Indian American Impact fund upbeat after election wins of community members

With several Indian American candidates having been successful in the US midterm elections, Indian American Impact, an organisation that invests in uplifting South Asian American candidates and mobilising South Asian voters across the US, is upbeat.

“Indian American Impact’s endorsed candidates have already made history. Among the many endorsed candidates on Impact’s 2022 list, some are newly-elected and serving in their seats as historical firsts — including in Maryland, where Impact’s previous executive director, Aruna Miller, was elected as the first woman of colour and first-ever South Asian woman to serve as lieutenant governor in the United States,” the organisation said in a press release.

In the course of mobilising South Asian Americans across the country, Impact and its network marshalled over $10 million toward critical races and candidacies, the press release stated. “This funding was crucial for running innovative programmes in Pennsylvania and across the country to engage South Asian voters of all ages and backgrounds, and to directly support candidates and efforts to flip state legislative chambers.”

The Indian Americans endorsed by Indian American Impact are Shri Thanedar, first-ever Indian American and only the second South Asian elected to Congress from Michigan; Aruna Miller, first woman of colour and the first Indian American woman to serve as lieutenant governor in the United States; Dr Arvind Venkat, first-ever Indian American in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Kevin Olickal and Nabeela Syed, first ever Indian Americans elected to the Illinois House of Representatives and Dr Megan Srinivas, who was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives.

As counting of votes continues across the US, more results have been called in favour of Indian American candidates. Priya Sundareshan, a lawyer and professor at the University of Arizona, has won Arizona State Senate District 18 seat while Manpreet Monica Singh has won the election for Judge to Harris County Civil Court in Texas. Dr Ajay Raman won the election for county commissioner in Oakland, Michigan, and Sam Gill was re-elected district attorney in Salt Lake City, Utah. Janani Ramachandran, who has been elected as council member of Oakland City Council in California, will be the youngest in Oakland’s history. She is a public interest attorney and the first LGBTQ woman of colour in the city council. Ash Kalra was re-elected for a fourth term to represent California’s 25th district in the State Assembly; and Jay Chaudhuri and Mujtaba Mohammed, both incumbents, were re-elected to the North Carolina State Legislature. Kesha Ram Hinsdale retained her seat in the State Senate in Vermont.