US midterm elections

US midterm elections: Indian-Americans lose amid Obama rout

WASHINGTON: The lone Indian-American in the US Congress appeared to have lost his seat in a Democratic rout that saw the Republican Party take control of the Senate, expand their hold on the House of Representatives, and win a raft of governorships.

The GOP victory puts US President Obama on a grim and arduous track in his final two years in the White House, but it also sets the stage for the 2016 presidential election, offering a road map to Hillary Clinton and other prospective candidates with regards to hot button issues such a healthcare, immigration, and US role in world affairs.





The Democratic defeat was widely expected, but the extent of the rout was a setback. Republicans, who held 45 seats in the 100-member Senate, needed to snatch six from the 33 that went to the polls (while retaining their 45 count), and they comfortably took seven, giving them a complete stranglehold in Congress because they already control the House of Representatives. In the 435-member House, all of which goes to the polls every two years, the GOP expanded its 234-199 (two vacancies) majority to 242-174, with several results yet to come in at the time of writing.

That included one involving Ami Bera, who is only the third Indian-American Congressman in US history. It isn't looking good for the California Democrat. His Republican rival Doug Ose was ahead by 3000 votes, winning 51.37 per cent votes to Bera's 48.36 per cent, with all votes counted. The result has not been formally declared, but it looks likely that Bera, who won by a similarly narrow margin in 2012, will end up being a one-term Congressman — for now.

Although local factors, including opposition from a section of Sikhs in the Sacramento area, may have played a role in the setback for Bera, the fact that he is coming a-cropper in a Democratic state in a system where more than 90 per cent of incumbents are re-elected points to a widespread repudiation of President Obama. Yet to reach the back-end of his presidency, Obama is widely seen as having failed to galvanize the party base.

The indifference of youth, women, and minorities to the midterm polls - constituencies that helped Obama win two terms - was also cited among reasons for the rout, along with the fact that the Senate elections took place in Republican-leaning states.




There were only crumbs of comfort in the debris of defeat, including for Indian-Americans on both sides of the aisle. California's Democratic governor Jerry Brown won a record fourth term, but his Republican rival, Indian-American Neel Kashkari, a Bush administration official little known in California, polled a decent 3 million votes, although he was defeated by nearly 18 percentage points (41-59). Also on the losing side was Democrat Ro Khanna, who lost a torrid battle in the heart of Silicon Valley to incumbent Mike Honda by a 48-52 (percentage points) margin.

Pennsylvania war veteran Manan Trivedi's third shot at Congress on a Democratic ticket ended in a 44-56 (percentage points) defeat at the hands of his Republican rival Ryan Costello.



A couple of Indian-American women on both sides of the aisle ran out winners. South Carolina's Republican governor Nikki Haley nee Nimrata Randhawa comfortably won a second term beating her Democratic rival Vincent Shaheen 56-41. And Democrat Kamala Harris won a second term as California's Attorney General taking in 55 per cent of votes cast.