It was a day of victories and defeats for Indian American candidates in the recent Super Tuesday primaries.
The biggest day of this year’s primary campaign in the US approached as 15 states — plus American Samoa — voted in contests.
Veteran Indian-American Congressmen Ami Bera and Ro Khanna successfully defended their positions against challengers.
Ami Bera, a Democrat, secured his seventh term by advancing to the general election with 53.6% of the vote in California’s 6th Congressional District.
Meanwhile, Ro Khanna, seeking his fifth term, won decisively over Republican Anita Chen in the 17th Congressional District, according to American Bazaar.
In contrast, Indian-American engineer Rishi Kumar, a Democrat, lost his bid to run for Congress.
With 50% of the vote counted, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo was ahead with 22% of the vote, while Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian had nearly 18%. Both Liccardo and Simitian are Democrats. Kumar ended up in seventh place out of 11 candidates with 6.3% of the vote.
This came amid Indian-American Republican challenger to former president Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, dropping out of the presidential race.
SUCCESS FOR KRUTTIVENTI, DISAPPOINTMENT FOR KUMAR
Indian-American Republican Vin Kruttiventi advanced to the general election in Northern California’s 14th Congressional District, home to one of the largest populations of Indian-Americans in the nation, securing second place with 17.8% of the vote to incumbent Eric Swalwell with 64.5%, seeking his sixth term in the House of Representatives.
According to reports from the Federal Election Commission, Kruttiventi, the founder and CEO of A5 Services, has invested $500,000 of his personal funds into his campaign.
However, clinical psychologist Harmesh Kumar’s longshot bid for the vacant US Senate seat left by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein ended in disappointment.
Additionally, Ash Kalra, a Democrat, emerged as the top candidate in the 25th Assembly District and will face fellow Democrat Lan Ngo in the general election.
However, challenger Tara Sreekrishnan, a 30-year-old Indian-origin leader who has garnered significant endorsements for her bid, faced defeat in her race for California’s 26th district state Assembly seat.
In other races, Democrat Darshana Patel will compete against Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane for California’s 76th district state Assembly seat, which covers a portion of San Diego.
The most prominent of all the Indian-American candidates was Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. She conceded to Donald Trump after losing every state but one — Vermont — in Super Tuesday’s primary contests.
In January, Indian-American billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his bid after Trump won the Iowa caucus. He later pledged support for Trump’s presidential bid.