Indian Americans Storm in with the New Election Cycle

Manka Dhingra, State Senator-Elect in Washington State, with her husband Harjit Singh and two kids

Manka Dhingra, State Senator-Elect in Washington State, with her husband Harjit Singh and two kids

By Jawahar Malhotra

When the national elections last year brought in four new Indian American faces into political prominence, it was considered a high water mark for the community as a whole. At that time Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Rohit “Ro” Khanna from California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington joined the US House of Representatives and Kamala Harris, of mixed Indian and Black heritage, of California joined the US Senate. They joined fellow Democrats Ami Bera of California who won re-election and Hindu-American Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, though not of Indian descent, who also won re-election.

A similar dynamic followed through in the recent elections two weeks ago on November 8, with many new Indian Americans taking office in positions of less prominence, but no less significant.

Ravinder Singh, Mayor-Elect of Edison, NJ with his wife Navneet and two kids

Ravinder Singh, Mayor-Elect of Edison, NJ with his wife Navneet and two kids

Most significantly, in Washington state, Manka Dhingra of Redmond (a suburb east of Seattle) defeated Republican rival Jinyoung Lee Englund in the 45th District state Senate race. The seat became open after incumbent Republican Senator Andy Hill died last fall from cancer. Dhingra will serve the remaining year of Hill’s term, and the seat will be back on the ballot next fall for a full four-year term. Her election means that Democrats will take control of the state Senate.  Democrats have a slim majority in the state House and also hold the Governor’s office.  

Dhingra, 43, was born in Bhopal, India but moved to California with her mother in 1987 after her father died of colon cancer. She was a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. She founded the woman’s advocacy group API Chaya in 1996 which deals with domestic violence. She is married to Harjit Singh who works for SpaceX in Redmond.

Vin Gopal, State Senator-Elect in New Jersey

Vin Gopal, State Senator-Elect in New Jersey

On the East coast, Ravinder Bhalla, 44, a Democrat, won in a six-person mayoral race to become the first turbaned Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, a city of 50,000 people across the Hudson River from Manhattan. He was endorsed by current Mayor Dawn Zimmer who surprised everyone by announcing that she would not seek a third term. Bhalla served two terms on the Hoboken City Council. It was an ugly race with racist fliers attacking Bhalla for being a terrorist, but his election inspired the Sikh community nationwide. Bhalla was born and raised in New Jersey and is an attorney. He is married to Navneet Patwalia Bhalla and has two children. He also has a cousin, Jaideep Luthra, who lives in Katy.

Not far off, in Edison, Falguni Patel won a seat on the school board. Patel and another Chinese candidate were targeted by mailers that read “Make Edison Great Again,” evoking President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, and said “the Chinese and Indians are taking over our town.” It called for the candidates to be deported. Edison has a large Asian-American community; more than 45 percent of Edison was born abroad, and about a quarter of the township was born in India.

The election brought increased visibility for South Asians as a political force. Another important victory was the election of Democrat Vin Gopal as a New Jersey state Senator who flipped the seat from Republican incumbent Sen. Jennifer Beck. Gopal is a former Monmouth County Democratic chairman and will serve in the Assembly with Raj Mukherji, a Democratic Assemblyman who has served since 2014, and happens to be friends with Gopal. However, Republican Deepak Malhotra of District 19 and Democrat Nirav Patel of District 12 lost their bid for an Assembly seat.

Former Democratic Assemblyman and Deputy Assembly Speaker Upendra Chivukula, who now serves on the Board of Public Utilities, was the first South Asian to serve at the state level, from 2002-2014.
In neighboring Carteret, Jaswinder Singh Borough lost a three-year term council seat, while in Woodbridge, incumbent councilman Viru Patel, a Democrat from Ward 4, won. And in South Brunswick, incumbent Deven Patel won a three-year term seat. In West Windsor, Hemant Marathe was elected mayor, defeating fellow Indian-American Kamal Khanna.

In Somerset County Nishita Desai of Franklin Township School District and Ranjana R. Rao of Montgomery-Rocky Hill School District won, while Kiru Thangavelu of Hillsborough-Millstone School District lost. In Bergen County, Democrat Arati Kreibich won her seat on the Glen Rock council, but Devanshu Modi, a Republican, lost his bid for Harding Township Committee.

Indian Americans also won in City Council races in other parts of the country: Vijay Kapoor, 41, of Asheville, North Carolina; Seema Singh Perez of Knoxville, Tennessee; Democrat Dimple Ajmera, 31, of Charlotte, North Carolina became the youngest woman and first Asian American on City Council; Satwinder Kaur of Kent, Washington; Tanika Padhye of Redmond, Washington retained her City Council seat; and Sam Joshi in Edison City, New Jersey.