Of the about 500 Congressional and gubernatorial races this Tuesday, there is one of unique and special relevance to India. The 8th Congressional District in Illinois (IL-08) is witnessing a race in which two people of Indian origin — both first-generation immigrants — are competing against each other for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, the incumbent, a Harvard-educated lawyer and erstwhile businessman, goes up against Jitendra Diganvker, a businessman and Uber driver, running on the Republican ticket.
The district is strongly Democratic — Hillary Clinton won it by a margin of 22% in 2016 and Democrats have easily won the State of Illinois in the last seven elections. The district is also diverse, with 5% of its voters being Black, 13% Asians and 26% identifying themselves as of Hispanic ethnicity, as per the 2010 Census.
Centrist positions
Not surprisingly, Mr. Diganvker’s positions on immigration and gun control are more centrist than your average Republican stance — he favours mental health assessments and criminal background checks and wants a ban on assault weapons with some exceptions. He also wants to increase the cap on skill-based immigration visas such as H-1B and L-1 visas.
Jitendra Diganvker
The majority of H-1B visas go to Indian software professionals. The Donald Trump administration, hawkish on immigration, is tightening the screws on the programme by passing regulation making conditions more onerous. As part of this, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to end temporary work authorisation for spouses of H-1B holders.
“I am against that policy,” Mr. Diganvker told The Hindu , adding that he would like to lead Congressional efforts on the India-U.S. relationship front if elected to office. He also wants the post-degree temporary work permit for students to be increased from one to three years. “Their families spend a lot of money sending their kids and they don’t have enough time to find right job, right opportunity, so one year OPT [Optional Practical Training] is not good enough,” he says.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, who, if he wins on Tuesday, will embark on his second term as a House Representative has the advantage of a track record: 13 Bills he sponsored or co-sponsored have become law as per the website of the Congress.
Along with Colorado Republican Mike Coffman, he introduced the ‘Immigration Innovation Act of 2018’ which seeks to allow H-1B workers greater flexibility in changing jobs and protect the right of their spouses to work. The Bill also helps reduce the green-card backlog. It also seeks to prevent companies from hiring H-1B workers to replace Americans.
Career trajectories
Mr. Diganvker was born in India and came to the United States in 1995, becoming a naturalised U.S. citizen 15 years ago. He began his political career as a young man in India, where he lead the Students Union at his university in Surat, inspired, he says, by a conversation he had with his father as a child, on the meaning of sarkaar (government).
A personal tragedy — an electric fire that killed his two daughters and his father-in-law in 1999 — which left him and his wife facing enormous medical bills and his small business and Uber driving experiences drove him to compete in this race, Mr. Diganvker told The Hindu . He accuses his opponent of being a “career politician”, a characterisation that Mr. Krishnamoorthi doesn’t think is fair.
“Absolutely not [a fair characterisation]. I have only been in elected office for two years…before that I was a small businessman, ran a small company for about ten years…” Mr. Krishnamoorthi told The Hindu . He headed a small business that worked in national security and renewable energy fields, as per his official website.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, who was born in New Delhi, immigrated to the U.S. as a three-year-old child. He was educated in the public (government) education system and went to Harvard Law School. He worked in various public sector roles, including as Illinois Deputy Treasurer.
Ties with India
Both candidates want to see the India-U.S. partnership strengthened and expressed concern over the fallout for India with regard to U.S. sanctions on Iran. Mr. Krishnamoorthi would also like to see the U.S., India, Japan and other democracies create a project along the lines of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
While the district is expected to be won by Mr. Krishnamoorthi, his opponent isn’t taking these numbers too seriously. “I am definitely winning. The internal polls are showing very strong,” said Mr. Diganvker. “…Polls were saying Trump is not winning and Hillary Clinton will be the next President… see what happened there,” he said, speaking of the 2016 presidential election results.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi isn’t taking his chances either based on polls and indices. “I take every race very, very seriously and I have to make sure I get my message out... making sure everybody can participate in getting on the up escalator of the economy, regardless of where they come from, the colour of their skin, how they pray or how many letters that are in their name… there are 18 in mine,” he said.
Tuesday will reveal whether a Democrat or Republican wins the district. Either way, there will be at least a bit of India in the House.
