History has been made this time in the US midterm elections. Three Pakistani Americans have been successful in the state assembly and senate.
Pakistani American Salman Bhojani has been elected to the Texas State Assembly for the first time. Salman Bhojani received 20,137 votes and his Republican challenger Jollivston 14,597 votes, giving Bhojani 58 percent and his challenger Livingston 42 percent.
Democrat Salman Bhojani is not only the first Pakistani-American member of the Texas State Assembly, but also the first South Asian and first non-white member of the House. His District 92 did not have a large population of Pakistanis or Muslims. He is a former councilor of the area and has become the mayor of Orioles city and this route became his way to reach the house.
Dr. Suleiman Lalani has also been elected for the first time in the Texas State Assembly. Dr. Lalani was the Democratic candidate from District 76 and received 28,240 votes compared to his opponent Dan Matthews’ 21,103 votes. Thus, Dr. Lalani got 57.2 percent and Mathews got 42.8 percent of the votes.
In Connecticut, Dr. Soudanoor has been elected as a state senator for the third time in a row. He was the Democratic candidate from the state’s District 3 and received 18,959 votes, while Dr. Saud’s Republican opponent, Matt Harper, received only 12,189 votes. Thus, Dr. Saud Anwar got 60.9 percent and his opponent got 39.1 percent.
In Dr. Saud Anwar’s constituency, the number of Muslims is only one to two percent, while the number of Pakistanis is very less. It is clear from this situation that the majority of those who voted for him were non-Muslims.
After being declared the winner, Dr. Saud Anwar told me in a special interview that this victory is an honor for him and a sign of the trust of the people of the constituency. The Pakistani American Senator said that the policies he advocated and participated in the legislative process in the last two terms were the expression of the people’s sentiments and this initiative was the guarantee of his success.
Dr. Saud Anwar expressed the expectation that the total number of votes of Dr. Asif Mahmood, who is contesting the Congress election from California, will further increase when 100 percent of the votes are counted. He also said that since the House elections are held every two years, it will not take long for unsuccessful candidates to emerge. According to Dr. Saud Anwar, you lose when you give up hope.
Dr. Saud Anwar said that if the people who are associated with different professions in America enter politics, the purpose is to serve the people or they want to implement such policies that according to them should be adopted at the state or national level. In such a situation, the community and various groups should encourage those coming into politics and give them funds so that they can run an effective election campaign, because it is not easy to run a vigorous election campaign in America.
A similar challenge was faced by Dr. Asif Mehmood, who was a competitor of the incumbent Congressman Yong Kim in California’s District 40.
From the votes counted so far, it is clear that Yong Kim has got 1 lakh 721 votes while Democrat Asif Mehmood has got 69,635 votes. Thus, Yong Kim has got 59% and Dr. Asif about 41% of the votes.
Dr. Asif told me that since many votes are yet to be counted, he has not given up hope, he is still hopeful of victory. The Pakistani-American pulmonologist said that he will wait for each vote to be counted because this is a contested election in which the country needs problem-solvers, not politicians.
He also made it clear that even if the results turn out to be contrary to his expectations, he will continue to fight for issues like health care reforms, changes in environmental policy, economic justice.
Sohrab Gilani was also not successful in this midterm election. He was a Republican candidate for District 27 in the Texas Assembly. By the way, the majority of the voters in his constituency are Democrats, and Gilani also lacked the financial resources to run another vigorous election campaign.
The result was that defending Democrat Ron Reynolds won by a landslide with 40,556 votes to Gilani’s 17,179. That is, Reynolds got about 70 percent and Gilani 30 percent.
Gilani accepted the defeat and congratulated his opponent and said that the source of power is the people. In an interview to me, Geelani said that even after contesting the elections for the first time, it is encouraging that so many people in the stronghold of the Democrats have shown confidence in him. They will continue their democratic struggle for a better future for the people.
In this mid-term election, two members of the state houses and a Pakistani-American senator have been elected in one state. Also, another Pakistani has also scored a hat trick.
Ali Sajjad Taj, a Pakistani-American from California, has been elected mayor of Artesia for the third time in a row.
Ali Sajjad Taj, a Pakistani-American from California, has been elected mayor of Artesia for the third time in a row. In his interview, Ali Sajjad Taj said that his continuous success is an honor for the entire community and he is hopeful that this streak will continue.
Sabina Zafar, the Pakistani-American candidate for the Council from California, also has an advantage of several thousand votes over her rivals, but the final results have not been announced yet.
The mid-term election did not bring good news for the Democrats, but it proved to be a good omen for the Pakistani American Democrats. The fact that such a large number of Pakistani Americans contested and won the election is an indication that, looking at Indian Americans, they are also the men of politics. are on the way to becoming
