Sara Gideon trailing in Maine, Indian Americans enlarge presence in state legislatures.
All four Indian American Democrat lawmakers in the US Congress fondly nicknamed the “Samosa Caucus” after India’s favorite triangular savory teatime snack were reelected Tuesday.
The longest serving Indian American House member Ami Bera, 55, won his fifth consecutive term to the House with a margin of 22.8 per cent over his Republican rival Buzz Patterson, a military veteran, in California. Son of immigrant parents from Gujarat, Bera is a physician by profession.
New Delhi born lawyer Krishnamoorthi, 47, defeated his Libertarian Party rival by 41.8 per cent in Illinois to win a third term. He was considered such a formidable candidate the Republican Party did not put up anyone against him.
So did lawyer, academic Ro Khanna, 44, who defeated another Indian-American challenger Ritesh Tandon of Republican Party with a 49.2% margin. Khanna previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Commerce Department under President Barack Obama.
RELATED: Indian American lawmakers’ Samosa Caucus set to get bigger (November 2, 2020)
Chenna-born civil rights activist Jayapal, 55, the first and the only Indian American woman in the House, also won a third consecutive term from Washington State. Jayapal, a harsh critic of India, defeated her Republican Party rival Craig Keller by a huge margin of 69.6 per cent.
But Republican Nisha Sharma was defeated by sitting Democrat Mark DeSaulnier with 50.6 per cent votes in California.
Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, an emergency room physician in Arizona, was leading the incumbent Republican David Schweikert by a slim margin of 3.4 per cent with 29 per cent of the votes still to be counted as of 3 AM on Wednesday.
Former US diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni, 42, lost to his Republican rival Troy Nehls in Texas by 7.3 per cent. He had narrowly lost the race in 2018 too.
Republican Manga Anantatmula, who tried to unseat Democrat Gerry Connolly, lost by 43.4 per cent in Virginia.
RELATED: ‘This is our time,’ say Indian Americans in politics (October 15, 2020)
In the Senate elections, Maine House speaker Sara Gideon, 48, who was reported to be giving the incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins a run for her money with a war chest of $64 million, is currently trailing by 8%.
Gideon grew up in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where her father was a pediatrician who emigrated from India and her Armenian American mother was a psychiatrist.
At the state level, Republican Niraj Antani, 29, who in 2014 became the youngest member of the Ohio state house, was elected as Ohio’s first Indian American state senator.
Antani defeated Democrat Mark Fogel in the senate’s sixth district. He was the first Indian American Republican to serve in the Ohio House and second to get elected from the community to the statehouse.
In New York, Kevin Thomas, a sitting state Senator was reelected. Film-maker Mira Nair’s son Zohran Mamdani won a New York State Assembly seat, as did fellow-Democrat Jenifer Rajkumar.
READ MORE:
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Politically, 2016 is a ‘Miracle Year’ for Indian Americans (December 31, 2016)
Historic day for Indian Americans, as 5 from the community take oath as members of US Congress
1 Comment
Only 58% of the result is declared. Wait for FINAL Result.