh immigrant family, she must follow the practice of covering one’s head while offering prayers as a sign of respect, she told attendees at the convention. 

A longtime conservative activist, Dhillon has served as chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association and as a chair of the San Francisco Republican Party. She is currently a national committeewoman of the RNC for California. Last year, she unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Ronna McDaniel as chairperson of the Republican National Committee.

“Scenes from the convention. I have a lot of different roles: speaker, lawyer, floor operations, and of course, CA delegate & RNC member,” she posted on X ahead of the opening ceremony. 

Thankfully I don't view things through religious beliefs. @pnjaban is a national treasure who has defended Trump multiple times. Traditional values are not limited to any religion… https://t.co/BiehzSopLK

— Cartel California (@Cartel_Cal) July 16, 2024

Commenting on Trump’s pick for running mate, Dhillon told Politico Playbook that Ohio Senator J.D. Vance was her “preferred” candidate. When she him at a fundraiser for Trump in Silicon Valley co-hosted by Sri Lanka-born American and Canadian billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya, along with former Paypal executive and billionaire venture capitalist David Sack. “I was just talking to my San Francisco GOP chair, and he told me his phone is ringing off the hook from ‘crypto bros,’” Dhillon said. “They want to be in on the action here. They realize it’s an existential threat to their worldview and pocketbooks and wallets if Joe Biden and his ilk stay in power.”

The first time Dhillon recited the ardas was at the 2016 convention in Cleveland, Ohio. At the time she told The Mercury News that she hoped that her reading the Ardaas would show that the Republican Party is truly diversified. “I think this is an inclusive party. I’ve never felt anything but included since Day One.”

Scenes from the convention. I have a lot of different roles: speaker, lawyer, floor operations, and of course, CA delegate & RNC member! Lawyers working the convention on the floor get special hats to distinguish us (bad hair day ahead 😱) and the scene from floor & outside! pic.twitter.com/gAs4n7GXgc

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) July 15, 2024

Dhillon has been integral to Trump’s 2024 campaign as part of his legal coalition to keep him on the ballot. In late December, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that, under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, Trump shouldn’t be allowed on the state’s ballot due to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Eight years ago I filed a lawsuit for Trump supporters viciously assaulted at a rally by an organized diversity mob while hundreds of police in riot gear stood there, blocking safe exits and pinning us in. We need to end political violence in America! https://t.co/lEWUNRxBvR

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— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) July 15, 2024

A frequent commentator on Fox News, Dhillon is an acerbic critic of liberals and an entrenched advocate of Republican pet causes. She has appeared on the network’s prime-time shows to discuss hot-button topics like vaccine mandates, Hunter Biden’s laptop and the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate. Apart from Trump, her law firm has represented several top MAGA officials, including Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.  

Though Dhillon was active in GOP politics for decades, it wasn’t until the Trump presidency that she became a fixture in the Republican Party. Her biggest impact in the modern GOP is undoubtedly her legal work related to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and myriad legal efforts to roll back voting rights in the biggest swing states. 

In the 2022 midterm elections, Dhillon’s firm was “extremely active in various GOP efforts to overturn elections in key states and disenfranchise voters,” according to Democracy Docket, a liberal-leaning voting rights and media platform that tracks election litigation. She was hired by then gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, “who mounted a massive legal effort to overturn the state’s election results based on false claims of voter fraud,” the Democracy Docket report said.  Her firm also represented Abraham Hamadeh, “an election denier who ran for Arizona attorney general and contested the election results after losing,” the report added. 

In Georgia, she represented the Republican Party, “which intervened in a lawsuit to defend the state’s disenfranchising wet signature requirement,” Democracy Docket said. In 2021, she  represented a member of Pennsylvania’s Bradford County Board of Elections in “a lawsuit to overturn the state’s no-excuse mail-in voting law, which greatly expanded voter access in the Keystone State.”