Indian American candidates secured big wins during the 2 August primaries in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington. It was only the Replublican Hima Kolanagireddy lost a race against Taiwanese American Whitney Williams in Michigan.
In Arizona, Democrat Priya Sundareshan led the race for the state Senate from the 18th district. She had 53 percent on the votes compared to her opponent Abraham Morgan who got 47 percent.
In Michigan, incumbent Democratic state representative Padma Kuppa ran unopposed and moved forward to the Nov. 8 elections for the state Senate from the 9th District along with incumbent state Senator Ranjeev Puri.
New contenders Sam Singh won the Democratic primaries for state Senate in Michigan and Aisha Farooqi for State House.
Democrat Ajay V.Raman, a physician and business owner won the nomination for Michigan's Oakland County Commissioner from the 14th district. Previously, Raman had lost his first run as Mayor of Novi, Michigan to incumbent candidate Bob Gatt.
On the other hand, Republican Hima Kolanagireddy lost to Williams in Michigan's 6th Congressional district after receiving 26,370 or 46.3 percent of the votes as opposed to Williams' 30,560 or 53.7 percent.
A two-term state House representative for Michigan's 41st House District ran unopposed and will face-off against Republican Michael Webber who also ran unopposed.
In the 57th District for the Michigan State House, Farooqi won the Democratic nomination and defeated Marcia Squier with 55 percent of the votes. She will race against Republican Thomas Kuhn in the primaries.
Puri represents the Michigan state Senate's 21st District. He is serving his first term as a representative of the cities of Canton, Belleville, and Van Buren Township.
According to his website, "Puri is a strong advocate for inclusion, equity and equality across all walks of life."
The former member of the Michigan Legislature and former East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh won the Michigan Senate seat from the newly-created 28th District.
Singh defeated physician Muhammad Salman Rais by more than 75 percent of the votes. In November, Singh will go up against Republican Madhu Anderson who defeated Daylen W. Howard.
Elected at the age of 24, Singh was elected to the East Lansing City Council and was elected as Mayor in 2005. He also served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2013-18.
Indian American Democrats Win In Other States
In Ohio, Dr. Anita Somani, an obstetrician gynecologist for OhioHealth, ran uncontested and secured the Democratic nomination for the Ohio state's 11th House District in the Aug. 2 primary.
Somani, who is a member of the Academy of Medicine and a 1988 graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, has served as a delegate and alternate delegate to the Ohio State Medical Association.
Two Indian American women, Senator Manka Dhingra and State Representative Vandana Slatter both incumbents advanced to the general elections in Washington state legislative races.
(With inputs from India West and American Bazaar)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)