Indian American Gubernatorial Candidate Ashwani Jain Concedes in Maryland Primaries
- The fate of Democrat Aruna Miller, the running mate of author Wes Moore, hangs in balance as the counting continues.
Ashwani Jain, the youngest candidate in the Maryland gubernatorial race, has conceded. With 62 percent of the precincts reporting, the 32-year-old Indian American Democrat received 7,994 or 2.1 percent of the votes in the July 19 primaries, as reported by The New York Times.
Meanwhile, author and former television host Wes Moore, and his running mate Aruna Miller, have catapulted into the lead as the first wave of ballots were counted. With 62 percent of the ballots counted, Moore had 138,816 or 36.7 percent of the votes, according to The New York Times data.
In a concession tweet, Jain said, “This campaign has meant everything to me and to our 750+ volunteers … And while we await final results, it appears we will not be the Democratic nominee for Governor. We’ll have more to say soon.”
Jain, an Obama-Biden administration veteran, announced his candidacy last January. He was seeking to be the nation’s first millennial Governor, Maryland’s first governor of color and Maryland’s first South Asian governor.
In a blog in American Kahani in January, Jain wrote that as an 18-year survivor of childhood cancer; as a son of Indian immigrants and small business owners; as a Maryland native and product of public schools; and as a diverse millennial” he understands “the real impact of policies, including the inequities, because they’ve impacted me directly.”
Miller, 57, a former state delegate, is an experienced campaigner who has both political and policy experience. She served two terms in the House of Delegates during the terms of both Govs. Martin O’Malley (D) and Larry Hogan (R). She spent four years on the House Ways and Means Committee and four years on the Appropriations Committee, working on issues like paid family leave, transportation policy, domestic violence, and STEM education, among many others. She served in the General Assembly.
In 2017, Miller launched a bid for the 6th Congressional District to replace Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), but she lost to multimillionaire businessman David Trone in the Democratic primary, finishing second.
An engineer by training, Miller immigrated to the United States from Hyderabad when she was 7 years old. She learned English while in the public school system, graduated high school, and attended college at what is now called the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
She began her career as a civil engineer in Maryland and worked for Montgomery County for over 25 years. In 2010, she was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates where she represents the 15th District and serves on the Appropriations Committee.
Miller lives in the 6th Congressional District with her husband, David, her mother, Hema, and their two dogs Lucy and Scout. Aruna and David also have three adult daughters Meena, Chloe, and Sasha.