Washington: Indian Americans are on course to keep six seats in the US House of Representatives, matching their record, after five Democrats from the community won on Tuesday and Arizona physician Amish Shah held a lead in a race that had still not been called on Wednesday night (local time).
That would reverse a forecast of a shrinking caucus. Two veterans, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Shri Thanedar, will not return, but two newcomers, Pia Dandiya in Florida and Shah, if he holds on, are set to replace them. Every Indian American who won a House seat is a Democrat, so the entire group will sit in the majority from January.
Shah, a Democrat and former Arizona state lawmaker, led Republican Jay Feely by about 53 per cent to 45 per cent in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, with about 85 per cent of the expected vote counted on Wednesday night.
The District, which takes in Scottsdale and parts of the Phoenix area and is now held by a Republican, swung about 10 points toward Democrats compared with the 2024 presidential result, according to NBC’s vote-shift figure. Maricopa County was still counting ballots on Wednesday.
A release from the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), emailed on Wednesday, already lists Shah among the winners. No news organisation’s decision desk had projected the race as of Wednesday evening (local time).
The five confirmed winners were: Ro Khanna in California’s 17th District, Ami Bera in California’s 3rd, Pramila Jayapal in Washington’s 7th, Suhas Subramanyam in Virginia’s 10th, and Dandiya in Florida’s 22nd.
The current 119th Congress has six Indian American House members: Bera, Khanna, Jayapal, Krishnamoorthi, Thanedar and Subramanyam, who became the sixth when he was sworn in in January 2025.
Krishnamoorthi gave up his Illinois House seat to run for the Senate and lost the March 17 Democratic primary, and Thanedar lost his Michigan primary on August 4.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) thanked both departing members “for their years-long service.”
That leaves the group at five confirmed members for the 120th Congress, and six if Shah wins: the same as the current record, not a new high.
Dandiya, a Democrat, won the redrawn 22nd District in Florida over Republican Casey Askar by about 52 per cent to 48 per cent, with about 99 per cent of the vote counted.
CBS Miami described her as the first South Asian American to represent Florida in Congress. The CAPAC called her “the first Indian American woman elected to represent Florida’s 22nd Congressional District”.
In a post on X, Dandiya wrote: “Thank you #FL22!! I am humbled and honoured to represent my home state… Now, the real work begins!”
Dandiya is the second Indian American woman and the third South Asian American woman elected to Congress. Jayapal, on X, called her “the third South Asian American woman (along with me and @aishabbwahab)” headed to the House.
CAPAC said that if Shah wins, he would be “the first Indian American elected to represent Arizona’s 1st Congressional District” and would bring CAPAC’s Asian American and Pacific Islander membership to 23.
The release says “at least 22 AAPI Members” are “poised to join CAPAC” next year, the most ever. Among the newcomers it named, Dandiya is the only Indian American confirmed so far.
Among the incumbents, Bera, the longest-serving Indian American now in the House, won another term in a redrawn seat. He led Republican Robb Tucker by about 60 per cent to 40 per cent with about 139,000 votes counted, according to county counts.
Khanna, co-chair of the House India Caucus, beat fellow Indian American Republican Ritesh Tandon by about 72 per cent to 28 per cent. It was Tandon’s fourth loss to Khanna. Khanna went into the final quarter of the campaign with about $17 million cash on hand on September 30, the largest war chest of any Indian American in Congress, according to his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing.
Jayapal took about 88 per cent of the vote against Indian American Republican Nirav Sheth.
Subramanyam won a second term by about 63 per cent to 35 per cent over Republican Dave Beckwith. In an email to supporters on Wednesday, which he also posted on X, he said: “The campaign is over, but the work is just beginning. I look forward to working with our community to deliver change in Washington.”
All four incumbents won easily, with an average vote share of about 71 per cent.
Every Republican and independent Indian American on the federal ballot lost. Republicans Tandon in California’s 17th District, Sheth in Washington’s 7th and Max Ganorkar in North Carolina’s 4th all lost to Democrats. Ganorkar took about 16 per cent against Democrat Valerie Foushee’s 83 per cent.
Independents Sandeep Dixit in Ohio’s 13th District and Anil Kumar in Michigan’s 11th, who had endorsed the Democrat, each drew about 1 per cent.
In Massachusetts, Shiva Ayyadurai, running as an independent for the Senate, received about 2 per cent, or about 58,000 votes, as Democrat Ed Markey won re-election with about 63 per cent.
Democrat Mark Nair lost Texas’ 13th District to Republican Ronny Jackson by about 62 per cent to 39 per cent. A write-in candidate, Dev Gupta, in Arizona’s 1st District had no reported result.
Of the 14 Indian Americans on the federal ballot, five won, one leads, seven lost, and one write-in has no reported result. Indian American Democrats won all five of their called races; the only Democratic loss was Nair. Republicans and independents each went none for three.
Two of the five confirmed winners, Jayapal and Dandiya, are women. Both newcomers, Dandiya and Shah, ran in seats that were held by the other party or reshaped by redistricting, which is where the Democratic wave paid off for the community.
In the two races that pitted Indian Americans against each other, Khanna against Tandon and Jayapal against Sheth, the Democrat won by a wide margin.
The races drew heavy outside money. In the last FEC reports before the election, covering October 1-14, Shah raised about $623,000 and had about $206,000 in cash. Dandiya raised about $689,000 and had about $735,000 in cash, while Askar reported about $1.9 million in cash after lending his campaign about $2.3 million of his own money.
Super PACs that attacked Shah and Dandiya were funded by MAGA Inc., FEC filings show. Post-election reports are due December 3.
The community’s results tracked the national swing. NBC projects that Democrats have won the House, with 231 seats called for Democrats and 144 for Republicans as of Wednesday morning, a net Democratic gain of 29.
NBC estimates Democrats will finish with about 258 seats. It also projects that Democrats retake the Senate, 54 to 44, with Mississippi and Alaska not yet called.
That means the Indian American lawmakers will serve in the House majority for the first time since Democrats lost the chamber in the 2022 midterms.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won the open Senate seat over Republican Mike Rogers by about 52 per cent to 46 per cent. He is not Indian American; his wife, psychiatrist Sarah Jukaku, was born in Michigan to Indian immigrant parents.
Indian American representation in Congress dates to 1957, when Dalip Singh Saund became the first Indian-born member. The community elected a record six House members in 2024, up from five in the previous Congress.
(IANS)
