SACRAMENTO, CA(TIP): Indian American Democrats Ami Bera and Ro Khanna have won their primaries in their bid to hold on to their congressional seats in California.

Bera, the longest serving Indian American in the US House of Representatives, polled nearly 52 percent of the total votes cast in the California District 7 on June 5^th. He will face Republican Andrew Grant, who finished second with 33 percent votes.

Ami Bera was first elected in 2012, when he defeated incumbent Dan Lungren by two percentage points. Since then both his reelection runs were very competitive.

Freshman congressman Ro Khanna finished first in District 17, winning 59 percent of the votes. Republican Ron Cohen, who received 25 percent of votes, will challenge the Indian American in the November election.

Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, entered Congress by beating incumbent and fellow Democrat Mike Honda in 2016.

In the statewide elections, Indian American Vivek Viswanathan, who ran for treasurer, finished third.

The former Hillary Clinton aide, who ran an innovative campaign by running on his sneakers from one end of the state to the other, polled nearly half a million votes. Fellow Asian American Fiona Ma received more than 1.6 million votes (43 percent) — nearly double the votes polled by his nearest rival, Republican Greg Conlon.

In California, there is only one primary, and candidates from all parties compete, with the top two finishers advancing to the general election.

Last month, two Indian American Democrats won primaries in Texas and Arkansas.

Sri Preston Kulkarni won the runoff for Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, while school teacher Chintan Desai won Arkansas’ first congressional district Democratic primary unopposed.