Down Ballot Desis: Several Indian and South Asian American Democrats Win State Senate and Assembly Races
- However, Indian American physician Amish Shah is facing an uphill battle in his bid for the U.S. House from Arizona’s first Congressional District.
Although Democrats had to face massive disappointment, both nationally and in state and local elections, several South Asian Americans managed to win or retain their seats in state legislatures and city councils. A few candidates are still trailing and some races are too close to call. Here is the scorecard at press time.
Arizona
Indian American physician Amish Shah is facing an uphill battle in his bid for the U.S. House from Arizona’s first Congressional District. With almost 60 percent of the votes counted, he is trailing his Republican challenger David Schweikert by over 135,000 votes, according to The New York Times. If elected, Shah, 45, will become the seventh member of the Samosa Caucus.
News 12 notes that Arizona’s first district, “that stretches across much of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Fountain Hills has long been considered a Republican stronghold in the state. However, with nearly a third of its voting base registered as Independent, it’s now considered one of the most competitive districts in Arizona.”
There was some good news in the state’s Board of Education contest. Dr. Ravi Shah, an incumbent, won a second term on the Tucson Unified School District board. He was among three elected to the post. He came in second, with Shah holding 22.5%, as reported by tucson.com.
a family physician by profession, Shah told the publication that he’s “thrilled that voters in Tucson chose continuity from what’s been working the last couple of years. We’ve really focused on working together, on developing a strong district, on making sure that our students are successful, and supporting our students and staff.”
California
Darshana Patel currently holds a comfortable lead over Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane in Assembly District 76, with 64% of precincts reporting. Patel leads with 52.31% of the vote, while Bruce-Lane trails at 47.69%. The longtime trustee of the Poway Unified School District in California is seeking the North County seat that is vacated by Brian Maienschein, who has termed out. Patel’s campaign has received a boost with an early endorsement from Congressman Ro Khanna.
In South Bay, Tara Sreekrishnan is trailing Patrick Ahrens to fill the Assembly District 26 seat, which is open since Ethan Low, the incumbent, is running for Congress and did not file for reelection. The district includes Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, and parts of West San Jose and Alviso. Sreekrishnan’s website describes her as a “county school board member, state legislative director, climate nonprofit founder, a cancer survivor, and a lifelong fighter.”
In Emeryville, incumbent Sukhdeep Kaur is poised to be elected to her first full term on the city council. An Emeryville resident for over 16 years, the practicing attorney was unanimously appointed to the Emeryville City Council in February, 2023.
Georgia
Two Bangladeshi American incumbents — Nabilah Islam and Sheikh Rahman— won their seats in Georgia state Senate from District 7 and District 5 respectively. Rahman received 70% of the vote, while Republican Challenger Lisa Babbage received 29% of the vote. Nabilah has been a member of the Georgia State Senate, representing District 5 since 2019. His career experience includes working as a corporate executive with Pizza Hut. He served as a member of the NAACP, the National Action Network, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the national advisor of the Alliance for South Asian American Labor.
Islam, who has been called the Atlanta area’s equivalent of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), received 55 percent of the votes, while her challenger J. Gregory Howard got 45 percent of the votes. A lifelong activist, organizer, and community advocate dedicated to advancing Democratic causes and values, Islam has been a member of the Gwinnett Outreach Advisory Board. In that position, she has worked to provide assistance and support for AAPI small business owners in Gwinnett following the targeted Asian spa shootings, according to her website.
Illinois
State Rep. Nabeela Syed has retained her State House seat over Republican Tosi Ufodike. A former digital strategist for a civic engagement nonprofit, she is the youngest woman in the chamber and one of its first two Muslim members. She held 55% of the vote over 45% for Ufodike, with 91% of expected votes counted, according to the Associated Press. Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times from her headquarters in Palatine, she said she feels “so grateful my community entrusted me with another term. It’s a true honor and privilege to represent the area I was born and raised in.” She won her first term in 2022 by almost seven percentage points in the 51st District, “an area that previously was favorable to Republicans until Democrats redrew legislative maps after the 2020 U.S. Census,” the Sun-Times said.
