Indian American Center for Political Awareness Home Page : Election 2004 : 9 are winners from 30 candidates who ran spirited campaigns

Thirty Indian-American candidates made a run for various public offices on Nov. 2, and nine of them were successful in their bids. But those that lost made a good showing in state level races in what may foretell a bright future for candidates aspiring to elected office.

Republican Bobby Jindal trounced every opponent in his race to the House of Representatives, while Nikki Randhawa-Haley had no one to oppose as she stepped into the South Carolina State Assembly with nearly 100 percent of her precinct voting for her and Iowa State Assemblywoman Swati Dandekar, a Democrat, comfortably retained her seat from the 36th District for two more years.

Not least of all, five city councils and school board officesd up for Indian Americans –– four of them in California, and one in Washington State.

For those that could not get the requisite vote count, it was an effort no less valiant for having been made. Democrat Rano Singh ran a good campaign for the Arizona State Assembly to get a 26 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Republican Jay Rao, who ran for Secretary of State for North Carolina, also gave a good fight to the incumbent, securing nearly 43 percent of the state-wide vote. Similarly, Sylvester Fernandez, the Republican candidate opposing Rep. Frank Pallone in New Jersey’s 6th District, rode President Bush’s coat-tails to get a good 31 percent of the vote.

Brian Jayakumar, the Democrat running for the New York State Senate, made another good showing, securing 31.1 percent of the ballots.

Puerto Rico’s Eduardo Bhatia, a Democrat, fought hard and won nearly 47 percent of the vote for Mayor of San Juan, but it wasn’t enough to put him into the office.

Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana)

U.S. House of Representatives, Louisiana, 1st Congressional District. WON with 78.3% (217,719) of the vote

Swati Dandekar (D-Iowa)

Iowa House of Representatives, District 36. WON with 54.4% (9,772) of the vote

Nikki Randhawa (R-South Carolina)

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 87. WON with 98.9% (14,420) of the vote

Shinku Sharma (California)

Board Member, Saratoga Union School District (Santa Clara County). WON with 25.5% (1,895) of the vote

Harry Sidhu (California)

Council Member, Anaheim City Council (Orange County). WON with 18.3% (17,846) of the vote

Joseph Eapen (California)

Board of Hospital Directors, Washington Township Health Care District (Alameda County) WON with 50.7% (34,515) of the vote

Mital Gandhi (Washington, D.C.)

Advisory Neighborhood Commission of Northwest Washington. WON with 59.3% (303) of the vote

Jagrup Sidhu (California)

Council Member, Kerman City Council (Fresno County). WON with 41.4% (937) of the vote

R. Ratnesar (California)

Member, Board of Directors, Eden Township Health Care District (Alameda County). WON with 35.8% (35,794) of the vote

The Losers

Sylvester Fernandez
(R-New Jersey)
U.S. House of Representatives, New Jersey 6th Congressional District.
Lost with 31%
(69,389) of the vote

Jay Rao
(R-North Carolina)
North Carolina
Secretary of State.
Lost with 42.9% (1,327,265) of
the vote

B. Jayakumar
(D-New York)
New York State Senate, District 47.
Lost with 31.5% (29,762) of the vote

Sid Das
(D-New Hampshire)
New Hampshire House of Representatives, District 27 (Hillsboro County).
Lost with 2.6% (5,204)
of the vote

Rano Singh
(D-Arizona)
Arizona House of Representatives, District 6
Lost with 26.3% (19,195) of the vote (98.3% of Precincts Reporting)

Eduardo Bhatia
(PDP-Puerto Rico)
Mayor of San Juan
Lost with 46.3% (89,916) of the vote

Lakhvir S. Ghag
(California)
Council Member, Live Oak City Council (Sutter County).
Lost with 23.5% (478)
of the vote

Kash Gill
(California)
Council Member, City Council of Yuba City (Sutter County)
Lost with 17.4% (4,421) of the vote

George James
(R-New Jersey) Council Member, Borough of Westwood Council.
Lost with 24.3% (2,245) of the vote (96% of Vote
Reporting)

Gyan Kalwani
(California)
Council Member, Elk Grove City Council, District 5. (Sacramento
County)
Lost with 12.9% (3,494) of the vote

Sheela Kini
(California)
Supervisor, County of
San Francisco,
District 7.
Lost with 1.1% (249)
of the vote

Deepka Lalwani
(California)
Council Member, Milpitas City Council
(Santa
Clara County)
Lost with 18.7%
(3,429) of the vote

Tej Maan
(California)
Council Member, City Council of Yuba City (Sutter County).
Lost with 6.8%
(1,730)
of the vote

Narinder Mann
(California)
Council Member, Kerman City Council
(Fresno County).
Lost with 22.4%
(507) of the vote

Atul Mitra
(California)
Board Member, New Haven Unified
School District (Alameda County).
Lost with 16.7%
(5,452) of the vote

Jay R. Shah
(California)
Supervisor, County of San Francisco, District 2.
Lost with
4.0%
(1,020) of the vote

Shantu Shah
(Oregon)
Board of Director (Position 1), of the Proposed Washington County Public Utility District.
Lost with 13.2% (33,720) of the vote

Brahama D. Sharma
(California)
Mayor of Pismo Beach (San Luis Obispo
County)
Lost with 3.9% (151) of the vote

Rakesh Sharma
(California)
Council Member, Fremont City Council (Alameda County). Lost with 13.5% (11,263) of the vote

Paul Reuben Singh
(California)
Council Member, Live Oak City Council (Sutter County)
Lost with 16.2%
(330) of the vote

Nizam Kamal
(New Jersey)
Bergen County
Sherriff
Lost with 0.7%
(2,493) of the Vote