Washington, November 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
At least 57 Indian American candidates are set to contest the US midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, across federal, state and local races, with high-profile contests including the Ohio governor’s race and the Los Angeles mayoral election.
The candidates include one Senate hopeful, 11 contenders for the House of Representatives, three candidates for statewide offices, 36 running for state legislatures and six seeking local posts. The count includes only candidates whose Indian heritage could be confirmed. Another 15 potential candidates of Indian origin have been excluded because their backgrounds could not be verified.
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is contesting the Ohio governor’s race against Democrat Amy Acton. In Los Angeles, city council member Nithya Raman is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. A final poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, put both candidates at 40 per cent, with 19 per cent undecided.
Other prominent contests include Republican Saritha Komatireddy’s challenge to New York Attorney General Letitia James and Maryland Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller’s bid for re-election on the Democratic ticket. In Massachusetts, Shiva Ayyadurai is running as an independent against Democratic Senator Ed Markey.
Four Indian American Democrats currently serving in the House — Ro Khanna, Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal and Suhas Subramanyam — are seeking re-election.
Two congressional contests feature Indian American candidates on opposing sides. Khanna faces Republican Ritesh Tandon in California’s 17th District, while Jayapal is challenged by Republican Nirav Sheth in Washington’s 7th District. Both seats are rated safe for Democrats by election forecasters.
Democrats Amish Shah in Arizona’s 1st District and Pia Dandiya in Florida’s 22nd District are contesting open seats described as competitive by forecasters.
Federal Election Commission filings show continued campaign spending and fundraising. A political action committee supporting Dandiya reported spending around $14,000 on text messages on October 30, taking its total reported support to about $220,000. Shah’s campaign reported receiving $26,000 in 15 contributions on the same date. Notices covering October 25-30 showed about $100,000 in contributions, according to a tally of six filings. The filings are self-reported and may be amended.
Other House candidates include Republican Mahesh “Max” Ganorkar in North Carolina, and independents Sandeep Dixit in Ohio and Anil Kumar in Michigan.
The 36 state legislative candidates are spread across 22 states, with California, Illinois and New York each having four. Local contenders include Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, Oakland council member Janani Ramachandran and Rohit Malhotra, who is running for the Fulton County Commission in Georgia.
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