Ash Kalra, Niraj Antani and Jay Chaudhuri win.
Three Indian Americans, Ash Kalra (D-California), Niraj Antani (R-Ohio), and Jay Chaudhuri (D-North Carolina), have won their respective state legislature election, on November 8.
San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra told NBC Bay Area he became the first Indian American to serve in the California legislature, after his opponent, Madison Nguyen, texted him Friday to concede.
Kalra, a law professor at Lincoln Law School of San Jose, had been leading in the polls since Election Day as the front-runner in the hotly contested race for the state’s 27th Assembly District. The two were competing to replace termed-out Assemblywoman Nora Campos.
Earlier, Ro Khanna had won the US congressional seat from the San Jose area, and Kamala Harris had become a Senator from California, indicating that the state has become happy hunting ground for Indian American politicians. All three are Democrats.
In Ohio, Niraj Antani, 25, defeated his Democrat opponent Patrick Merris, getting 63 percent of the vote to Merris’ 37 percent, to become a state reprsentative.
“I am truly honored to have been re-elected as the state representative for the 42nd Ohio House District,†Antani said in a statement, after the results were declared. “I look forward to returning to the Ohio House of Representative as its only Indian American member, and continuing my fight for the American Dream.â€
Joining Kalra and Antani in the list of successful Indian American state-level candidates was Jay Chaudhuri, who had earlier in April bested his opponent Ellis Hankins, 63 percent to 37 percent, for the position of state senator in North Carolina’s 16th District.