Indian American group endorses Suneel Gupta for US Congress

The influential Indian American Impact Fund today endorsed Indian-origin entrepreneur Suneel Gupta, who is seeking to enter the US House of Representatives from Michigan.

"Having known Suneel for years, I know he has the passion and experience that will make him an extraordinary Member of Congress," said Raj Goyle, co-founder of Impact and a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives.

"And as the son of Ford's first female engineer, he's seen firsthand the promise of America -- and will work every day in Congress to make that promise a reality for all Americans," Goyle said.

Running for Congress from the 11th Congressional District of Michigan, Gupta is younger brother of America's top medical correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta of the CNN.

Gupta, 38, comes from an illustrious Indian-American family from Michigan. His mother Damyanti Gupta was recently featured by the Time magazine for being the first female engineer with a degree at Ford Motor Company. Gupta's parents, Subhash and Damyanti Gupta, moved from India to Novi, Michigan, to work as engineers for Ford Motor Company.

"As someone who has balanced budgets and helped create good paying jobs, Suneel has the experience to fight for better jobs, better wages, and better skills for workers in his district and across America," said Deepak Raj, co-founder of Impact and chair of the Impact Fund.

"His fresh thinking and bold leadership are exactly what this country needs," he said.

"I'm honoured to have the support of IMPACT and to fight for our shared belief that 'we all belong.' Together, we will make sure every American's voice is heard," said Gupta, whose first major hurdle is on August 7 when he has to win the Democratic primary to be on the November ballot.

The US House of Representatives currently has four Indian Americans - Dr Ami Bera from California, Ro Khanna from California, Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from the Washington State. All four are seeking re-election this November.

Sri Preston Kulkarni from Texas, Aftab Pureval from Ohio and Jitender Digankar from Illinois are already on the November ballot for Congressional elections.

In addition to Gupta, Hiral Tipirneni and Anita Malik from Arizona, Harry Arora from Connecticut are also in the race for the Congress whose primaries are still due.

Meanwhile, the Indian American Impact Fund also announced endorsing Dita Bhargava in her primary and general election bid for Connecticut State Treasurer.

It also endorsed five state legislative candidates in Amol Jethwani from Florida, Mona Das (Washington State), Dr Megan Srinivas (Iowa), Nima Kulkarni (Kentucky) and Mujtaba Mohammed from North Carolina.