Tulsi Gabbard, the only Hindu member of the US Congress, was today re-elected from a Hawaii seat as she trounced her nearest rival by a wide margin.
Gabbard, a 33-year-old rising star in the Democratic Party, was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2012. She was re-elected to the Congress from Hawaii's 2nd District, defeating Republican Kawika Crowley.
Gabbard hardly had to campaign this election after running unopposed in the August 9 primary.Instead, she and her political action committee have spent thousands of dollars helping fellow Democrats in Hawaii and on the mainland, the Huffington Post reported.
Today's victory marked the second time Gabbard has defeated Crowley, a 63-year-old professional handyman and advertising consultant.
In 2012, Gabbard blew past former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann in the Democratic primary and then beat Crowley in the general, winning 77 per cent of the vote. She is the first Hindu ever elected to Congress.
Her victory comes after earlier this week Gabbard was called for active duty by the National Guard for which she is a reservist to help with a volcanic eruption in Hawaii.
Gabbard serves as a Military Police Captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard.
A strong advocate of India-US relationship, she has been endorsed by Hindu American Political Action Committee.
She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York in September and presented him a copy of the holy Gita on which she had taken her Congressional oath in January 2013.
In a debacle for Barack Obama and his Democratic Party, Republicans today gained control of the US Senate and increased its majority in the House of Representatives in a sweeping midterm election win that could complicate the President's final two years in office.