Many of the 30 winners scored firsts as 11 others bit the dust
A record 50 plus Indian Americans contested the Nov 8 election from Arizona to Wisconsin. Of the 30 winners in the States, many scored firsts, while 11 others lost. Here is the list of winners and losers:
Arizona
State Senate, District 18
Priya Sundareshan, Democrat beat Stan Caine, Republican.
A voting rights advocate, Sundareshan teaches natural resources law at the University of Arizona.
Read: Election 2022: Desi winners and losers in US House races (November 11, 2022)
California
State Assembly, District 25
Ash Kalra, Democrat beat Ted Stroll, Republican to win a fourth term. In 2016, he became the first Indian American to serve in the California Legislature. He previously served as a San José City Council member and a deputy public defender in Santa Clara County.
State Assembly, District 35
Jasmeet Kaur Bains, Democrat beat fellow Democrat Leticia Perez to become the first Indian-origin Sikh woman to be elected to the California Assembly. Bains is a medical director at a non-profit that treats adults suffering from addiction.
Oakland City Council
Janani Ramachandran beat Nenna Joiner in a non-partisan contest. A public interest attorney, she will be the youngest and the first LGBTQ woman of color in the Oakland city council.
Illinois
State House, District 16
Kevin Olickal Democrat beat Vince Romano, Republican.
Son of Malayali immigrant parents, Olickal, 29, would be one of the first two South Asian American in the Illinois legislature
Read: Election 2022: Desi wave sweeps America in midterms (November 10, 2022)
State House, District 51
Nabeela Syed, Democrat beat Chris Bos, Republican incumbent.
Syed, 23, would be one of the first two South Asian Americans in the Illinois legislature.Iowa
Iowa
State House, District 30
Megan Srinivas, Democrat, beat Jerry Cheevers, Republican.
An infectious disease physician, Srinivas would be the second Asian American woman to serve in the Iowa House after Swati Dandekar. She is the youngest woman of color ever elected to the Iowa legislature.
MarylandÂ
Lieutenant Governor
Aruna Miller, Democrat, beat Gordana Schifanelli, Republican.
Andhra Pradesh, India-born Miller, 57, became Maryland’s first Asian-American lieutenant governor and the first immigrant to be elected to statewide office. A transportation engineer by profession, Miller is a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Read: Aruna Miller makes history as first Indian-American Maryland LGÂ (November 9, 2022)
State House, District 17
Kumar P Barve, Democrat beat Julie Palakovich Carr, Democrat.
Son of Indian American parents, Barve, 64, a finance analyst, was the first person of Indian descent to be elected to a state legislature in the United States in 1990.
Michigan
State Senate District 21
Ranjeev Puri, Democrat, beat John Anthony, Republican to win a second term. He has worked as a business manager at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and volunteered with South Asians of Michigan Organizing for Serious Actions (SAMOSA).
State Senate, District 28
Sam Singh, Democrat beat Daylen Howard, Republican. Former East Lansing mayor, Sam Singh served in the Michigan House from 2013-18. Elected to the East Lansing City Council at the age of 24, he became mayor in 2005.
Oakland County Commissioner, District 14
Ajay V. Raman, Democrat, beat Robert Smiley, Republican. A physician, business owner and first-generation Indian-American, Raman lost his maiden run as mayor of Novi, Michigan, to incumbent Bob Gatt last year.
New Hampshire
State House, Hillsborough, District 35
Latha Mangipudi, Democrat, beat Laura Telerskito, Democrat, to win a sixth term. First elected in 2013, Mangipudi has served in various commissions and committees in the state.
New York
State Senate, District 6
Kevin Thomas, Democrat beat James Coll, Republican, to win a second term.
On Long Island, where a Republican sweep surprised many in the blue state, Thomas was one of the few Democrats who survived.
State Senate, District 56
Jeremy Cooney, Democratic Party, Working Families Party, beat Jim VanBrederode, Republican Party, Conservative Party, Independence Party, to win back his seat.
Adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata and raised by a single mother in the City of Rochester, Cooney made history in 2020 as the first Asian American elected to state office from upstate New York.
State Assembly, District 36
Zohran Mamdani, Democrat/Working Families Party, won a second term unopposed. First elected in 2021, Uganda-born Mamdani, who represents sections of Astoria and Long Island City, is a housing counselor.
State Assembly, District 38
Jenifer Rajkumar, Democrat ran unopposed to win a second term. In 2021, Rajkumar made history as the first South Asian-American woman ever to be elected to a state office in New York.
North Carolina
State Senate, District 15
Jay Chaudhuri beat Emanuela Prister, Republican to win a second full term. First appointed to fill a vacancy in April 2016, Chaudhuri became North Carolina’s first Indian American state legislator in 2019.
State Senate, District 38
Mujtaba Mohammed, Democrat ran unopposed to win a third term. Born in Toledo, Ohio, the public interest attorney earned his law degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Ohio
State House, District 11
Anita Somani, Democrat, beat Omar Tarazi, Republican.
An obstetrician-gynecologist for OhioHealth, Somani is a member of the Academy of Medicine and has served as a delegate and alternate delegate to the Ohio State Medical Association.
