Indian-American Candidates Sandeep Dixit, Ritesh Tandon Run On Shoestring Budgets In House Races

(MENAFN- IANS) Washington, Oct 25 (IANS) While Indian-American candidates in marquee House races are drawing tens of millions of dollars, two lesser-known Indian-American contenders are heading into the final stretch with only a few thousand dollars each, as per their Federal Election Commission filings.

Sandeep Dixit, an independent running in Ohio's 13th congressional district, reported $2,044.25 in cash at the end of the October 1-14 period, his pre-general report shows.

Dixit raised $10,476 in those two weeks, almost all of it from a single $10,000 contribution from Rajanee Shendure, a financial planner in Solon, Ohio. Another $250 came from Dhairyashil Rao

He spent $8,431.75 in the period, on yard signs and flyers, $1,000 each on Google and Meta ads and $2,000 with Vibe, the report shows.

The report was due on October 22. FEC electronic filing records show it was filed early on October 24.

Dixit has raised $81,896 over the cycle through September 30, FEC totals show.

He faces Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes, who raised $123,861.24 in the pre-general period and had $941,757.91 in cash on October 14, and Republican Carey Coleman, who raised $2,806.10 and had $62,793.16.

In California's 17th district, Republican Ritesh Tandon is challenging fellow Indian-American Ro Khanna, who has one of the largest war chests in the House.

Tandon's pre-general report, received by the FEC on October 15, shows he raised $4,551 from October 1 to 14 and had $5,227.22 in cash. He has raised $57,011.48 over the cycle.

Khanna's campaign, Ro for Congress, raised $84,314.40 in the same period, spent $442,389.37 and had $16,578,402.31 in cash on October 14, his pre-general report shows.

That means Khanna has more than 3,000 times as much cash on hand as his challenger.

The gap contrasts with the money pouring into races involving Indian-American Democrats Amish Shah in Arizona and Pia Dandiya in Florida, where outside groups have reported spending more than $23 million.

Tandon, a technology entrepreneur, has run against Khanna before. Dixit is running without party backing in a district centred on Akron.

The figures are the campaigns' own filings and may be amended. The election is on November 3.

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