A record five Indian-American politicians from the ruling Democratic Party, including Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Ami Bera and Pramila Jayapal, are headed to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday following the highly polarised midterm elections.
The new US Congress will begin in January next year.
Apart from these five politicians, many others from the community won across the country to state legislatures.
Four Indian-American members of the current House of Representatives are Democrats: Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois' 8th Congressional District, Pramila Jayapal from Washington State's 7th Congressional District, Bera from California's 6th Congressional District, and Khanna from California's 17th Congressional District.
With more than 70% of the vote against his Republican opponent, Indian-American Ritesh Tandon, Khanna won the 17th Congressional District for a fourth term in a row.
Krishnamoorthi, 49, defeated Republican Chris Dargis by a margin of more than 12% of the vote to win his fourth term in a row.
While running for office, Krishnamoorthi came under attack from right-wing Muslim fundamentalists. In his victory address, Krishnamoorthi urged all candidates to "denounce violence and intolerance" and "concentrate on what we share in common as Americans."
Regardless of whatever side you support in this election, he said, "people on the other side are not your enemy." In his victory speech, he remarked, "We are all Americans, and we must work together for a better and stronger nation."
He is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
"My parents had little more than a desire for their family's future and the conviction that they could realise it here in America when they arrived to this country," Krishnamoorthi said.
"And we succeeded in spite of some challenges. We must now ensure that all of our people, whether they have lived on our shores for generations or are more recent arrivals, continue to have access to these opportunities.
In contrast to her Republican opponent Cliff Moon, who earned only 15% of the vote, Chennai-born Jayapal, 57, who is the first and only Indian-American woman in the House of Representatives, won the seventh Congressional district of Washington State with more than 85% of the vote. She has triumphed for a fourth term in a row.
Shri Thanedar, 67, from Michigan's 13th Congressional District, would join them in the next Congress.
Thanedar, a successful entrepreneur who arrived in the US with barely $20 in his pocket, won his first election to the House of Representatives with 72% of the vote in Michigan's 13th Congressional District against Republican challenger Martell Bivings, who garnered 23% of the vote.
Thanedar is the fifth member of the so-called Samosa Caucus, an informal coalition of Indian-Americans in Congress who want to make health insurance mandatory for all citizens and who intend to focus on topics like immigration and human rights in the House.
"We did it|. I'm honoured to serve as the 13th District's future representative in Congress! When the results first started to come in, Thanedar made his first remarks.
According to the most recent reports, when 25% of the ballots cast were tabulated, Bera, 57, the oldest Indian-American politician of all, who is running for his sixth term in a row, was ahead of Republican challenger Tamika Hamilton by more than 12% of the vote.
Additionally, individuals of Indian descent won seats in state legislatures.
Aruna Miller wrote history in Maryland when she won the campaign for lieutenant governor and became the first Indian-American politician to do so.
Former Maryland House delegate Miller, 58, ran for lieutenant governor alongside Wes Moore, the incoming Democratic governor.
But former Colin County judge Keith Self defeated Indian-American Sandeep Srivastava in Texas's third Congressional district.
The emergence of a sizable number of young Indian-American candidates reflects the growing aspirations of this small ethnic group, which makes up just 1% of the 33.19 crore people in the US.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans sought out to the Indian-American community before the elections on November 8.
The Indian-American community can have a significant impact on some of the hotly contested contests, according to a Friday article in The Washington Post.
According to the newspaper, "Democrats are seeking to capitalise on some of the confidence felt by Indian Americans, a growing and increasingly important bloc of voters, ahead of mid-term elections that might be decided by razor-thin margins.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's Democratic Party vigorously resisted the anticipated "red wave" that the Donald Trump-led Republican Party was hoping to send sweeping through the US House of Representatives and other elected bodies, as predicted by pollsters and political pundits before the pivotal midterm elections.
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