Indian American loses Congressional primary race in Pennsylvania

Incumbent Congresswoman Summer Lee was projected to be the winner of the primary race for the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. She received 59% of the votes as against Patel's 41%.

Washington: Indian American Bhavini Patel lost the Democratic primary Congressional race from Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, but not before giving a tough fight to the incumbent.

Incumbent Congresswoman Summer Lee was projected to be the winner of the primary race for the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. She received 59 per cent of the votes as against Patel's 41 per cent.

As expected, both President Joe Biden and his Republican challenger Donald Trump won their respective presidential primaries. Biden got 94 per cent of the votes from the Democrats.

Trump received 80 per cent and Indian American Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race in March, surprisingly received nearly 20 per cent of the votes from the Republicans in the Pennsylvania presidential primary.

Patel (30) is a Biden supporter while Lee, the first-time lawmaker, has been an open critic of the president and has supported Palestine in its war against Israel.

"Her (Patel's) loss Tuesday shows that a progressive candidate like Ms Lee can still carry districts like Pittsburgh, despite Ms Patel and her supporters claiming that the incumbent's progressive views and alignment with the 'Squad' in Congress did not accurately reflect the politics of the area," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said after the election results were out.

The Squad is an informal group of the most progressive members of Congress, most commonly associated with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayana Pressley.

Originally from Gujarat in India, Patel's mother came to the United States as an immigrant. "She came to this country with very little, which I think is a story that resonates with many people in the Indian diaspora here in this country. When she came here, she raised my brother and I as a single parent. We moved around quite a bit, to various different cities, and she worked various odd jobs, washing dishes in the restaurant industry, working in the motel industry," Patel said in an earlier interview.