Pramila Jayapal to face Nirav Sheth in Washington's rare Indian-American contest

Washington,UPDATED: Aug 5, 2026 12:46 IST

Two Indian-Americans will contest Washington state's seventh congressional district in the November election, with five-term Democratic member Pramila Jayapal set to face Republican Nirav Sheth.

Jayapal, the sitting member, won 83.3 per cent of the vote in Tuesday's all-party primary in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, while Sheth finished a distant second with 10.8 per cent. The Associated Press called the race with 53 per cent of the votes being counted.

Washington state has open primaries, where the top two finishers move to the general election regardless of party. Jayapal, 60, is the first South Asian American woman elected to the House, having won her first term in 2016. Born in Chennai on September 21, 1965, she moved to the United States at 16 to study at Georgetown University.

Backed by Bernie Sanders, Jayapal rose through the Democratic Party to become a leading progressive voice on Capitol Hill. According to her congressional biography, she is Chair Emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents nearly 50 per cent of the entire Democratic caucus.

Sheth, 40, was born and raised in Ahmedabad and moved to the United States in 2008 as a student of computer and electrical engineering, according to his campaign website. He later joined the US Marines as an aircraft mechanic in 2011, then served briefly in the police department in Lakewood, Washington state, before leaving because of injuries suffered during military service.

He entered politics in 2023 and is contesting elections for the first time after break-ins at several of his businesses in Washington state. “The reason for me running for the office is all this stupidity we’re dealing with because this administration is a complete failure,” Sheth told the Jason Rantz podcast in 2023.

Sheth faces an uphill task in the predominantly Democratic district covering Seattle and nearby areas, where Jayapal has been winning since 2016, setting up a contest between two Indian-Americans in November.

With PTI Inputs

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