Suhas Subramanyam, the first Indian-American to win an election in the Virginia General Assembly, has secured the Democratic primary for a Congressional seat, defeating 11 other candidates, including fellow Indian-American Krystle Kaul.
Subramanyam is the first South Asian to win the elections. He hails from the south Indian tech city of Bengaluru and was to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 2019 and to the Virginia State Senate in 2023. He is running for the US House of Representatives from the 10th Congressional District of Virginia, which has a sizable Indian-American population.
Its current occupant, Democrat Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, had announced last year that she would not be running for the seat. Subramanyam, 37, was born in Houston to Indian-American parents who migrated to the US from Bengaluru. In 2015, he was appointed by then-President Barack Obama to serve as a White House technology policy advisor.
— Suhas Subramanyam (@SuhasforVA) June 19, 2024
Wexton had endorsed Subramanyam, who now faces Mike Clancy from the Republican Party.
Subramanyam said he was running for Congress with ensure a better future for America.
“The Congress is here to solve problems and to be proactive about the future. We should not be legislating not just for the next two years, but for the next 20 or 30 years. I want my kids—I’ve got two girls who are two and three—to live in a better country and in a better world than what we found,” he said.
Suhas said he wanted everyone to have a chance at the American dream.
“My parents are from Bengaluru and Chennai and spent some time in Secunderabad as well. They came here because they wanted to start a new life here. They wanted to be physicians, and you can make a great life in America as a physician,” he said.
He added that his parents didn’t have much when they came here, but they became successful through education and hard work.
“I want to make sure that everyone has a chance at that American dream. Everyone has a chance of creating a great business if that’s what they want to do, being a part of a great business and that they can empower themselves economically.
“But it really started with the fact that our community education is the great equaliser, and you can lift yourself up from any situation if you do well and study hard and work hard. And I want to make sure that stays the same way,” he said.
