Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, powered by catchy music and viral videos, and his subsequent victory are known to many. But two other Indian Americans also made equally significant gains in the mayoral elections in United States’ Virginia, New York and New Jersey on Tuesday.
Ghazala Hashmi won the race for Virginia Lieutenant Governor, while Aftab Pureval, the Indian-origin mayor of Cincinnati and the city’s first Asian American mayor, secured a second term.
What is even more interesting is the fact that Pureval defeated US Vice President’s half-brother, Cory Bowman.
“It takes immense courage to run for office, and these leaders have stepped up to represent their communities and build a better future for this country,” Indian American Impact said in a statement.
The organisation works to empower South Asian and Indian American communities through civic partnership and engagement.
Zohran Mamdani: New York City mayor
Zohran Kwame Mamdani is the winner of New York City’s mayoral race, and is the first Muslim, first Indian-origin, and first African-born mayor of New York.
Mamdani, the son of renowned Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan author of Indian ancestry, upset Cuomo in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor and was declared victorious in June this year.
Mamdani’s victory is the win of a candidate, who was not known to many till a few months back.
Ghazala Hashmi: Virginia LG
Apart from Mamdani, the most prominent of those who won the elections was Ghazala Hashmi, who contested and won the Virginia Lieutenant Governor post.
She was the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate.
Ghazala Hashmi’s latest victory means her Senate seat will now be filled through a special election.
She entered politics in 2019 and, in a surprising upset, flipped a Republican-held state Senate seat to win a place in the Virginia General Assembly.
Five years later, in 2024, she rose to become chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, a key leadership role overseeing two core Democratic priorities: reproductive freedom and public education.
Aftab Pureval: Cincinnati
Indian-origin Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has secured a second term, defeating Republican candidate Cory Bowman, who is the half-brother of US Vice President JD Vance.
Pureval, 43, made history in 2021 when he became the city’s first Asian American mayor.
Although the post is officially non-partisan, he is broadly aligned with the Democratic Party, the Associated Press reported.
Pureval’s background has long been part of his public identity. His mother, who is Tibetan, escaped Chinese occupation as a child and grew up in a refugee camp in southern India, while his father is Punjabi.
He entered politics in 2015 with a bid for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, launching a career that has steadily grown in profile and influence.
Satish Garimella had run for Mayor of Morrisville, North Carolina, and Dini Ajmani had run to be mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey.
In Morrisville, North Carolina: TJ Cawley won re‑election mayor, defeating Satish Garimella.
In Hoboken, no clear winner has been declared.
Several Indian-American and South Asian candidates had also run for City Councils in states like New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington state, Georgia, Florida and Pennsylvania.
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