Indian American Kristin Malhotra Re-elected as Deerfield Township Trustee in Ohio

Indian American Kristin Malhotra won re-election as Deerfield Township Trustee in Ohio. The incumbent won with 3,464 or 28.6 percent of the votes., defeating James V. Siciliano IV and Carol Filomena. “Thank you, Deerfield, for trusting me with serving you for another four years,” she tweeted.

Thank you, Deerfield, for trusting me with serving you for another four years! pic.twitter.com/KIbdBow70n

— Kristin Malhotra (@KristinMalhotra) November 3, 2021

First elected in 2017, Malhotra has fought to protect parks, improve infrastructure and development, maintaining fiscal responsibility, supporting safety services, encouraging responsible development, and increasing transparency. “I have spent the last four years keeping my promises, and I intend to keep on improving in all of these areas if re-elected,” she said on her website. 

Malhotra first moved to the Mason/Deerfield area in 2013, after graduating from the Ohio State University with a degree in chemical engineering. According to her website, she “immersed” herself “in servant leadership through taking on leadership roles in Give Back Cincinnati, the largest non-profit, young professional volunteer organization in the greater Cincinnati area, and later through serving as trustee of Deerfield Township.” She also served as president of the Board of Trustees since January of 2020. 

Malhotra was endorsed by the Indian American Impact Fund. “Very honored to receive this endorsement,” she tweeted earlier. “I am proud of my Indian heritage and the insight it gives me as a board member of a community with a large Indian population.”

Very honored to receive this endorsement! I am proud of my Indian heritage and the insight it gives me as a board member of a community with a large Indian population. https://t.co/DlF1yolUSe

— Kristin Malhotra (@KristinMalhotra) October 20, 2021

On her website, she notes that her father was born in India, “making me a second-generation American who still has ties to my family overseas.” She added that her “ethnicity has shaped my life experience and helps me lend a diverse and representative voice to the Deerfield Board of Trustees.”

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Ohio, Bangladeshi American Attorney Ajmeri Hoque lost her maiden bid to the City Council. She was also among several South Asian candidates endorsed by IMPACT. 

“It’s official, the results are in and we lost by 250ish votes,” Hoque wrote on her Facebook page. “It was a close but hard-fought race. I appreciate each and every single person who has been a part of this campaign.” Congratulating her opponent Amy Kramb, Hoque said she looks forward to “seeing her help pass a non-discrimination ordinance, bring more representation to committees and commissions, and help Dublin become a more welcoming community overall.”

Hoque first moved to Dublin to attend The Ohio State University in 2002 and her parents bought their first home in the Dublin school district a year later. In 2010, when she graduated from Capital Law School, she and her husband moved to NYC so he could complete his residency program. In 2013, they returned to Ohio, and since then Hoque has been a prosecutor and currently is a trial attorney.

Last week, Indian-Tibetan American Aftab Pureval became the first Asian American to be elected mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. The 39-yer-old lawyer defeated longtime city council member and two-time mayor David Mann. According to CBS affiliate WLWT5, Pureval received 33,124 or 65.8 percent votes, compared to Mann’s 17,207 or 34.2 percent. Most recently, the Hamilton County clerk of courts, Pureval campaigned on the idea that he would bring fresh ideas to City Hall.