Indian-Americans Make Gains in 2026 Midterms

Indian-American candidates had a mostly good night in the 2026 midterms, but not a record-breaking one. Democrat Pia Dandiya won a redrawn Florida House seat and Amish Shah leads in Arizona. Four House incumbents held their seats. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy lost the Ohio governor’s race. The headline number has barely moved. Six Indian Americans sat in the House this term. If Shah’s lead holds, six will sit in the next one. Two current members lost their primaries months ago and were never on Tuesday’s ballot. This piece covers the individual candidates. For the overall picture, including how Democrats won both chambers, see our 2026 midterm election results . Dandiya beat Republican Casey Askar. She is a former teacher and Harlem high school principal, born in Palm Beach County to Indian immigrant parents. CBS News projected her win on Tuesday night. She will be the first South Asian American to represent Florida in Congress, CBS Miami reported . The seat is new. Florida redrew its boundaries in May to take in parts of Palm Beach, Broward, Hendry and Collier counties, India.com noted . NBC News has her ahead 153,047 to 141,886, or 51.9% to 48.1%, with 99% of the expected vote in. She won it in Broward and Palm Beach counties, by about 23,000 and 10,000 votes on NBC’s figures. Askar carried Collier and Hendry. “This legislature tried to gerrymander us, they tried to redraw our lines,” Dandiya told supporters, according to CBS Miami. Arizona’s 1st District is open because Republican David Schweikert did not run again. There Shah, an emergency physician and former state lawmaker, led former NFL kicker Jay Feely 52.5% to 45.5%. About 86% of the vote was counted, NBC’s results page showed. NBC had not projected the race, and Shah told ABC15 that “we have to make sure that every vote is counted before we can say anything more.” The table covers candidates on The American Bazaar’s pre-election list , plus Pooja Sethi. NBC figures were last updated at 10:52 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 4; “(NBC)” marks an NBC projection. *The LA race is nonpartisan; Raman is a Democrat. West Coast counts are about half done. The flat House count hides real turnover. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois ran for the Senate instead of re-election. He lost the March 17 Democratic primary to Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, 39.6% to 33.6% in the count NPR Illinois reported . “Obviously, this is not the result we sought,” he told supporters. In Detroit, Rep. Shri Thanedar lost his Aug. 4 primary to state Rep. Donavan McKinney, 51.9% to 48.1%. McKinney had the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Public reported . Subramanyam became the sixth Indian-American member of the House in January 2025, All India Radio noted . On Tuesday’s results, Bera, Khanna, Jayapal and Subramanyam return and Dandiya joins them. Shah would make six again. So the group keeps its size but swaps two long-serving members for two newcomers. Both newcomers won competitive seats, not safe ones. The two Republicans running statewide both lost. Ramaswamy, the biotech founder and former presidential candidate, trailed Democrat Amy Acton by about 8 points in Ohio. “I have some serious concerns about the future direction of our country,” he told supporters, the AP reported. We covered the race’s final weeks, including the Acton ad that split Republicans . In New York, former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy lost to Attorney General Letitia James by about 20 points. The biggest result still pending is in Los Angeles. Raman, a city council member born in Kerala, overtook Mayor Karen Bass in the early hours of Wednesday. Decision Desk HQ has called the race for her, but the AP has not, LAist reported. The county plans daily count updates through Nov. 13. Miller, born in Hyderabad , keeps her post as Maryland’s lieutenant governor. She and Moore filed for re-election together in February, CBS Baltimore reported . Further down the ballot, Democrat Pooja Sethi led Republican Jennifer Mushtaler by more than 24,000 votes in Travis County’s unofficial count. The open Texas House District 47 seat covers parts of Austin and Bee Cave. “Together, we made history!” she posted on X, WION reported . She said she is the first Indian-American woman and the first Asian-American Democratic woman elected to the Texas Legislature. Sethi was chief of staff to the seat’s previous holder, Rep. Vikki Goodwin. Her first bill would raise the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles to 21, she told the Austin Chronicle . Her race ran alongside a statewide fight over racist posts aimed at Asian students. On Sept. 13, Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commission, posted photos of University of Texas students. He wrote that the problem was “far worse than anyone imagined,” the Texas Tribune reported . Sen. John Cornyn and House Speaker Dustin Burrows condemned the posts. Senate nominee Ken Paxton condemned “racism in all of its forms” without naming French. Both men lost on Tuesday. NBC projected Democrat Jon Rosenthal the winner over French, 52.5% to 45.6%, on its Railroad Commission results page . Paxton lost the Senate race to James Talarico . Arizona’s remaining ballots will settle Shah’s race. Los Angeles County is scheduled to certify the mayor’s race on Nov. 27, and the new House, Dandiya included, is sworn in on Jan. 3 under the 20th Amendment .