Vivek Ramaswamy loses Ohio race as Pia Dandiya wins Florida seat
Ramaswamy conceded to Democrat Amy Acton after a $100m campaign, while former Harlem principal Pia Dandiya won a Florida House seat drawn for Republicans.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian-American businessman who ran for US president in 2024, has lost the race for governor of Ohio to Democrat Amy Acton. On the same night, Pia Dandiya, another Indian-American, won a seat in the US House of Representatives from Florida.
Both names are among the most searched in India today, along with the wider Democratic wave in Tuesday’s US midterm elections.
Ramaswamy’s defeat
The Associated Press called the race for Acton on Tuesday evening, US time. With 86 percent of votes counted she had 50.8 percent to Ramaswamy’s 45.9 percent. Acton, a doctor who led Ohio’s health department early in the Covid pandemic, becomes the first Democrat elected governor of Ohio in about 20 years.
The result is striking because of money. By mid-October, Ramaswamy and groups backing him had run about $101 million in ads against Acton, $36 million of it his own. Acton’s side spent roughly a third of that. Near the end, a Ramaswamy campaign ad attacking her Covid-era record drew criticism from both parties.
In his concession speech, Ramaswamy said: “It is a tough and challenging night for Republicans across the country and it is a tough night for us here in Ohio.” He said he had left Acton a message of congratulations and hoped she could “bring Ohio together”.
Pia Dandiya’s win
In Florida’s 22nd district, Democrat Pia Dandiya beat Republican Casey Askar by about 52 to 48 percent, according to AP’s count. The district had been redrawn in a way expected to help Republicans, and it voted for Trump in 2024 by 55 to 44.
Dandiya is a former teacher and high school principal in Harlem, New York, and a former White House Fellow who also worked at Apple. She campaigned on affordability, schools and health care. US media describe her as the first South Asian American to represent Florida in Congress, and Indian media as the second Indian-American woman elected to the House.
Why India is watching
Indian-Americans are a small community in the US, but one of the most politically visible. Ramaswamy’s loss and Dandiya’s win show the same thing from two sides: this election was decided by the national mood, prices, tariffs and the war with Iran, far more than by the background of the candidates.
Dandiya takes her seat when the new Congress meets in January. Ramaswamy has not said what he will do next.
