Sri Preston Kulkarni

Sri Preston Kulkarni
Personal details
Born (1978-10-08) October 8, 1978
Political party Democratic
Mother Margaret Preston Kulkarni
Father Venkatesh Kulkarni
Education University of Texas, Austin (BA)
Harvard University (MPA)
Website Campaign Website

Sri Preston Kulkarni is a former diplomat[1] and candidate for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in Texas's 22nd congressional district.[2] He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Kulkarni grew up in the Houston area[3], and attended both the University of Texas[4] and the Harvard Kennedy School. He served in the foreign service for fourteen years, including in Iraq, Russia, Israel, Taiwan and Jamaica.[5] He also served as a foreign policy and defense adviser to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on the Senate Armed Services Committee.[6] After President Donald Trump made comments widely seen as supportive of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, Kulkarni resigned from the foreign service and filed to run for Congress in Texas's 22nd congressional district.[7]

Kulkarni placed first in the March 6 Democratic primary with 31.8% of the vote, and won the subsequent May 22 runoff with 61.12% of the votes cast.[8][9] Because Texas's 22nd congressional district is one of the most diverse in Texas, his campaign took the unorthodox approach of reaching out to infrequent voters in their own neighborhoods and languages.[10][11] Kulkarni himself speaks English, Hindi, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese fluently.[12] His unorthodox approach to reaching every segment of the minority population within his district has gained recognition--his campaign phone banks in languages like Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil, and Mandarin. If elected, Kulkarni would become the first Asian-American ever to serve in the Texas congressional delegation.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Indian-American Preston Kulkarni who quit his job as diplomat to run for US Congress". New India Express. 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  2. ↑ "Will Democrats Win the House? Ask Texas". New York Times. 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  3. ↑ "Former US Diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni Tries To Become Texas' First Indian American Congressman". The Indian Panorama. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  4. 1 2 "Interview with Sri Preston Kulkarni". Houston Chronicle. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  5. ↑ "Indian-American Ex-Diplomat Wins Texas Democratic Primary". New Dehli Television. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  6. ↑ "Congressional Candidate Sri Kulkarni Hopes to 'Push Back Tide of Fear'". India West. 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  7. ↑ "Unhappy with Trump policies, Indian-American quits job, runs for US Congress". Asian Age. 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  8. ↑ "Rep. Pete Olson, Sri Kulkarni win Texas 22nd Congressional District primaries". Washington Post. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  9. ↑ "Sri Preston Kulkarni Wins Handily in Texas 22nd Congressional Democrat Primary Runoff". India West. 2018-05-23. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  10. ↑ "How Democrats in Texas are trying to win over one of America's most ethnically diverse counties". The Texas Tribune. 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  11. ↑ "Sri Kulkarni is Changing the Way Democrats Talk to Asian Americans". The Texas Observer. 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  12. ↑ "How Asian-American Voters Could Decide The Olson-Kulkarni Contest". Houston Public Media. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
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