10 Indian-origin candidates to watch ahead of US midterm election results

(Nov 4, 2026) At least 57 people of Indian origin were on the ballot as Americans voted in the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday, 3 November. A tally released on the eve of the vote counts one US Senate candidate, 11 House candidates, three candidates for statewide office, 36 for state legislatures and six for local posts.

Midterms fall halfway through a US president’s four-year term. Voters elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, about a third of the 100-member Senate, and a long list of governors, state lawmakers and city officials.

With counting under way, The Global Indian spotlights 10 candidates contesting the biggest offices on the ballot. That means a Senate seat, a governorship, two top state posts, the mayoralty of Los Angeles and five seats in the House. The size of the office, not the odds of winning, decided the list. Some are clear favourites and some are long shots, but together they show how high Indian-American political ambition now reaches.

Shiva Ayyadurai, Independent, for the US Senate from Massachusetts

Shiva Ayyadurai is the only Indian-origin candidate in a US Senate race this year, and he is running without a party. Born in Mumbai to a Tamil family, he moved to the US as a child and went on to earn four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He describes himself as the inventor of email, based on software he wrote as a teenager in 1978, a claim many computing historians dispute.

The Senate is the more powerful upper house of the US Congress, and each state elects two senators for six-year terms. Ayyadurai is standing as an independent against Democrat Ed Markey, who has held the seat since 2013, with Republican John Deaton the main opposition candidate. He has run for the Senate before, in 2018 and 2020. Independents rarely win Senate seats, so this is an uphill bid, but it shows Indian-American politics now stretches well beyond the two big parties.

Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican, for Governor of Ohio

Vivek Ramaswamy is chasing the biggest prize on this list. A US governor runs a state much as a chief minister does in India, and Ohio has close to 12 million people. Born in Cincinnati to parents from Palakkad in Kerala, Ramaswamy studied at Harvard and Yale, built a fortune in biotech, and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 before stepping aside for Donald Trump. He later worked alongside Elon Musk on Trump’s government-efficiency drive before leaving to contest Ohio.

With Trump’s endorsement, he began as the clear favourite. The race has since tightened against Democrat Amy Acton, Ohio’s former state health director. If Ramaswamy wins, he would become the third person of Indian descent to serve as a US governor, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Saritha Komatireddy, Republican, for New York Attorney General

Saritha Komatireddy is taking on one of the most famous lawyers in American politics. In the US, each state elects an attorney general, its top law officer, who can sue companies, defend state laws and bring criminal cases. A Brooklyn native and Harvard Law graduate, Komatireddy once clerked for Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice.

She spent about 12 years as a federal prosecutor, working on terrorism and drug-cartel cases, and later served as chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration. This is her first run for elected office, as the Republican nominee with Trump’s endorsement. It is an uphill fight. No Republican has won the post since 1994, and James led 54% to 39% in a Siena poll on 28 October.

Aruna Miller, Democrat, seeking a second term as Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor

Aruna Miller is the only incumbent statewide officeholder on this list, and she is asking Maryland for a second term. The lieutenant governor is the deputy to the governor and steps in if the governor cannot serve, a role loosely comparable to a deputy chief minister. In most states, including Maryland, the two run together on one ticket.

Born Aruna Katragadda in Hyderabad, Miller moved to the US with her family in 1972, when her father, an engineer, took a job with IBM. A civil engineer by training, she served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2019. In 2022 Aruna Miller and Governor Wes Moore won with 59.3% of the vote, making her the first Indian American elected lieutenant governor of any US state. She took her oath on the Bhagavad Gita. Moore and Miller are running together again this year.

Nithya Raman, Democrat, for Mayor of Los Angeles

Nithya Raman could become the first South Asian woman to run America’s second-largest city. Unlike most Indian mayors, whose role is largely ceremonial, the mayor of Los Angeles is a powerful elected executive in charge of a city of nearly four million people.

Born in India, Raman moved to the US as a child and studied at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she trained in urban planning. A city councilmember since 2020, Nithya Raman entered the mayoral race at the last minute, challenging Mayor Karen Bass, a fellow Democrat she had earlier endorsed. Raman is campaigning on housing, homelessness and the cost of living. She finished second in the June primary with 28.6% to Bass’s 34.3%, earning a place in this run-off. A UC Berkeley poll found the two tied at 40%, with 19% of voters undecided.

