28-year-old Democrat Shrina Kurani to Challenge Entrenched Republican Congressman in California’s 42nd District
- The Indian American engineer and entrepreneur plans to flip the district in the 2022 midterms by defeating the longest-serving Republican incumbent Ken Calvert.
Shrina Kurani, a 28-year-old Indian American engineer and entrepreneur has announced her bid for the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 42nd Congressional District. The young Democrat, who is looking to flip the district, is challenging 15-term Republican incumbent Ken Calvert for the 2022 midterm elections. The 42nd Congressional District includes Eastvale, Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Menifee, Canyon Lake, Murrieta, and part of Temecula.
In a video announcing the launch of her campaign, the Riverside, California native talks about her immigrant parents and her reasons for running for the U.S. Congress. “As a first-generation Indian American, my family worked together to build a successful pool supply business right here in the Inland Empire,” she says in the video posted on her website. “My parents didn’t take a single day off in 10 years but even that level of hustle isn’t enough these days,” she says, adding, “Opportunities are out of reach for far too many people.”
Noting that she’s spent her career “building businesses that reduce waste and create quality jobs and solving problems,” Kurani says she’s running for office “to make things work better in Washington. To develop a sustainable future and build an Inland Empire where people feel safe, healthy, and have opportunities to succeed in fulfilling jobs.”
According to her website, Kurani “learned the values of hard work, hustle, and resourcefulness from her parents while they worked seven days a week, with a young Shrina and her brother helping after school and in the summers.” That’s when the seed of entrepreneurship was planted for her as she saw her parents “work together to grow the business to over 14 locations throughout the Inland Empire.” Her mother managed the accounting and her father oversaw the employee. Additionally, he engaged in the local community through the Chamber of Commerce and as a planning commissioner.
Kurani graduated from La Sierra High School at the age of 16 and earned her degree in mechanical engineering from UC Riverside. She has also served as an advisor to start-up businesses developing ways to make healthcare and education more affordable.
Most recently, she has been building a company to increase opportunities “by focusing on addressing disparities in the funding of startup businesses founded by women and people of color, an effort that has facilitated $2 million in capital to the Inland Empire and over $300 million across the nation,” according to her website.
According to a report in The Press-Enterprise, Republicans enjoy a 6 percentage point advantage in the 42nd District’s voter registration, which Donald Trump won in 2020. “However, the district’s boundaries could change in the upcoming round of redistricting and it could become more competitive if it loses GOP voters,” the report says. Besides Kurani, Democrat Brandon Mosely of Menifee plans to challenge Calvert next year, as per The Press-Enterprise.