(Image source from: Zee News - India.com)
A record number of 12 Indian Americans are in the fight for the November 6 mid-term Congressional elections.
Three among them are women - Hiral Tipirneni and Anita Malik from Arizona and Pramila Jayapal from Washington State.
Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Ro Khanna and Dr. Ami Bera from California are the three others seeking re-elections this year.
Jayapal, the first Indian American woman to enter the United States House of Representatives, is seeking re-election from the seventh Congressional district of Washington State.
Bera, who was proclaimed victor after recounting of votes in the past three elections, this time faces a tough rival, Republican Andrew Grant.
In 2012, he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the third ever Indian American to get into the House after Dalip Singh Saund from 1957 to 1963 and Bobby Jindal in 2004.
This year, Krishnamoorthi is pitted against Jitender Diganvker of the Republican Party in the eight Congressional District of Illinois.
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Khanna is pitted against Republican Ron Cohen in the 17th Congressional District of California, which is essentially India American dominated Silicon Valley. Political pundits expect all four of them to sail through this November.
Indian Americans are giving an arduous fight to their opponents in some of the primal Congressional districts.
Salient among them being an emergency room physician Hiral Tipirneni in the Eight Congressional District of Arizona and ex-diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni in the 22nd Congressional District of Texas.
Running an aggressive campaign, that has caught national attention, Tipirneni seeks to tip the balance in her favor by defeating the Republican incumbent Debbie Lesko, who won the special elections early this year.
Kulkarni resigned from U.S. foreign service to run for the Congress and is giving a tough fight to Republican Pete Olson, who has been one of the proponents of India-U.S. relationship.
Richard Verma, the former U.S. Ambassador to India, Thursday endorsed Kulkarni for the Congress.
"Today more than ever, we need leaders like Sri who will champion diplomatic solutions and put country over politics," Verma said.
Indian American Aftab Pureval, who is an introductory person of Tibetan origin to run for the Congress, has recently received endorsement by former U.S. President Barack Obama. Pureval is the current Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.
Bill Posey, in the eight Congressional District of Florida incumbent, is experiencing a tough combat from Democratic opponent Sanjay Patel. In Arizona's 6th Congressional District in metro Phoenix, Anita Malik faces Republican incumbent David Schweikert.
The Republican candidate, Harry Arora is the second Indian American to run for the Congress. Pitted against Democrat Jim Himes, who has been representing the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut, he has a tough challenge at his hand.
Independent Shiva Ayyadurai is the only Indian-American in the race for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts. It would be nothing less than a miracle if Ayyadurai defeats Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren in the Senate election from Massachusetts.
In addition to these 12 contestants in the race for the U.S. Congress, there are dozens of Indian Americans running for local elections, including State and County.
By Sowmya Sangam
