In an impressive spectacle, the four Indian-American Democratic legislators, Dr. Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi, have been re-elected to the United States House of Representatives.
The Indian-American community has emerged as a force to be reckoned with for the first time in the history of the US presidential election. Both the Democratic and Republican campaigns had initiated various measures to attract the approximately 1.8 million community members who have emerged as a critical bloc of voters in the battle states of Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. The so-called ‘Samosa caucus,’ a term coined by Krishnamoorthi for the informal grouping of Indian-American lawmakers, could be expanded with at least one more as physician Dr. Hiral Tipirneni led against Republican incumbent David Schweikert from Arizona’s sixth congressional district. when the last reports came in.
If elected, Tipirneni, 52, would be the second American Indian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. Jayapal, 55, was the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
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The ‘Samosa caucus’ is currently made up of five Indian-American lawmakers, including the four members of the House of Representatives and 56-year-old Senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, 47, easily defeated Preston Nelson, 30, of the Libertarian Party. When the latest reports came in, he had accounted for nearly 71 percent of the total votes counted.
Ro Khanna, 44, easily defeated fellow Indian-American Ritesh Tandon, 48, of the Republican Party by a margin of more than 50 percentage points. This was his third consecutive victory in California’s 17th congressional district.
Dr. Ami Bera, 55, the oldest member of the ‘Samosa Caucus,’ easily won California’s seventh congressional district for the fifth consecutive term. When the latest report came in, he had established an inaccessible lead of more than 25 percentage points against his Republican rival Buzz Patterson, 65.
Sri Preston Kulkarni, 42, was giving a tough fight to Troy Nehls, 52, of the Republican Party, from the 22nd Congressional District of Texas. It was behind five percentage points when the reports last came in.
Republican Manga Anantatmula lost to Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. Republican Nisha Sharma of the Republican Party also lost her first run in Congress. She was defeated by Democratic Party incumbent Mark DeSaulnier by more than 50 percentage points. The House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, and the Senate is the upper house.
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