At least 57 Indian Americans in fray as US heads into midterm elections

• At least 57 Indian American candidates are contesting Tuesday’s US midterm elections across federal, state and local races.

• Key contests include Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid for Ohio governor and Nithya Raman’s challenge for the Los Angeles mayoralty.

• The field includes 11 House candidates and 36 state legislative candidates across 22 states.

At least 57 Indian American candidates will face voters in Tuesday’s US midterm elections, seeking positions ranging from a US Senate seat in Massachusetts to the mayor’s office in Los Angeles.

The field comprises one Senate candidate, 11 candidates for the House of Representatives, three seeking statewide office, 36 contesting state legislative seats and six running for local posts, according to an IANS tally.

The count includes only candidates whose Indian heritage the news agency could confirm. A further 15 possible candidates of Indian origin were excluded because their heritage could not be established.

Among the prominent contests is Ohio’s gubernatorial race, where Republican Vivek Ramaswamy faces Democrat Amy Acton. The FiftyPlusOne polling average on Sunday showed Acton leading by approximately three percentage points.

In Los Angeles, city council member Nithya Raman is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. A final poll by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, placed both candidates at 40 per cent, with 19 per cent of voters undecided.

Republican Saritha Komatireddy is contesting the New York attorney general’s race against incumbent Letitia James. A Siena poll released on 28 October showed James ahead by 54 per cent to 39 per cent.

Maryland’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller is seeking another term on her party’s ticket, facing a Republican ticket that includes Dan Cox. In Massachusetts, independent Shiva Ayyadurai is challenging Democratic Senator Ed Markey.

Four of the 11 Indian American House candidates are sitting Democrats: California representatives Ro Khanna and Ami Bera, Washington state’s Pramila Jayapal and Virginia’s Suhas Subramanyam.

Two congressional contests feature Indian American candidates on both sides. Khanna faces Republican entrepreneur Ritesh Tandon in California’s 17th District, while Jayapal is up against Republican Nirav Sheth, a Gujarat-born former US Marine, in Washington’s 7th District. The Cook Political Report and other forecasters rate both constituencies as safe Democratic seats.

Democrats Amish Shah in Arizona’s 1st District and Pia Dandiya in Florida’s 22nd District are competing for open seats rated as competitive by election forecasters.

Campaign finance disclosures show fundraising and outside spending continuing through the closing days of the campaign.

Floridians for Affordability, a newly established super PAC, reported spending approximately $14,000 on text messages supporting Dandiya on October 30. That took its total expenditure backing her to about $220,000, according to a 24-hour independent expenditure report filed with the Federal Election Commission on 31 October.

Shah’s campaign disclosed 15 contributions worth a combined $26,000 received on October 30. An IANS tally of six FEC filings showed approximately $100,000 in contributions reported through 48-hour notices covering receipts from 25 October to 30 October. The disclosures are self-reported and remain subject to amendment.

The other House contenders are Republican Mahesh “Max” Ganorkar in North Carolina’s 4th District, independent Sandeep Dixit in Ohio’s 13th District and independent Anil Kumar in Michigan’s 11th District.

The 36 state legislative candidates are spread across 22 states, with California, Illinois and New York accounting for four each.

At the local level, candidates include Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in Utah, Oakland council member Janani Ramachandran and Rohit Malhotra, who is seeking a seat on Georgia’s Fulton County Commission.

Voting takes place on Tuesday, 3 November.

With IANS inputs