New York sources reported that Hiral Tipirneni lost by only 6% of the votes in Tuesday’s by-election from a constituency that was considered so heavily Republican that the Democratic Party did not even bother to run a candidate there in 2016 considering it futile. Meanwhile the by-election in the constituency, which covers the suburbs of the state’s main city Phoenix, was caused by the resignation of Trent Franks, the sex scandal-tainted long-time Republican member of the House of Representatives.
Accordingly Trump polled 21% more votes in the constituency against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Moreover Tipirneni won, she would have joined the four Indian-Americans in the House of Representative Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna. Kamala Harris is a senator of part Indian-American heritage.
Further despite Tipirneni’s defeat, her polling 47% of the votes in a
constituency that had previously been written off as unwinnable by the
Democrats was seen as a boost for the party working hard to capture Congress in
the November elections.
