US midterms: Indian-American candidates face pressure from GOP, Democrats
Washington, Oct 13 (IANS) Indian-American candidates heading into the November 3 midterms are being squeezed from two directions, with Republicans in the community campaigning amid a party-wide backlash against H-1B visas and several Democrats already ousted this year by challengers from their party’s left flank.
On the Republican side, at least nine Indian Americans are on the November ballot, according to community media tallies, led by Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor.
The tally includes Saritha Komatireddy, running for New York attorney general, three US House nominees and state legislative candidates in New York, Tennessee, California and Michigan.
They are running as the Trump administration and Republican leaders take an increasingly hard line on skilled immigration, including the proposed $100,000 H-1B petition fee and the Labour Department’s suspension of PERM green card certifications for eight technology companies.
The H-1B programme is dominated by Indian professionals, and the debate has fed a strain of online hostility toward Indian Americans within the conservative movement.
On the Democratic side, the pressure has come in primaries.
In Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, Representative Shri Thanedar lost the August 4 primary to state Representative Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Rashida Tlaib and Justice Democrats.
McKinney won 51.9 per cent of the vote to Thanedar’s 48.1 per cent. Thanedar had broken with the Democratic Socialists of America in 2023.
In New York, Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, the first South Asian woman elected to state office there, lost the June 23 primary for the 38th Assembly District in Queens to David Orkin, a DSA member backed by the group’s New York City chapter.
Orkin took 58.8 per cent of the vote to Rajkumar’s 40.9 per cent. Rajkumar had accused the DSA of waging a campaign of hate against her.
In Georgia, Rahul Garabadu lost a June 16 Democratic runoff for state Senate District 7 to Ruwa Romman, a progressive endorsed by Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, by 60.1 per cent to 39.9 per cent, according to Georgia’s Secretary of State.
Not every Indian-American Democrat has been on the losing end of the progressive surge.
In Los Angeles, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who was endorsed by DSA in her 2020 council race, is challenging Mayor Karen Bass and led her 39 per cent to 28 per cent in a Berkeley IGS poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, conducted September 15 to 20. The two meet on Tuesday in the race’s only live televised debate.
In Texas, immigration attorney Pooja Sethi won the March Democratic primary for House District 47 in Austin with about 76 per cent of the vote. If she wins on November 3, she would be the first Indian American in the Texas Legislature.
The pattern suggests that ethnic identity alone is doing little to protect Indian-American candidates in either party.
On the right, they must answer for a party message that targets an immigration pathway central to their community. On the left, they are judged on ideology, donor ties and positions on Israel and Gaza, issues that featured in both the Thanedar and Rajkumar races.
–IANS
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