The political action committee says it’s the final round of endorsements.
The Indian American Impact Fund has announced endorsement of five candidates running for local offices and state legislatures across the country.
The political action committee, which is working to get Indian American candidates elected to various offices, “based on their viability and commitment to advocating for the needs and values” of the community, said it will be the final round endorsements in the current election cycle.
The candidates endorsed Tuesday include three Indian Americans running for state legislatures: Jeremy Cooney, a candidate for the New York State Senate from District 56; Kevin Thomas, who is also running for the New York State Senate from District 6; and Alex Karjeker, a candidate for Texas State House from District 129.
The other two the Impact Fund endorsed candidates are Rupande Mehta, who is running for Freeholder in Morris County, New Jersey, and Anu Natarajan, a candidate for the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors from District 6.
READ: Meet the candidate: Indian American Jeremy Cooney, NY 56th Senate District (May 27, 2018)
“[The] Impact Fund is proud to support five incredibly talented women and men running from coast to coast,” Deepak Raj, a co-founder of the group said in a press release. “With strong support from our community over the next six weeks, I am confident we can get them across the finish line.”
“Even as we work to expand our ranks in Congress, we must also work to expand our numbers in state and local office,” said Raj Goyle, another co-founder and a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives. “When elected, these leaders will be well positioned to work on issues that Indian Americans — and all Americans — care about, like education, health care, and jobs.”
Cooney and Thomas were elected unopposed in the New York state primary earlier this month.
READ: New Indian American group Impact to support candidates to ‘run, win and lead’ (January 19, 2018)
In the current cycle, the Impact Fund has endorsed 19 candidates running for various offices, including four incumbent members of Congress: Reps Ami Bera, D-Calif., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.
Three other notable endorsements are Indian American Democrats running for Congress: Sri Preston Kulkarni (Texas 22), Aftab Pureval (Ohio 1) and Hiral Tipirneni (Arizona 08).
For sate legislatures, the Impact Fund has endorsed Mona Das (State Senate, Washington 47), Josh Kaul (Attorney General, Wisconsin), Nima Kulkarni (State House, Kentucky-40), Padma Kuppa (State House, Michigan 41), Mujtaba Mohammed (State Senate, North Carolina 38), Megan Srinivas (State House, Iowa 09) and Ram Villivalam (State Senate, Illinois-08).
The Impact Fund is headed by Gautam Raghavan, who served as the Associate Director of Public Engagement, acting as a liaison to the LGBT and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, in the Obama administration.