Indian American Impact, an organisation that is focused on engaging the Indian American diaspora and mobilising South Asian communities and electing leaders to public office at the local, state, and federal levels, has been supporting several Indian American and South Asian candidates for the November 2023 elections and has worked hard at mobilising voters in some states. Here is a look at some of the high profile Indian Americans who are contesting in key races next week:
Puja Khanna, a mental health advocate and a small business owner, is running for the Loudoun county supervisor seat in the Dulles district, Virginia, as a Democrat. If elected, she would be the first Asian American and Indian American woman to serve as a supervisor in the county.
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The Dulles district she is running in has a 35% Asian American population and an estimated 24% South Asian population. A mother of three, Khanna is invested in the growth and improvement of the county and has a track record of working on mental health initiatives and with local organisations in the community. She is committed to building a safe and sustainable community in her county. Khanna is up against the incumbent Republican supervisor Matthew Letourneau, who has held the seat since 2011.
Neil Makhija, attorney, educator, and civic leader and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, is running for Montgomery County Commissioner in Pennsylvania. If elected, he will be the first Indian American commissioner in Pennsylvania’s history.
He has a comprehensive pro-democracy plan to achieve historic turnout in Pennsylvania’s most critical county in the 2024 elections. Makhija has had a career in advocacy and politics for over 20 years. In 2021, he was among 13 civil rights leaders invited by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House to advise on civil & voting rights. He worked in the Obama White House, the US Senate, and earned his JD at Harvard Law School. Makhija, a Democrat, along with three other candidates, is running for three seats on the board of commissioners which oversees the county.
Suhas Subramanyam, a delegate serving the 87th district of Virginia is now running for State Senate, District 32. He is a small business owner who was a tech advisor in the Obama White House. He served on Capitol Hill as a health care and veterans policy aide and also clerked for the US Senate judiciary committee. At the White House, as technology policy advisor to President Obama, he led a task force on technology policy. After leaving the White House, he started his own consulting firm based in Loudoun county to advise companies and nonprofits on technology, government regulations, and economic empowerment. His mother, a doctor, immigrated to the US in 1979.
Nalini Krishnankutty, a first-generation immigrant from India is running for re-election for a new two-year term as a state college council member on her borough’s governing body. An engineer turned writer, educator and speaker; she focuses on shaping narratives about immigrants.
She was born in Kerala and grew up in Mumbai and went to Penn State University as a graduate student and received her MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering. She is the diversity, inclusion and belonging programme manager at Penn State human resources and has extensive local and statewide experience in advocating for and helping create inclusive communities. She is a founding member of the PanAPIDA Circle, a local group formed in 2021 to stand up to anti-Asian hate. Krishnankutty, a Democrat, was appointed to council in June 2022. Council members typically serve four-year terms.
Minita Sanghvi, an associate professor at Skidmore College, is running for re-election as the commissioner of finance in Saratoga Springs, New York; as a member of the city council. She has an undergraduate degree from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics and MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. She moved to the US from Mumbai in 2001 for an MS degree from University of Arizona and later PhD from University of North Carolina Greensboro. She is openly gay and was first elected in 2021. She has been endorsed by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee.
Vin Gopal of the Democratic Party is candidate for New Jersey state senate district 11. His current term as member of the New Jersey state senate ends in 2024 and he is running for re-election. Gopal, who advanced from the Democratic primary in June this year; has a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University. His professional experience includes owning a business and serving on the board of directors of the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce.
Democrat Rishi Bagga is running for the Florida House election and campaigning for fairness and the future of the community in central Florida. He immigrated to the United States, with his family, when he was 10 and built a motel business from scratch. He became an attorney to fight for justice and fairness and defended survivors of domestic violence as a prosecutor. Now he’s running for the state House to stand up to Republican extremists. He is contesting in a special election Democratic primary on November 7.
Seema Dixit, who immigrated to the US with her husband, is running for a public school board position in Sully district, Fairfax county, to represent parents and students. She is a non-partisan candidate, committed to creating a fair and inclusive educational system that provides every student with the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Priya Tamilarasan, daughter of immigrants from south India, is running for Gahanna city attorney while Kannan Srinivasan (Democratic Party), who immigrated from India in the 90s, and serves as chair of the Virginia Medicaid Board, is candidate for Virginia House of Delegates, district 26.
Saji Mathew, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, is running for Lower Moreland School Board because he believes that it is the important responsibility of the board to carefully oversee significant capital projects such as the construction of a new high school building. As a certified accountant and fraud examiner with over 22 years of experience, he feels that his specialisation makes him a suitable candidate.
Ashwini Udgaonkar is an endorsed Democrat candidate for Marple township commissioner in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. An Indian immigrant, she is an experienced attorney and has lived in Marple for 30 years. As a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania, she has served her community through pro bono work for Legal Aid of Delaware county to help women get protection from abuse orders, and has worked with the Villanova Law School Clinic for Asylum by representing clients in their applications for asylum. Udgaonkar wants to ensure that Marple township adequately manages its finances and plans well for the future. If elected, she hopes to encourage environmentally sound practices and to have an input into budgetary decisions.
Balvir Singh, who became the first Sikh elected to countywide office in New Jersey in 2017, is running for county commissioner. A Democrat and maths teacher from Burlington Township, New Jersey, he has earlier defeated two sitting Republicans in the freeholder election in the predominantly Republican Burlington county to become the first Asian American to win a countywide election in his county and the first Sikh American to win a countywide election in New Jersey.