Ro Khanna, Democrat, for a Silicon Valley seat in the US House

Ro Khanna represents a large slice of Silicon Valley, the heart of the American tech industry. The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Congress, and each member serves a two-year term for a district of about 760,000 people.

Born in Philadelphia to Punjabi parents, Khanna is the grandson of Amarnath Vidyalankar, who was jailed during India’s freedom struggle. A Yale-trained lawyer, he served in Barack Obama’s commerce department and won his seat in 2016. He is now seeking a sixth term. This year’s race doubles as an Indian-American face-off. His Republican challenger, San Jose engineer Ritesh Tandon, has run against him before. Khanna took 57.9% to Tandon’s 17.2% in the June primary, and forecasters rate the district as strongly Democratic.

Pramila Jayapal, Democrat, for a Seattle seat in the US House

Pramila Jayapal made history in 2016 as the first South Asian American woman elected to the House of Representatives, and she is now seeking a sixth term from her Seattle-based seat. Born in Chennai in 1965, she studied at Georgetown University and earned an MBA from Northwestern before working as a financial analyst. She built her public profile as an immigrant-rights organiser and is today one of the best-known progressive voices in Congress, focusing on healthcare, immigration and workers’ rights.

Like Khanna, she faces a fellow Indian American. Her Republican challenger, Nirav Sheth, is a restaurant owner whose campaign highlights his immigrant story, military service and law-enforcement experience. The numbers favour the incumbent. Jayapal took 83.3% in the August primary against Sheth’s 10.8%.

Ami Bera, Democrat, for a Sacramento-area seat in the US House

Ami Bera is the longest-serving Indian American in Congress today. A physician born in Los Angeles in 1965 to Gujarati immigrant parents, he won his first House race in 2012 after losing narrowly in 2010 and has represented the Sacramento area ever since. He pursued Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.

This year he is contesting new ground. In 2025, California voters approved Proposition 50, which redrew the state’s congressional map to create more Democrat-friendly seats. Bera switched from his old district to the newly drawn 3rd, which now runs from Sacramento’s suburbs, including Folsom and Roseville, towards Lake Tahoe. Its previous Republican holder, Kevin Kiley, moved to another seat. Under the new lines, Democrats hold an eight-point edge in voter registration, which gives Bera an advantage on paper. His race is still one Democrats are counting on as they try to win back the House.

Amish Shah, Democrat, for an open Arizona seat in the US House

Amish Shah’s race is one of roughly 20 in the country that could decide which party controls the House. That makes it the most closely watched contest on this list for Washington’s balance of power. Shah is an emergency and sports medicine doctor who graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in economics before studying at Northwestern’s medical school, completing an honors program in medical education. 

He has served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2019 to 2024. This is his second attempt at the seat. In 2024 he lost to the Republican incumbent, David Schweikert. With Schweikert gone, the seat is open. Shah faces Republican Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker who played 14 seasons, including four with the Arizona Cardinals, and later worked as a CBS sports analyst. Feely has Trump’s endorsement. Shah is campaigning on healthcare access and drug prices, and says he has personally knocked on more than 27,000 doors.

Pia Dandiya, Democrat, for a new South Florida seat in the US House

Pia Dandiya is a first-time congressional candidate in a closely watched US House race in Florida. Born and raised in Palm Beach County to parents who migrated from India, she holds a BA in Government from Harvard University and a Master of Education from Boston University. She began her career as a teacher before founding and becoming principal of a high school in Harlem, New York. She later served as a White House Fellow, working with the Domestic Policy Council and the US Department of Education under two presidential administrations. She subsequently led public-sector initiatives at Apple, focusing on the use of technology in education, healthcare and government services.

She initially planned to challenge Republican Brian Mast in a neighbouring congressional district but shifted her campaign after Florida’s redistricting created a new 22nd Congressional District without an incumbent. The constituency stretches across Palm Beach, Broward, Collier and Hendry counties, connecting communities on Florida’s east and southwest coasts. Dandiya faces Trump-endorsed businessman Casey Askar, an Iraq-born former Marine. Her campaign has also attracted support across party lines, including from the Republican mayor of Wellington.

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