Pennsylvania
State House, District 30
Dr Arvind Venkat, Democrat, beat Cindy Kirk, Republican.
An emergency room doctor at Allegheny General Hospital, Venkat will be the only physician and only person of South Asian descent in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly.
Tennessee
State House, District 66,
Sabi Kumar, Republican ran unopposed to win a fifth term.
Popularly known as “Doc,†the Indian American surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and writer is currently the Chairman of the House Insurance Committee.
Texas
Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4, Judge
Manpreet Monica Singh, Democrat beat Brian Staley, Republican.
The Houston-born-and-raised Singh has been practicing law for 20 years. She is heavily involved in numerous civil rights organizations at a local, state, and national level.
Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, Judge
KP George, Democrat, beat Trever Nehls, Republican. A judge since 2019, India-born George was re-elected. He earlier served on Fort Bend ISD School Board from 2014 to 2018.
Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 3, Judge
Juli Mathew, Democrat, beat Andrew Dornburg, Republican.
A judge since 2019, Mathew is the first Indian American woman elected to the bench in the US, and the first Asian American Judge in Fort Bend County.
Austin City Council, District 9
Zohaib Qadri (also known as Zo) advanced from the Nov 8 election to the general runoff election on Dec 13, 2022.
Utah
Salt Lake County, District Attorney
Simarjit Singh Gill, Democrat, beat Danielle Ahn, Republican to win a fourth term. First elected in November 2010, Gill earlier worked as Salt Lake City’s Chief Prosecutor.
Vermont
State Senate, Chittenden Southeast District
Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Democrat was the highest vote-getter in the three seat district.
She dropped out of the US House race in May to run for reelection. Ram earlier served in the Vermont House from 2009 to 2017. The youngest Indian American to ever serve in state elected office, Ram was the youngest state legislator in the US.
Washington
State Senate, District 45
Manka Dhingra, Democrat beat Ryika Hooshangi, Republican to win a second term.
Dhingra became the first Sikh state legislator elected in the US when first elected to the Senate in 2017. Currently Deputy Majority Leader of the Washington State Senate, she has worked as a senior deputy prosecuting attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
State House, District 48- Position 1
Vandana Slatter, Democrat won a third term with 96% votes.
A former Bellevue City Council member, community leader, and biotech and healthcare professional, she has worked for over 20 years as a clinical scientist in leading biotech/pharma companies.
Wisconsin
Attorney General
Josh Kaul, Democrat beat Eric Toney, Republican to win a second term as Attorney General.
Son of Raj Kaul and former Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager, Josh Kaul’s election in 2018 switched the office from Republican to Democratic for the first time since January 2007. From 2010 to 2014, Kaul was an assistant US attorney in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.
Losers
Connecticut
State treasurer
Harry Arora, Republican lost to Erick Russell, Democratic Party, Working Families Party.
Currently, ranking member of the House Labor Committee, Indian-born Harry Arora was first elected to the State assembly in a special election in January, 2020 and re-elected in that November’s general election.
Florida
State House, District 35
Rishi Bagga, Democrat, lost to Fred Hawkins, Republican.
Born in Toronto, Bagga, an attorney and small business owner, moved to the United States when he was 10 years old.
Georgia
State House, District 99
Om Duggal, Democrat, lost to Matt Reeves, Republican.
New Delhi, India-born Duggal, immigrated to the US over two decades ago.
Iowa
State House, District 43
Suresh Reddy, Democrat, lost to Eddie Andrews, Republican.
Software engineer Suresh Reddy is a member of the Johnston City Council since 2019.
Michigan
State Senate, District 9
Padma Kuppa, Democrat lost to Michael Webber, Republican.
Currently serving her second term in the State House, Bhilai, India-born Kuppa is the first Indian immigrant and Hindu in the Michigan state legislature.
State House District 57
Aisha Farooqi, Democrat, lost to Thomas Kuhn, Republican.
An attorney and filmmaker, Farooqi has served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the City of Sterling Heights and has been a member of the Macomb County Black Caucus and the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council of Detroit.
New Hampshire
State House, District Rockingham 25
Neil Misra, Democrat, lost to Lorie Ball, Republican.
Salem resident Misra interned for Congresswoman Ann Kuster during his undergraduate studies at George Washington University.
New York
State Assembly, District 10
Aamir Sultan, Republican, lost to Steve Stern, Democrat.
State Assembly District 16
Vibhuti Jha, Republican lost to Gina Sillitti, Democrat.
Jha recently apologized for his racial rhetoric after receiving flak for his anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh tweets.
State Assembly, District 19
Sanjeev Jindal, Democrat lost to Edward Ra, Republican, incumbent.
Read: Winners and losers from the 2022 election so far (November 9, 2022)
Pennsylvania
State House, District 137
Anna Thomas, Democrat, lost to Joe Emrick, Republican.
Thomas has conducted research into ways American industry can expand energy production while reducing environmental impact.
Read: Election 2022: Indian American voters hold the balance of power (November 8, 2022)
Read: Election 2022: Desis galore running from Arizona to Wisconsin (November 6, 2022)
Read: Indian Americans in race for 2022 mid-term elections (November 6, 2022)
Read: Election 2022: Kamala Harris frames elections as the fight for democracy (November 7, 2022)