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Suhas Subramanyam’s family is from Bengaluru.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Washington: <\/b><\/p>\n
“Samosa Caucus” — the group of Indian-Americans in US Congress — has a strong chance of getting another member next year with the victory of Suhas Subramanyam in the Virginia Democratic primaries.<\/p>\n
He won the intra-party election on Tuesday to pick the Democratic candidate to contest the November general election for the House of Representatives from a constituency held by it.<\/p>\n
The constituency includes some suburbs of Washington.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A State Senator, Subramanyam bested 11 other candidates in an ugly contest where his main adversary faced allegations of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mr Subramanyam’s family is from Bengaluru.<\/p>\n
A 37-year-old lawyer, he was President Barack Obama’s technology advisor working on cybersecurity and modernising government agencies.<\/p>\n
In 2019, he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and the State Senate last year.<\/p>\n
He is also a volunteer medic and firefighter.<\/p>\n
Mohan, who defeated his three Republican rivals, will be contesting from a constituency held by a Democrat.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Three ratings of the race surveyed by Ballotopedia declared it a solid or safe Democratic seat.<\/p>\n
A cardiologist, Mohan received his medical degree from the Delhi University College of Medical Sciences.<\/p>\n
In New Jersey, Ravinder Singh Bhalla, the Mayor of Hoboken, lost the Democratic Party primary for the House seat to Rob Menendez who currently holds the seat.<\/p>\n
The sitting representative’s father, Senator Bob Menendez, is on trial on corruption charges but undeterred, he waged an ugly campaign against Bhalla, a turban-wearing Sikh, alleging that he made quid-pro-quo deals with the Mayor of a neighbouring city and used images marring his appearance in TV ads.<\/p>\n
Susheela Jayapal, the sister of influential Representative Pramila Jayapal, lost the primary for a Democratic seat in Oregon.<\/p>\n
Pramila Jayapal heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of leftist Democratic Party legislators.<\/p>\n
She represents a constituency in Washington State, a neighbour of Oregon where her sister Susheela Jayapal was a county commissioner and was among several leftist candidates who faced an ideological backlash in the Democratic primaries.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n