Michigan
20. John James
As a U.S. Army veteran, James served multiple tours of duty in the Iraq War before leaving the military to join his family’s supply chain business. He would run as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate elections in Michigan in 2018 and 2020, but was unsuccessful on both occasions, losing to Democratic incumbents Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, respectively.
After declaring his candidacy for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, he would go on to defeat Democratic nominee Carl Marlinga by the thinnest of margins, securing 48.80% of the vote, to Marlinga’s 48.31%.
21. Shri Thanedar
This Indian-American entrepreneur, author and multimillionaire came to the U.S. in 1979 to pursue a PhD at the University of Akron, which he earned in 1982. He would also earn his U.S. citizenship just six years later in 1988. After officially announcing his candidacy for governor of Michigan in the 2018 and self funding his campaign to the tune of $10.3 million, but would ultimately lose in the primaries.
He would eventually win the race for State Representative in Michigan’s 3rd district in 2020 and go on to run for Michigan’s 13th congressional district in the midterms and beat Republican nominee Martell Bivings making him the first Indian American elected to Congress from Michigan.
