From Ohio to Los Angeles, 57 Indian American candidates to face voters on Tuesday

Washington: At least 57 Indian American candidates are on the ballot in Tuesday's US midterm elections, from a Senate seat in Massachusetts to the mayoralty of Los Angeles.

The list includes one candidate for the US Senate, 11 for the House of Representatives, three for statewide office, 36 for state legislatures and six for local posts. The count covers only candidates whose Indian heritage IANS has been able to confirm.

Another 15 candidates who may be of Indian origin are not included because their heritage could not be confirmed.

The most closely watched race is in Ohio, where Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is running for governor against Democrat Amy Acton. The FiftyPlusOne polling average on Sunday put Acton ahead by about three points.

In Los Angeles, city council member Nithya Raman is challenging Mayor Karen Bass. A final UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found the two tied at 40 per cent each, with 19 per cent undecided.

In New York, Republican Saritha Komatireddy is challenging Attorney General Letitia James. A Siena poll released on October 28 put James ahead 54 per cent to 39 per cent.

Maryland Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, a Democrat, is seeking re-election on the Democratic ticket against a Republican ticket that includes Dan Cox.

Shiva Ayyadurai is running for the Senate in Massachusetts as an independent against Democratic Senator Ed Markey.

Of the 11 House candidates, four are incumbent Democrats: Ro Khanna in California, Ami Bera in California, Pramila Jayapal in Washington state and Suhas Subramanyam in Virginia.

Two House races are contests between Indian Americans. In California's 17th District, Khanna faces Republican Ritesh Tandon, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. In Washington's 7th District, Jayapal faces Republican Nirav Sheth, a Gujarat-born former US Marine. Both seats are rated safe for Democrats by the Cook Political Report and other forecasters.

Democrats Amish Shah in Arizona's 1st District and Pia Dandiya in Florida's 22nd District are running for open seats that forecasters rate as competitive.

Federal Election Commission filings show money still flowing in the final days.

A new super PAC, Floridians for Affordability, reported spending about $14,000 on text messages supporting Dandiya on October 30, bringing its total in support of her to about $220,000, according to a 24-hour independent expenditure report filed on October 31.

Shah's campaign reported 15 contributions totalling $26,000 received on October 30, according to a 48-hour notice. Its 48-hour notices for contributions received from October 25 to October 30 total about $100,000, according to an IANS tally of six FEC filings.

The FEC filings are self-reported and may be amended.

Other House candidates are Republican Mahesh "Max" Ganorkar in North Carolina's 4th District, and independents Sandeep Dixit in Ohio's 13th District and Anil Kumar in Michigan's 11th District.

At the state level, the 36 legislative candidates are spread across 22 states. California, Illinois and New York have four each.

Local candidates include Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in Utah, Oakland council member Janani Ramachandran, and Rohit Malhotra, who is running for the Fulton County Commission in Georgia.

Americans vote on Tuesday, November 3 in midterm elections.

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