Hyderabad-born Aruna Miller in fray to enter US House

​Washington: Indian-American civil engineer Aruna Miller, seeking to enter the House of Representatives, is confident of winning from Maryland which has an all-male congressional delegation. If elected, the 53-year-old Hyderabad-born hopeful would be the second Indian-American woman to enter the House after Pramila Jayapal from Washington State.

Miller, who came to the US in 1972 at the age of seven, is vying to enter the House of Representatives – the lower chamber of the US Congress – from a Maryland suburb of Washington DC. The Senate is the upper chamber. Miller is pitted against party colleague David Trone in the Democratic Party for the sixth Congressional District of Maryland primary. 

The winner of the June 26 primary election is expected to easily sail through given that it is considered to be a Democratic stronghold. “In the year of the woman, can a USD 10 million man win a House seat?” asked The Washington Post this week as the Miller vs Trone race attracted nationwide attention.

Businessman Trone has spent more of his own money on a House race than any other candidate in history. This is because Trone has spent USD 10 million of his own money in the race, as against Miller’s USD 1.36 million, which has come from generous contributions from her supporters.

Days ahead of the crucial Maryland Democratic primary, Miller exuded confidence that her surging support from the people of the sixth Congressional district would be dissuaded by the money power and help her get on the November Congressional ballot and finally enter the House next January.

With the retirement of Senator Barbara Mikulski – the longest-serving woman in the Senate history – Maryland lost its female voices in Congress in 2017. “The race is an opportunity for Democrats to elect a woman to Maryland’s all-male congressional delegation,” the Post said.

Miller, a great advocate for strong India-US ties, accompanied the then Maryland governor to India as a Maryland State delegate. “It is critical that the largest democracy and the oldest democracy have a strong bond together. I’ll continue to work on that,” Miller said.