Washington:
Indian-American emergency room physician Dr Hiral Tipirneni is now trailing against her Republican incumbent in an Arizona Congressional race, which she was leading initially. After overnight round of counting, Congressman David Schweikert by Thursday morning was leading by over 6,200 votes. By Wednesday evening, Tipirneni,52, had a lead of less than 2,000 votes. With 81.5 per cent of the total votes cast been counted, the Republican Congressman has got 185,508 votes.
Tipirneni, who is making her third attempt to enter the House of Representatives, had received 179,081 votes. The race has not been called yet. If elected, the Indian American will become the second Democrat ever to represent the sixth Congressional District of Arizona. If elected, Mumbai-born Tipirneni would be the second Indian-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.
Pramila Jayapal, the first, was re-elected for her third consecutive term on Tuesday. Tipirneni would also be the second Indian-American doctor after Dr Ami Bera to be elected to the House. Bera has been re-elected for the fifth consecutive term from California. Four Indian-Americans have been re-elected to the US House of Representatives: Bera, Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Bera has been re-elected for the fifth consecutive term, while the rest three have won for the third consecutive time. More than a dozen Indian-Americans, including five women, have won state-level elections, marking a first for the community in many instances.
The five women elected to state legislatures are Jenifer Rajkumar to the New York State Assembly, Nima Kulkarni to the Kentucky State House, Kesha Ram to the Vermont State Senate, Vandana Slatter to the Washington State House and Padma Kuppa to the Michigan State House. Niraj Antani has been elected to the Ohio State Senate, while Jay Chaudhuri has been re-elected to the North Carolina State Senate.
Amish Shah has been elected to the Arizona State House, Nikil Saval to the Pennsylvania State Senate, Ranjeev Puri to the Michigan State House and Jeremy Cooney to the New York State Senate. Ash Kalra has been re-elected to the California State Assembly for the third consecutive term. Ravi Sandill has won the District Court Judge polls in Texas. Kesha Ram is the first woman of colour elected to the Vermont State Senate, Nikil Saval is the first Indian American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Rajkumar is the first South Asian woman elected to the New York state office and Antani is the first Indian American elected to the Ohio Senate.
