Indo-Americans Achieve Success in Midterms

HOUSTON: Democrat incumbent KP George will serve another term as Fort Bend County judge with a narrow victory over Republican challenger Trever Nehls. Final unofficial voting results show George received 51.6% of the vote, or 126,828, to Nehls’ 48.4%, or 119,082, with all 82 Fort Bend County polling locations reporting.The first two Muslim lawmakers in the Texas House are Salman Bhojani, who won election to House District 92 in Tarrant County, and Suleman Lalani, who won election to House District 76 in Fort Bend County. Lalani (D) received 28,240 votes (57%) vs. Dan Mathews.

Both men are also immigrants. Bhojani, whose family is originally from Pakistan, moved to the United States as a teenager. Lalani came to the country in the 1990s to begin his career as a doctor.

Surendran Pattel (D) was in a tight race with just a handful of votes in the lead 121,448 against Edward Krenek 212,412 for the race for 240th Judicial District Judge.

Robin Elackatt won the race for Missouri City Mayor with 13,685 votes (54%).

Manpreet Monica Singh became the first Sikh female judge in the US after winning the race for Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 In Fort Bend County, Juli Mathew was re-elected as County Court at Law Judge No. 3.

Another winner was Sonia Rash, Fort Bend Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3.

On the national scene, the US House ‘Samosa Caucus’ gained a new member Nov. 8 evening, as Shri Thanedar, a Democrat, won a seat in Detroit, Michigan. The Associated Press called Thanedar’s race late evening, as he amassed 72 percent of the votes. All the remaining Samosa Caucus members — Pramila Jaypal, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamurthi, and Ami Bera — were reelected.