WASHINGTON: From governor to city council member, Indian American candidates are in the race for public office in the US midterm elections on Tuesday, seeking a slice of power for the 5.2 million-strong community.
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, with an endorsement from US President Donald Trump, is running for Ohio governor and locked in a tight race with Democrat Amy Acton. If elected, Ramaswamy will be the third governor of Indian heritage after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.
While a number of Indian-American candidates are in the fray for Tuesday’s mid-term elections, Dilip Singh Saund scripted history in 1956 by getting elected to the US House of Representatives. Amritsar-born Saund became the first Asian American and the first Sikh elected to Congress. He went on to serve three terms in the US House.
Maryland Lt Governor Aruna Miller, who was born in Hyderabad, is seeking re-election in the staunchly Democratic state, while Nithya Raman is in the race to become the mayor of Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the US.
Sitting members of the US Congress, Ro Khanna, Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal and Suhas Subramanyam -- all Democrats -- are expected to return to the House in the November 3 elections.
Khanna faces Republican Ritesh Tandon, an Indian American entrepreneur, in California’s 17th district. In Washington's 7th District, Jayapal faces Republican Nirav Sheth, a Gujarat-born former US Marine.
Keen to join their fellow Democrats in the US House are Pia Dandiya, a former school principal, who is in a tight race against Republican Casey Aksar from Florida, and Amish Shah, an emergency medicine physician, who is in the fray from Arizona.
Both Shah and Dandiya have been endorsed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to flip the seat in favour of the party.
Other House candidates are Republican Mahesh Ganorkar in North Carolina's 4th District, and independents Sandeep Dixit in Ohio's 13th District and Anil Kumar in Michigan's 11th District.
In Arizona, Priya Sundareshan is seeking re-election to the state Senate and is in the race to be the president of the 30-member chamber if Democrats get a majority.
Sundareshan is the minority leader in the Arizona Senate.
In Michigan, Ranjeev Puri, the House Minority Leader, is in the race to be the first Indian-American Speaker should the Democrats flip the House.
In New York, Republican Saritha Komatireddy is in the race for the attorney general’s post against Democrat incumbent Letitia James. Komatireddy, who has been endorsed by Trump, made a mark in the pre-election debate with James.
Delhi-educated Lisa Kaul is in the race for New York State Senate, while Josh Kaul is seeking re-election as attorney general for Wisconsin.
Pooja Sethi, a former immigration attorney, is running for Texas House of Representatives against Republican Jennifer Mushtaler.
In Georgia, Shuchita Patel, a Democrat, is running for Forsyth County Commissioner, while in Washington, D.C., Aparna Raj is in the fray to become a council member on the City Council.