As the results of the Texas Senate primary come in, a big moment for the Indian American community is Pooja Sethi’s victory in Texas House District 47. Sisi has made waves recently for vehemently resisting racist comments about her race, instead viewing it as an honor, saying her heritage is not an insult but her story. Commenting on a hateful post about a poll poster mocking her because of her last name, she wrote: “My heritage is not an insult. It is my story. Like millions of Americans, it is rooted in hard work, faith in this country, and service to our communities. If this bothers you, you are bigger than me.”Asian Democrats in Texas condemned the attack and said it was not a political debate. “Comments like ‘No India is my Texas’ are not political criticism or policy disagreement. They are rooted in fear and exclusion, and they send the message that some Texans do not belong here. We unequivocally reject that message,” the caucus said. Pooja Sethi’s victory over 20-year U.S. Army veteran Joseph Kopser was decisive as Sethi received 76% of the vote to Kopser’s 24%. Seti will now be the party’s candidate in the November election. She will run against Republican Jennifer Mushtaler. If she wins the election, she will become the state representative for District 47 in the Texas House of Representatives. Sethi served as chief of staff to Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin for four years. Before that, she worked as an immigration attorney at Catholic Charities, where she represented families through the immigration system and fought for dignity and due process, her resume said. “I’m running for Texas House District 47 because I’m a mother and I can’t continue to raise my children in a state that doesn’t care about them. Every meeting, we’re told we’re fighting for our kids. But every meeting, I see brutality win. At the last meeting, I stood next to a father who lost a child in the Uvalde shooting. He showed the chairman of the Department of Homeland Security his child’s school notebook, which had a bullet hole in it. This is what he left them. We are demanding a hearing on the Raise the Age bill, which would raise the minimum age to purchase certain high-performance firearms from 18 to 21 in an effort to reduce gun violence and keep our communities safe,” Sethi said, the reasoning behind her campaign.
