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Darshana Patel and Ash Kalra advance to November election for California state assembly
epublican candidate Himat Bainiwal is the other candidate who will also be on the ballot for the November election for this California assembly seat.
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Ishani Duttagupta - Thu, 04, Jun 2026
- 12:08 EDT
- 88
Darshana Patel and Ash Kalra / File Photo
Indian American Democratic Party incumbents Darshana Patel and Ash Kalra have advanced from the June 2 primary election for the California state assembly and will be on the ballot running for re-election in the 2026 mid-terms in November. All 80 California state assembly seats and the even-numbered of the 40 state senate seats were on the June 2 primary ballot.
Kalra, who represents the 25th Assembly District covering San Jose, was first elected in 2016 and became the first Indian-American serving in the California state legislature. His current term ends on December 7, 2026. Indian American Republican candidate Himat Bainiwal is the other candidate who will also be on the ballot for the November election for this California assembly seat.
Also Read: How Indian Americans fared: California New Jersey primary takeaways
As chair of the California assembly judiciary committee Kalra oversees critical state legislation regarding civil rights, family law, tort liability, and the state judicial system. Earlier, he served on the San Jose City Council for eight years. He is an attorney who spent 11 years as a deputy public defender for Santa Clara County.
Assembly member Patel is a biotech scientist and community leader who represents the 76th district of the California assembly that covers San Diego County. First elected in November 2024, she made history becoming the first Hindu woman ever elected to the California State Legislature. She sits on the assembly committees on health, education, higher education, budget, and rules.
With Assemblyman Kalra, she co-authored legislation to recognize Diwali as an official state public holiday, which passed the floor unanimously. Earlier, she had served two terms as trustee and board president for the Poway Unified School District Board of Education. She also served as the president of the San Diego County School Boards Association and as a commissioner on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs.
In the California State Assembly District 27 primary election, Democrat Japjeet Singh Uppal, a Livingstone City council member, was in the race but he received 13.9% of the votes and wasn’t among the first two candidates. Manpreet Kaur, a Democrat vice mayor of Bakersfield, who ran for the California State Senate primary from District 16, finished at third place and will not be on the November ballot. Physician, professor, and education advocate, Dr Sion Roy, who ran for California State Senate to represent District 24, too, lost the primary election.
Republicans Parminder Singh, who ran for California District 9 for the all-party primary for the US House, Jot Thiara who ran for District 1 and Vin Kruttiventi who ran for District 13 also lost out.
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