TUESDAY’S (6) midterm elections saw four Indian-Americans getting re-elected to the House of Representatives.
In the eighth Congressional District of Illinois, Raja Krishnamoorthi was re-elected for the second term by a comfortable margin of more than 30 per cent. He defeated his Indian-American Republican rival JD Diganvker.
Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American to be elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, registered her second consecutive win from the seventh Congressional District of Washington State.
“The American people voted to put the Democrats back in control of the US House of Representatives,” Jayapal said in her victory speech. “Now, we are primed to restore the balance of power between the branches of government and push back even more strongly against the Trump administration’s deeply destructive policies. Our communities are sick and tired of the corruption and injustice.
“With new and diverse voices joining our ranks, we are building a movement that truly represents the people of this country,” she added.
Ro Khanna, too, easily sailed through the race for the House from the 17th Congressional District of California by defeating his GOP rival Ron Cohen. Khanna was elected for the first time in 2016.
“Tonight was a great night for our campaign and for Democrats across the country. I’m grateful to the voters of #CA17 for giving me the opportunity to continue to represent you in Congress. This has been the honour of my life,” Khanna said.
“With Democrats in control of the House, we will push for economic and foreign policy populism,” he said.
Ami Bera, a three-term Congressman, defeated his Republican rival Andrew Grant in the seventh Congressional District of California. He defeated Grant by a small five per cent margin.
However, none of the more than half a dozen new Indian-Americans candidates could make it to the House of Representatives. Indian-American of Tibetan descent Aftab Pureval, who was endorsed by former president Barack Obama, lost to GOP incumbent Steve Chabot. He was the first Democrat to get elected as the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in more than 100 years.
Anita Malik lost to her Republican incumbent in the sixth District of Arizona, and former state department diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni lost to his GOP incumbent Pete Olson from the 22nd Congressional District of Texas.
Sanjay Patel, who runs a successful consulting business, lost to Republican Congressman Bill Posey from the eighth Congressional District of Florida.
In the first Congressional District of Arkansas, Democratic Chintan Desai lost to Republican incumbent Rick Crawford, while Republican Harry Arora lost to incumbent Jim Himes in the fourth Congressional District of Connecticut.
