List of Indian Americans running for Congress in 2024
Photo credit: Feras Ismail, American Bazaar
Besides the five incumbents seeking re-election — Reps. Ami Bera (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Shri Thanedar (D-MI) — several Indian Americans are running for the US Congress from districts across the country.
Alabama
District: 2nd congressional district
Candidate: Vimal Patel
Party: Democratic Party
Vimal Patel is running for the Democratic nomination for the US Congress in Alabama’s recently redrawn 2nd district. This district now encompasses southern Alabama, including Montgomery County and a portion of Mobile County.
Patel, 39, is among 13 Democratic candidates who entered the race following a federal court’s approval of a new district map, which transformed the 2nd District from a traditionally Republican stronghold into a competitive battleground for Democrats. The primary election is scheduled for March 5th, with eight Republican candidates also in the running.
Arizona
District: 1st congressional district
Candidate: Amish Shah
Party: Democratic Party
Amish Shah, a Democratic member of the Arizona House of Representatives, is seeking his party’s nomination for Arizona’s 1st congressional district. The seat is currently Republican David Schweikert. An emergency physician for over 15 years, Shah has been a member of the Arizona House representing districts in the Phoenix area since 2019.
Born and raised in Chicago, Shah’s parents were engineering students who immigrated from India in the 1960s. He earned a BA in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, and graduated from its Medical School as part of the Honors Program in Medical Education.
California
District: 16th congressional district
Candidate: Rishi Kumar
Party: Democratic Party
Rishi Kumar is an Indian American engineer running for US Congress from California’s 16th Congressional district. The incumbent, fellow Democrat Anna Eshoo, who has been in Congress for 30 years, announced last November that she would not seek another term. The primary for the race is slated for March 5.
Born to Indra Prasad and Shanta Prasad, Kumar is married to Seema Kumar. They have two sons, Rishub and Shivaum Kumar.
Kumar, who has a master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut, has been living in Silicon Valley for more than 20 years.
Illinois
District: 7th congressional district
Candidate: Nikhil Bhatia
Party: Democratic Party
Nikhil Bhatia is an Indian American math teacher running for the US Congress from Illinois’ 7th District challenging incumbent Democrat Rep. Danny Davis who intends to seek a 15th term.
Bhatia, a teacher in Grand Crossing and an elected Local School Council member at Galileo Scholastic Academy on Chicago’s Near West Side, has worked in urban education for 11 years, including five years as a middle school principal, according to his website. He recently received his master’s from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
Bhatia’s parents moved from India to the US and worked as physicians. He and his wife Alison, are parents of two young children.
Kansas
District: 3rd congressional district
Candidate: Dr. Prasanth Reddy
Party: Republican
Dr. Prashanth Reddy is a triple-board certified physician running for Congress from Kansas’ 3rd congressional district. A Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, he served as a senior vice president and global head of enterprise oncology at Labcorp from 2021 to July of 2023.
Reddy’s family immigrated to the United States from Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, when he was a child. Reddy, who lives in lives in Lenexa, KS, earned his bachelor’s in microbiology and psychology from Kansas State University and his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical Center. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School.
The 3rd district, which includes the Kansas City metropolitan area, is represented by Democrat Sharice Davids.
Read more on Dr. Prashanth Reddy…
New York
District: 4th congressional district
Candidate: Kevin Thomas
Party: Democratic Party
Indian American New York State Senator Kevin Thomas is running for Congress from New York’s 4th congressional district. The district is currently represented by first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. Thomas has been representing New York’s 6th Senate district since 2018.
In 2018, Thomas became the first Indian American elected to the New York State Senate, when he defeated the incumbent Sen. Kemp Hannon, who had been a New York state lawmaker since January 1977.
The Democratic-leaning 4th district was narrowly won by D’Esposito in 2022. It has voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1992. In 2020, President Joe Biden won the district by 14 points, making it one of the 18 districts nationally that voted for Biden for president and a GOP candidate for Congress.
Ohio
District: 2nd congressional district
Candidate: Niraj Antani
Party: Republican
Niraj Antani is an Ohio state senator who is running for Congress from the state’s 2nd congressional district. He is the first Hindu and Indian American state senator from the Buckeye State.
Antani, the youngest Indian American state or federal elected official in the United States, is aiming to succeed Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is retiring from Congress. The Republican primary is on March 19, 2024.
Born and raised in southern Ohio, Antani is serving his first term in the Ohio Senate, having previously served three terms as State Representative in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The 2nd district spans 16 counties across about 150 miles in southern Ohio. The district’s partisan voter index leans significantly Republican.
Oregon
District: 3rd congressional district
Candidate: Susheela Jayapal
Party: Democratic Party
Susheela Jayapal is running for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district. She has been serving as Multnomah County Commissioner since 2019 when she became the first Indian American to win an elected county office in Oregon.
Longtime Rep. Earl Blumenauer retiring at the end of his current term. The 3rd district stretches from inner Portland to Hood River and is considered one of the safest Democratic seats in the US House, according to OPB.
Jayapal is the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian American woman to serve in the US House of Representatives. If elected, she’d be in the rare company serving alongside her younger sister, Pramila Jayapal, who is a member of the US House from Washington state and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Read more on Susheela Jayapal…
Virginia
District: 10th congressional district
Candidate: Krystle Kaul
Party: Democratic Party
Krystle Kaul is one of the two Indian Americans running for the Democratic Party nomination from Virginia’s 10th district. The district is currently represented by Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who is retiring because of a debilitating health condition.
Previously, she served as the Director of Strategic Communications (GS-15) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and as the Chief of the Political-Military Intelligence Night Cell on the Department of Defense’s ISIS Crisis Group under Secretary Lloyd Austin at US Central Command.
With more than 20 years of experience at the Department of Defense and intelligence community, Kaul says she is seeking to bring her wealth of national security knowledge and experience to the halls of Congress.
Kaul holds double master’s degrees from Brown University and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Currently, she is enrolled in a PhD in progress in political science at Brown University.
Virginia
District: 10th congressional district
Candidate: Suhas Subramanyam
Party: Democratic Party
Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia state senator, is the second Indian American running for Congress from the state’s 10th district. He has been serving in the Virginia state legislature for the past four years.
First elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in November 2019 from the 87th House District, he was elected to the upper chamber last November.
Subramanyam served as a White House technology policy advisor to President Barack Obama. He also clerked for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he helped to re-introduce the DREAM Act as a process for granting residency status to those who entered the U.S. as minors.
Subramanyam earned his law degree at Northwestern University School of Law.
Read more on Suhas Subramanyam…