Kentucky
State Rep. Nima Kulkarni has won her seat representing the 40th District despite legal challenges. After the Kentucky Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Louisville Democratic lawmaker, she won 10,293 votes in her district. She faced no opponent as Republicans did not nominate a candidate when a vacancy in the general election was declared earlier this year, the Kentucky Lantern reported. The legal challenge stemmed from a court filing by Dennis Horlander, a former state representative whom Kulkarni unseated in a 2018 primary. He said her candidacy is “invalid because one of the required witnesses on her filing paperwork was a registered Republican when she signed the form,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Kulkarni appealed that decision. Kulkarni, an attorney, won her first election in 2018, becoming the first Indian-American ever elected to the Kentucky Legislature. She defeated Horlander, who was in office for the past 20 years and has often run unopposed in this largely Democratic district, in the Democratic primary. She defeated Republican Joshua Neubert in the general elections. In 2020, she again defeated Hollander in the June primaries and ran unopposed in the general elections.
Michigan
Ranjeev Puri has won his re-election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 24. The Indian American first won the election to the state House in 2021, representing District 21. The son of immigrants and a proud product of the ‘American Dream’, “Puri is a strong advocate for inclusion, equity and equality across all walks of life,” according to his website. “He brings to Lansing a unique breadth of experiences and diverse perspective he vows to use in fighting for a better Michigan that works for everyone.”
Nevada
Democrat Reuben D’Silva won his re-election to the Nevada State Assembly to represent District 28. The Indian American ran unopposed. He assumed office on Nov. A high school history teacher at Rancho High School, the Mumbai-born D’Silva immigrated to the United States as a toddler. He attended Rancho High School where he served as Senior Class President and graduated in 2003. He then attended the College of Southern Nevada (then Community College of Southern Nevada) and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He later transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Incumbent District Judge Tina Talim is leading against opponent Alan Lefebvre, who served as the 89th president of the State Bar of Nevada in a special election for the Department 14 judge of the Nevada 8th Judicial District Court. Talim, a former longtime prosecutor with the district attorney’s office, was leading with about 64 percent of the votes, to Lefebvre’s 36 percent, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The India-born Talim most recently served as team chief of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Unit in the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She served as “one of the longest-serving team chiefs in the District Attorney’s Office and prosecuted over 5,000 felony cases during her tenure,” according to her official profile.
Pakistani American Hanadi Nadeem is narrowly ahead of Republican Brandon Davis in the Summerlin-area Assembly District 34. Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas) is vacating the seat to run for Clark County Commission. The longtime resident of Las Vegas and political activist, Nadeem is the CEO of the Southern Nevada healthcare clinic Shifa Medical and is currently a Nevada State Equal Rights Commission board member. She is married to Pakistani American physician Nadeem Tariq.
New York
Democrat Jeremy Cooney has won reelection in New York’s 56th State Senate District fly defeating former Gates Police Chief Jim VanBrederode. Cooney was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, and raised by a single mother in the City of Rochester. He made history in 2020 as the first Asian American elected to state office from upstate New York. He was named chairman of the Transportation Committee in 2024 and is a member of the Monroe County Democratic Committee. The 56th District of the New York State Senate is composed entirely in Monroe County and includes the towns of Brighton, Gates, Greece, Henrietta and parts of the city of Rochester.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Jenifer Rajkumar both won their re-election to the New York State Assembly to represent Districts 36 and 38, respectively. Mamdani, 33, is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-born Ugandan academic, author, and political commentator Mahmood Mamdani. A member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, he is currently the youngest and most left-leaning candidate to challenge Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted last month on federal corruption charges. If elected, he would be the first Muslim mayor of New York. He was elected in 2020 as part of a progressive wave of victories in state races and became the first South Asian American and third Muslim American to serve in the Assembly. He represents neighborhoods in Queens, including Astoria and Ditmars-Steinway, considered some of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the world.
Rajkumar, 41, who has represented a south Queens district in Albany’s lower chamber since 2021, launched her campaign for New York City comptroller in August. The first South Asian woman elected to state office in New York, she is running for the seat that is likely to be vacated by Brad Lander, who is set to run in next year’s Democratic primary against Mayor Eric Adams, Rajkumar previously led a successful effort to make Diwali a state school holiday and to establish New York’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission. She also sponsored a measure incorporating domestic workers — overwhelmingly immigrants of color – into the state’s human rights law.
