History was created when three candidates with Indian ancestry in the US emerged victorious in high-stakes elections in New York, Cincinnati and Virginia. These Democrats have also handed the first defeat to US President Donald Trump since he assumed office earlier this year. The three winning candidates are Zohran Mamdani, Aftab Pureval, and Ghazala Hashmi.
While Zohran Mamdani, who won the New York City mayoral election, was born to Indian-American parents Mira Nair, Hashmi was born in India. Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, is a distinguished filmmaker. His father, too, has ancestral connections to Gujarat. Zohran’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an anthropology professor at Columbia University. These wins come at a moment when Democrats had suffered multiple setbacks; thus, the victories carry extra weight both symbolically and practically.
While President Trump did not personally contest each race, his influence and endorsements were at play. In New York, Trump had endorsed former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and floated threats about withholding federal funding if Mamdani won. Cuomo was fighting the polls as an independent.
In Virginia, the 61-year-old Ghazala Hashmi won election as Lieutenant Governor, becoming the first Indian-American and first Muslim ever to hold Statewide office in the Commonwealth. She defeated Republican John Reid, a Richmond broadcaster. Cincinnati Mayor Pureval has secured a second term, defeating Trump’s Republican rival Cory Bowman, who is US Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother.
Zohran Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to parents with roots in India, and became an American citizen in 2018 shortly after graduating from college. He spent part of his childhood with his family in Cape Town, South Africa, before relocating to New York City at the age of 7.
Earlier this year, Mamdani tied the knot with Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, in a ceremony at the City Clerk’s Office. The two met through the dating app Hinge and now reside together in Astoria, Queens. The 34-year-old Mamdani, a State Assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist, had won the Democratic primary in June, defeating Andrew Cuomo. He will take charge on January 1.
Ghazala Hashmi has become Virginia’s first Indian-American, Muslim Lieutenant Governor. She defeated Republican John Reid, a Richmond broadcaster. Hashmi, currently a State senator representing a district south of Richmond, emerged as a prominent figure in Virginia politics after first winning election in 2019 by flipping a Republican-held seat. Her campaign’s broad appeal among South Asians, including people of Pakistani origin, echoed across sections of migrants.
Ghazala Hashmi was born in 1964 in Hyderabad, with ancestral roots in Karachi, now in Pakistan. Hashmi moved to the US from India as a young girl with her family when she was 4. She was raised in a small town in Georgia and saw firsthand how community-building and open dialogue can bridge cultural and socioeconomic divisions, uniting people from all walks of life. She holds a BA in English from Georgia Southern University and a PhD from Emory University.
Indian-origin Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, 43, made history as the city’s first Asian-American mayor when he was elected in 2021. Although the mayor’s office is officially non-partisan, Pureval is aligned with the Democratic Party. Pureval was born to migrant parents in Ohio. His father was from Punjab. From a young age, he was politically inclined, winning his first-ever student election in class 8 under the slogan “Big, Brown and Beautiful”.
