India, Nov. 4 -- Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayoral race may be the most high-profile and social media-savvy candidate in the election being held in the US on November 4 - one publication even called him "The Internet's Mayor" already - but the list of Indian-origin candidates across American states is long.

One who shares many identities with Mamdani is fellow Democrat and Virginia Lieutenant Governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi, who is Muslim too. the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate.

Hashmi, 61, was four years old when she emigrated with her mother and older brother from India to the US. Her father was in Georgia already as he was completing his PhD in international relations and beginn...