Ohio
Pavan Parikh was successful his re-election for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in Ohio. He faced Republican Mary Hill and Libertarian Andrew Olding in this race, and won with 54% of the vote. Parikh Parikh was appointed to the position in January 2022. He replaced Cincinnati Mayor-elect Aftab Pureval, who held the position since 2016. Parikh previously ran for judge of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Probate Division in Ohio. He lost to Ralph E. Winkler in the Nov. 3, 2020, general election.
Pennsylvania
State Sen. Nikil Saval won his re-election to the Pennsylvania State Senate to represent District 1, which lies in the heart of Philadelphia. The Indian American lawmaker ran unopposed. He became the first South Asian American elected to Pennsylvania’s state Senate in 2020. Before that, he was co-editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn-based literary magazine n+1. He received a Ph.D. in English from Stanford, and wrote a book in 2014 exploring the evolution of the American office, titled “Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace.”
Arvind Venkat has won re-election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 30. The emergency room physician was first elected in November 2022. He is the first Indian American to be elected to the state House and the first physician to serve in the General Assembly in nearly 60 years. The 30th Legislative District includes part of Hampton Township, and all of McCandless, Franklin Park, Ohio Township, Emsworth, Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, and Kilbuck.
Similarly, Tarik Khan, a Pakistani American nurse, won his re-election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 194. The frontline nurse and former president of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association ran unopposed. He was a newcomer when he assumed office on December 1, 2022. The son of a Pakistani father and a Catholic mother, Khan was born and raised in Philadelphia. He is “a proud product” of the public school system and a graduate of Central High School. Khan’s father came to Philadelphia from Pakistan “to go to college and build a better life.” His mother was raised in North West Philly by a single mother, became a nurse, and was the first in her family to go to college,” according to Khan’s website.
Texas
Pakistani American Dr. Suleman Lalani, a state House member representing District 76, beat out challenger Lea Simmons by a large margin. Lalani received 56% of the votes to Simmon’s 44%. According to his website, he chose this country for its advanced medicine and quality of healthcare. He has been in private practice in the Greater Houston area for the last two decades and in Sugar Land for 17 years.
Two other Pakistani American candidates — Nabil Shike (D) and Ali Sheikhani,(R) — faced each other in the Nov. 5 election for Fort Bend County Pct. 3 Constable race. Sheikhani emerged victorious, defeating Sheik by a thin margin of four points (52% to 48%).
Similarly, Salman Bhojani, who represents District 92 in the state House, has won his re-election. The entrepreneur and attorney was elected to Euless City Council in 2018 and served as Mayor Pro Tem in 2020. Born in Pakistan to a large family, Bhojani lived in Canada for a time before settling in the Lone Star State. He started out supporting his family by working at gas stations for minimum wage.
In the judicial contest, Sherine Thomas, a Democrat, won the election for judge of the Texas 353rd District Court. She ran unopposed after moving to the U.S. from New Delhi in 1971, she chose to devote her legal career to public service, a decision that placed her on the path to becoming a Judge. Currently, she serves on the Board for the Travis County Women’s Lawyer Association and co-chairs the Mentorship Committee. She is also on the Executive Board for the Calvert Inn of Court, serves on the Editorial Board for The Bencher, and was appointed to serve on the State Bar of Texas District 9 Grievance Committee. She is a founding member and current Chair for the South Asian Bar Association Austin.
Vermont
Vermont State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale has won her re-election bid along with State Sens. Ginny Lyons and Thomas Chittenden. She came in third with 21,498 or 20.1% votes. Ram Hinsdale became the first woman of color elected to the Vermont State Senate in 2020. She was re-elected in 2022.
Wisconsin
Renuka Mayadev has won the election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 77. The Indian American ran “to protect our reproductive rights, the well-being of all Wisconsin’s children and families, and the very future of our democracy from the Ultra-MAGA right,” according to her website. She works at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in the Wisconsin Partnership Program as the Program Advisor for Maternal and Child Health. She is a Board Member of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA). Before joining UW, she was an executive at the United Way Central Ohio, overseeing the organization’s opportunity to bolster the success of public school children.