Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 4 SPECIAL REPORT November 14, 2025 Indian Americans Make Significant Gains In November 4 Elections O n November 4, night, by the time the polls closed, the world came to know that another iconic metropo- lis was going to be led by an Indian American, a South Asian, a Muslim. Zohran Mamdani, the 34 year-old Democratic Socialist won a decisive victory to become mayor of a global city, the City That Never Sleeps, the Crossroads of the World. He did what Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, UK, did many years before him. Uganda-born Mamdani, the son of In- dian filmmaker Mira Nair, made history as his aspirational speech promised to uplift the poor and make the Big Apple an afford- able place to call home. Along the way, he challenged President Donald Trump and declared politics would be played differ- ently from this day on. Analysts will, over the coming weeks, ex- amine Mamdani’s support base, but Indian Americans, even though they were split on his candidacy, and other South Asians, as well as several other minorities are already claiming they played a massive role in cast- ing the votes that led to the defeat of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Repub- lican. Mamdani’s embrace of Indian Ameri- can and other South Asian communities concentrated in some boroughs, was a new phenomenon, and videos of rallies made up heavily of South Asians became a hallmark of his campaign. During his victory speech November 4 night, the crowd of volunteers and other supporters, was distinctly youthful and belonging to numerous ethnicities, evident from the interviews in the news coverage on almost every channel – Caucasians, Blacks, Jews, Indians, including Indo-Caribbeans, Chinese and other East Asians, and Latinos, spoke glow- ingly of Mamdani and what they saw as his new brand of politics. From Harlem to Hindu Temples and synagogues to churches and local grassroots events, Mamdani moved through his 12-month campaign to garner not only sup- port, but also a machinery of thousands of volunteers. The campaign not only reverberated around the na- tion, but also beyond. A Reuters report noted that Left- wing parties in Europe were taking a lesson and courage fromMamdani’s victory. Come January 1, 2026, when he will be sworn-in, Mamdani said, he will begin im- plementing his vision of a more livable NewYork City, a kinder, gentler behemoth. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS Mamdani’s victory is not the only Indian American gain during the November 4 elec- tions. In NewYork, New Jersey, Virginia, Minne- sota, and elsewhere, up and down the ballot, candidates from the community appear to have been elected or re-elected. According to the Indian American Impact Fund, a Washington-based political action committee, 19 candi- dates that it endorsed won elections around the country. Among the notables was Ghazala Hashmi, the first- ever Indian American elected to statewide office in Virginia, as Lt. Governor; Mayor Aftab Pureval of Cincin- nati of mixed Indian and Tibetan heritage who defeated Pastor Cory Bowman, the half-brother of Vice President J.D. Vance; and Joe Khan as district attorney of Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania. Plus, by November 5, as this went to press, 4 candidates had advanced to runoff elections and 5 elections were still too close to call. “After the election on Tuesday, there are now 50 South Asian state legislators nation- wide, as well as over 350 total South Asian elected officials,” Impact Fund estimated in its press release. Chintan Patel, executive director of the Indian American Impact Fund, said, “The results of the election this past Tuesday proved that whether it’s city council, mayor, or statewide office, South Asian Americans are part of the political future of this country.” IMPACT FUND LIST OF NOVEMBER 4 ELECTION WINS : • Ghazala Hashmi, Lieutenant Gover- nor, Virginia • Zohran Mamdani, Mayor NewYork City, NewYork • Aftab Pureval, Mayor Cincinnati, Ohio • Joe Khan, District Attorney Bucks County, Pennsylvania • J.J. Singh, State House HD-26, Virginia • Balvir Singh, State Assembly LD-07, New Jersey • Sterley Stanley, State Assembly LD-18, New Jersey • Ravi Bhalla, State Assembly LD-32, New Jersey • Sangeeta Doshi, City Council Cherry Hill, New Jersey • Diya Patel, City Council Parsippany, New Jersey • Dimple Ajmera, City Council At-Large Charlotte, North Carolina • Haseeb Fatmi, Board of Commission- ersWake Forest, North Carolina • Minita Sanghvi, County Supervisor Saratoga Springs, NewYork • Anant Nambiar, County SupervisorWestchester District 7, NewYork • Ajmeri Hoque, Attorney Franklin County, Ohio • Kim Singh, City Council Mason, Ohio • Nalini Krishnankutty, City Council State College Borough, Pennsylvania • Uday Palled, City Council Franklin ParkWard 1, Pennsylvania • Venu Paruvelli, City Council Franklin Park Ward 2, Pennsylvania The Sikh American Legal Defense and Edu- cation Fund also listed the following additional winners around the country • Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, elected as Mayor of Norwich, Connecticut • Satwinder Kaur, elected to City Council in Kent, Washington By Ela Dutt PHOTO:HASHMI4VASENATE.ORG PHOTO X @AFTABPUREVAL PHOTO:@BUCKSUNITEDPA.COM PHOTO:@KIMSINGHFORMASON.COM PHOTO:@BHALLAFORNJ PHOTO:@DIMPLEAJMERA.COM Ghazala Hashmi, Democratic state senator in Virginia State Senate. Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval addressing the Democratic National Convention August 22, 2024. Joe Khan Kim Singh Ravi Bhalla Dimple Ajmera PHOTO:REUTERS/KYLIE COOPER New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani holds a press conference at the Unisphere in the Queens borough of New York City, U.S., November 5, 2025.