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Election races coming up for Indian Americans
Three Indian American candidates — in Virginia, Florida and California — head into key run-off elections this month, reflecting a growing community presence in local US politics.
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Ishani Duttagupta - Fri, 05, Dec 2025
- 13:41 EST
- 4
Mira Tanna, Rishi Kumar, Rachna Sizemore Heizer / miratanna.com/rishi.aeologic.in/electrachna.com
Even as community organiser Mamta Singh made history in Jersey City’s run-off election earlier this week; as the first Indian American elected as Council At-Large; there are other Indian Americans whose elections are coming up soon.
Rachna Sizemore Heizer had won the Democratic nomination for representative on board of supervisors in Braddock District, Fairfax County, Virginia, in October and is now heading into a special election on Dec. 9 following Democrat James Walkinshaw’s election to the US Congress earlier this year.
Also Read: Mamta Singh makes history as first Indian American elected to Jersey City Council
Heizer is the chair of Fairfax County School Board and she faces Republican Ken Balbuena, a community leader and independent candidate and Air Force veteran Carey Chet Campbell for the vacant spot on the board. Heizer, who had won an outright majority in the Democratic primary, assumed office on the Fairfax County Public School Board as the Braddock District member in January 2024 with her term ending in January 2028. She is the first Indian American person and first Asian American woman elected to a Fairfax county-wide office.
Heizer, who was a college professor, is daughter of Indian immigrants. She has been a disability justice advocate, and after serving her first school board term as an at-large representative, she was elected in 2023 to a four-year term representing the Braddock District where she has lived since 2001. On the school board, she served as chair of the full board in 2022-23 and vice chair in 2021-22. Heizer is a knowledgeable and passionate advocate for special education and children who are neurodiverse.
She has earned both her bachelor of arts in political economy and her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley and as a lawyer her practice included employment law, contract law, and complex mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to her service on the board, Heizer had spent more than a decade as a community leader serving on several local boards, presenting on neurodiversity, and supporting underserved children as a disability advocate.
Mira Tanna, who is running for City Council of Orlando District 3, in Florida, faces a run-off election on Dec. 9. A faith leader and civil rights advocate, Tanna has highlighted building trust in local government and making City Hall work for all District 3 residents, in her campaign. Since 2018, she has served as the City of Orlando’s grants manager, coordinating $275 million in grants activity.
Orlando City Council District 3 headed to runoff election after no candidate reached more than 50 percent of votes in the election last month. The candidates were Samuel Chambers, Roger Chapin, Chris Durant, Kimberly Kiss, and Tanna. The election is to replace Commissioner Robert Stuart, who is retiring after 20 years. Chapin held a narrow lead, earning 34 percent of the vote, compared to Tanna, who earned 33.8 percent. The two have moved to the runoff.
If elected, Tanna’s priorities will be to make the community more walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly, while reducing traffic congestion and spurring economic development. She is the daughter of immigrants from India and the Netherlands and her father, Vasantkumar Tanna, was born in Porbandar in Gujarat and her grandfather was a successful businessman in Mumbai. She was raised in Iowa, and graduated from Washington University in Saint Louis. She and her husband, a UCF professor, have lived in Orlando’s District 3 since 2011.
Later, on Dec.30, Indian American Silicon Valley executive and former Saratoga city council member Rishi Kumar will head into a run-off election for Santa Clara County Assessor in California. Kumar, who has served multiple terms as the executive board and delegate to the California Democratic Party, faces Los Altos vice mayor Neysa Fligor. Neither of the two candidates surpassed the 50 percent vote threshold needed to win the contest outright on Nov. 4. Kumar, who ran for US Congress in 2022, is leading a statewide ballot initiative to the California attorney general for property tax exemption for residents of the state aged 60 and above.
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