Team Blitz India
THE group of Indian-Americans in US Congress called “Samosa Caucus” has a strong chance of getting another member next year with the victory of Suhas Subramanyam in the Virginia Democratic primaries. Subramanyam won the intra-party election last week to pick the Democratic candidate to contest the November general election for the House of Representatives from a constituency held by it. Meanwhile, in primaries in New Jersey last week, Indian-American Rajesh Mohan won the Republican ticket for a House seat, but faces an uphill battle because it is in a strongly Democratic constituency.
Five Indian-Americans
There are now five Indian-Americans in the House of Representatives, all Democrats who call themselves the “Samosa Caucus”: Ami Bera and Ro Khanna from California; Pramila Jayapal from Washington State; Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, and Shri Thanedar from Michigan.
A State Senator, Subramanyam bested 11 other candidates in an ugly contest where his main adversary faced allegations of sexual harassment. He was backed by the retiring House member Jennifer Wexton, who flipped the seat to the Democratic side in 2018 and was re-elected twice, winning 53 per cent of the votes in 2022 making it a safe seat for the party. Subramanyam’s family is from Bengaluru. A 37-year-old lawyer, he was President Barack Obama’s technology advisor working on cybersecurity and modernising government agencies. In 2019, he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and the State Senate last year.
Mohan, who defeated his three Republican rivals, will be contesting from a constituency held by a Democrat. Andrew Kim, who is giving up the seat to run for the US Senate, flipped it from the Republican Party in 2018 and won his second re-election in 2022 by 55 per cent. Susheela Jayapal, the sister of influential Representative Pramila Jayapal, lost the primary for a Democratic seat in Oregon.
