Thank you! I want to express my immense gratitude to you for trusting this run. I couldn’t have done this without you 🙏 🇺🇸🙏. I have offered my hearty congratulations to Rep. Eshoo on her 15th term and offered my help to address our district's challenges.
We have already far exceeded the vote count of any prior challenger in the last 28 years of this district; 37% vote share. I feel humbled at the strong support. Thank you! If you put up a lawn sign, please pull it from the spot and place it in your garage to be reused later.
We hold our head high about what we have accomplished together. We are hearing it loud and clear to not stop. These sentiments mean a lot to me personally. This is the reason why we are announcing our next run for our congressional district 18. We have filed our candidacy for the 2022 election; we intend to bridge the shortfall of 50,000 votes over the next 2 years. The learning over the last 20 months has been incredible and we are excited about the possibilities. Our district needs dedicated, intelligent leadership and we are ready to take charge.
We set out to build a new future in the last 20 months.. We conducted an unprecedented engagement with our neighbors, wrote many unique and bold policies to address the tough challenges of Silicon Valley and America. We brought forward bold and innovative ideas with a getting-things-done attitude. It is clear that our district residents want it better based on the support our movement has generated.
I am ready and will always keep fighting the good fight. Together, we can.
I hope I can count on your continued support. It would mean a lot to me.
In gratitude
Rishi Kumar
Rishi is a dedicated American patriot ready to represent the Silicon Valley in Congress. Rishi is in no way affiliated with the BJP party of Prime Minister Modi of India, and any insinuation that his allegiance lies with anywhere other than the United States is discriminatory and xenophobic.
Rishi has faced discrimination throughout his life. When he bought his first home in Michigan, a neighbor told him “we don’t want such people around here.” When he won an Executive Board and Delegate position with the Democratic Party, establishment insiders refused to accept his victory, deeming him an “outsider” that “will just fade away.” Running for the city council and Congress has been no different - people tell him “You should go back to your country.” And yet, Rishi’s resolve to fight for the under-represented - his fellow “outsiders” - has never been stronger. These experiences power Rishi’s commitment to public service—and are the foundation of his steadfast belief in equality for all.
These rumors about Rishi are an orchestrated attack on his patriotism. To paint Rishi, who will be the first Indian-American Congressman from California’s 18th District as anything but a dedicated American public servant is bigotry. With an undefeated track record in his political career (8-0), Rishi knows he wouldn’t have been consistently reelected if his constituents believed anything different.
The baseless accusations on Rishi are a sad reminder of the zealotry of the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI), an organization with a long history of making absurd and false allegations about elected leaders. They have accused myriads of politicians — from President Barack Obama to current Indian American congressional members and congressional candidates — of holding anti-Muslim agendas. OFMI has not even spared Mahatma Gandhi and wants to tarnish his image of a non-violent and peaceful leader. They want Mahatma Gandhi, who was an inspiration for Dr. Martin Luther King, to be remembered as a hateful and prejudiced leader. Now, they’ve decided to deliberately target Rishi and his historic campaign for Congress.
Make no mistake: Rishi has denounced discrimination his entire life. That’s why supporting ALL Americans—no matter the God they pray to or the person they love—has been at the forefront of his philosophy on public service. To suggest that Rishi would endorse ANY policy or political party that discriminates against Muslims is offensive and untrue, and his track record built on equality and inclusion speaks for itself.
OFMI has levied two specific accusations against Rishi, both of which are fundamentally misguided:
When Rishi visits India to visit family, politics is the last thing on his mind. Other than his aforementioned encounter with Prime Minister Modi, he has NEVER met with any BJP official in his entire life. In fact, Rishi immigrated to the United States before the BJP even became a prominent political party in India in 1991.
