WASHINGTON: Indian-origin Michigan lawmaker Ranjeev Puri is eyeing the Speaker of the state house post in the November 3 elections.
The 42-year-old Puri became the first Sikh American elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2020, a first in the state's history.
Born to Punjabi immigrants, Puri was appointed Democratic Party leader in the Republican-controlled 110-member House of Representatives in 2025.
Michigan has a Democratic Governor in Gretchen Whitmer, but a Republican-controlled House with Matt Hall as the Speaker.
Democrats hope to flip the House in the November 3 elections and pave the way for Puri to become the first-ever Indian-American Speaker.
"Michigan Dems are on the move. We are about to flip the state house and make Ranjeev Puri THE FIRST Indian American State House Speaker in the country," said Haley Stevens, the US Congresswoman from the state, while campaigning for the elections.
Stevens, who is set to retire from the US Congress this year after an unsuccessful bid to win the Democratic nomination for US Senate elections.
Puri has worked on President Barack Obama's campaigns in 2008 and 2012.
He later earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and returned to Michigan, where he worked in the automotive industry.
In his third term as member of the state House, Puri was appointed as the leader of the democratic party in the House in 2025.
In the November 3 elections, Puri is pitted against Allison Kay Fuller of the Republican party.
According to the Indian American Voter Atlas, developed by Republican strategist Anang Mittal, Michigan is home to 1.27 lakh people of Indian-origin, accounting for 1.27 per cent of the state's population.