Washington, Oct 11 (IANS) The number of Indian Americans in the US House of Representatives is set to fall from six to four after the November 3 midterm elections unless Democrats Amish Shah in Arizona or Pia Dandiya in Florida win their closely fought races, as Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Shri Thanedar prepare to leave the chamber.
All six Indian-American members of the current House, informally known as the “Samosa Caucus”, are Democrats: Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Krishnamoorthi, Thanedar and Suhas Subramanyam.
Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois’s 8th Congressional District, gave up his seat to run for the Senate. He lost the March 17 Democratic primary to Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, who won 40.39 per cent of the vote to his 32.71 per cent.
“Obviously, this is not the result we sought… But unlike Donald Trump, I’m not going to question the outcome. I’m proud of the race we ran,” Krishnamoorthi said in his concession.
Thanedar lost the August 4 Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District to state Representative Donavan McKinney, 48.1 per cent to 51.9 per cent.
Justice Democrats spent nearly $1 million backing McKinney, who was also endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders.
“I want to congratulate Representative Donavan McKinney on a hard fought race… It was the honor of my life to represent the 13th District in the United States Congress,” Thanedar said in a Facebook statement on August 5.
The other four Indian-American incumbents are on the ballot in seats rated Solid or Safe Democratic by the Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball. They are Bera in California’s 3rd District, Khanna in California’s 17th, Jayapal in Washington’s 7th and Subramanyam in Virginia’s 10th.
In two of those races the community wins either way. Khanna faces Indian-American Republican Ritesh Tandon, while Jayapal faces Indian-American Republican Nirav Sheth.
That leaves two possible pickups.
In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Shah, an emergency room physician, faces Trump-backed Republican Jay Feely. The Cook Political Report moved the race from Toss-up to Lean Democratic on September 25, while Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate it a Toss-up.
The only public October poll, by FirstStrategic, has Shah at 44 per cent and Feely at 42 per cent, within the survey’s margin of error of 5.4 points. Shah narrowly lost the seat to Republican David Schweikert in 2024.
“Now, it’s my job to earn the support of every voter in this district—including Democrats who voted for another candidate, Independents frustrated with our political system, and Republicans disappointed with the state of the country,” Shah said after winning the Democratic primary in July.
In Florida’s redrawn 22nd Congressional District, an open seat, Dandiya faces Republican Casey Askar. Cook rates the race a Toss-up, Inside Elections rates it Tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball has it as Lean Republican.
Trump won the new seat 55-44 in 2024.
Polling is sparse. A survey by Impact Research for House Majority PAC, a Democratic sponsor, put Dandiya at 46 per cent and Askar at 44 per cent, while an August poll by Tavern Research showed the two tied.
Dandiya, a former teacher and principal born in Palm Beach County to parents who immigrated from India, would be Florida’s first South Asian member of Congress.
“I am so thrilled and honoured to be your Democratic nominee for US Congress here in my home state of Florida,” she said in her primary victory speech in August.
The caucus cannot grow beyond six in January, as no other Indian American is a competitive House nominee. Republicans Tandon, Sheth and Mahesh Ganorkar, who faces Democrat Valerie Foushee in North Carolina’s 4th District, are all running in Solid Democratic seats.
The departures come in a difficult cycle for incumbents. Twelve sitting House members lost primaries this year, seven of them Democrats.
Before 2012, only two Indian Americans had served in Congress: Democrat Dalip Singh Saund of California, from 1957 to 1963, and Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, from 2005 to 2008.
Bera’s election in 2012 began a steady rise. Khanna, Jayapal and Krishnamoorthi arrived in 2017, Thanedar in 2023 and Subramanyam in 2025.
Indian Americans number about 5.5 million, roughly 1.6 per cent of the US population. In an AAPI Vote/AAPI Data survey this summer, Indian-American voters favoured Democratic House candidates by 66 per cent to 18 per cent.
–IANS
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