Sri Preston Kulkarni

Srinivas Rao Preston Kulkarni (born October 8, 1978) is an American diplomat and politician who was the Democratic nominee for Texas's 22nd congressional district in both 2020 and in 2018.[1] In 2018, he lost to incumbent Congressman Pete Olson.[2][3] In 2020, Kulkarni was defeated by Fort Bend County sheriff Troy Nehls in his second attempt to win election to the 22nd district by seven percent, 52% to 45%.[4][5]

Sri Preston Kulkarni
Personal details
Born
Srinivas Rao Preston Kulkarni

(1978-10-08) October 8, 1978
Ruston, Louisiana, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
RelativesVenkatesh Kulkarni (father)
EducationUniversity of Texas at Austin (BA)
Harvard University (MPA)
WebsiteCampaign website
For the Indian-American astronomer, see Shrinivas Kulkarni.

Early life and education

Born in Ruston, Louisiana, Kulkarni moved to Houston with his family in 1980.[6][7] His father, Venkatesh Kulkarni, was a novelist and a professor at Rice University.[8][9] His mother, Margaret Preston,[8] is a native of West Virginia and a descendant of Sam Houston.[10][11][12] He attended Lamar High School.[10] At age 18, Kulkarni was arrested for possessing less than a gram of cocaine; a felony charge was dismissed after two years of probation.[13] Kulkarni earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas and a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[11][14]

Career

Diplomatic career

Kulkarni served in the United States Foreign Service for fourteen years, including in Iraq, Russia, Israel, Taiwan and Jamaica.[15] He also served as a foreign policy and defense adviser to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on the Senate Armed Services Committee.[16] After the 2017 Unite the Right rally, Kulkarni resigned from the foreign service and filed to run for Congress in Texas's 22nd congressional district.[17]

2018 House campaign
Main article: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas § District 22

Kulkarni is a member of the Democratic Party.[18] 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.[19][20] 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,[21][22] including Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Mandarin.[23] If elected, Kulkarni would have become the first Asian-American ever to serve in the Texas congressional delegation.[14] Despite out-fundraising incumbent Pete Olson,[11][24] Kulkarni lost the November 6 general election with 46.5% of the vote, in the district's closest race since Olson was first elected.[25][26]

2020 House campaign
Main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas § District 22

On April 3, 2019, Kulkarni announced that he would again run for Congress in the 22nd district of Texas.[1] The Republican incumbent for that office, Pete Olson, announced he would not be running for reelection.[27] On March 3, 2020, Kulkarni won the Democratic nomination for the seat.[28]

Kulkarni lost to the Republican nominee Troy Nehls in the 2020 general election in November. His election loss is attributed to the Indian-American organizations who stridently opposed him for his links with the right-wing Hindu nationalist RSS/BJP.[29][30]

Personal life

Kulkarni speaks English, Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Telugu, Russian, and Hebrew.[10][31] Kulkarni has three younger siblings.[32]

References
  1. Scherer, Jasper (4 April 2019). "Kulkarni launches second bid for Texas' 22nd Congressional District". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  2. "Will Democrats Win the House? Ask Texas". The New York Times. 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  3. "Morning Score". Politico. 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  4. Sanchez, Carolina. Republican Troy Nehls defeats Sri Preston Kulkarni in Texas 22 race, FOX 26 Houston KRIV-TV, November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  5. Vella, Lauren (2020-11-04). "Republican Fort Bend County Sheriff wins Texas House seat". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  7. "Former US Diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni Tries To Become Texas' First Indian American Congressman". The Indian Panorama. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  8. Giovanni Albanese Jr. "Indian American Congressional Candidate Sri Kulkarni Advances to Runoff in Texas Primary, Others Falter". India West. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  9. "Meet Sri". Sri Kulkarni for Congress TX-22. October 11, 2019.
  10. "For the 22nd Congressional District: Sri Preston Kulkarni". Houston Chronicle. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  11. Dayen, David (17 October 2018). "Texas Candidate's Radical Approach to Turning Out Asian-American Non-Voters: Talking to Them (in 13 Different Languages)". The Intercept. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  12. Reporter, India-West Staff. "Texas Congressional Candidate Sri Kulkarni Acknowledges Teen Drug Arrest: Youthful Indiscretion at a Stressful Time". India West. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  13. Diaz, Kevin (20 February 2018). "Candidate for Congress admits arrest for cocaine when he was a teenager, riling Fort Bend race". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  14. "Interview with Sri Preston Kulkarni". Houston Chronicle. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  15. "Indian-American Ex-Diplomat Wins Texas Democratic Primary". New Dehli Television. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  16. "Congressional Candidate Sri Kulkarni Hopes to 'Push Back Tide of Fear'". India West. 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  17. "Unhappy with Trump policies, Indian-American quits job, runs for US Congress". Asian Age. 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  18. "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.
  19. "Sri Preston Kulkarni Wins Handily in Texas 22nd Congressional Democrat Primary Runoff". India West. 2018-05-23. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  20. "Sri Preston Kulkarni". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  21. "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.
  22. "Sri Kulkarni is Changing the Way Democrats Talk to Asian Americans". The Texas Observer. 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  23. "'We don't have representation:' This Texas Democrat is counting on the Asian vote". CNN. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  24. "In GOP strongholds, Texas Democrats running liberal campaigns have raised eye-popping sums". The Texas Tribune. 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  25. "Rep. Pete Olson, Sri Kulkarni win Texas 22nd Congressional District primaries". The Washington Post. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  26. "Texas's 22nd Congressional District". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  27. Zanona, Melanie. "GOP Rep. Pete Olson of Texas won't seek reelection in 2020". POLITICO.
  28. "Sri Preston Kulkarni". Ballotpedia.
  29. "Biden keeps out Democrats with RSS links". Tribuneindia News Service. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  30. Kumar, Rashmee; Hussain, Murtaza (29 October 2020). "How Sri Preston Kulkarni's Run for Congress Got Tangled Up in Indian Politics". The Intercept. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  31. "Democrat Kulkarni leans into Fort Bend's diversity in longshot bid for Congress". Houston Chronicle. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  32. Feldman, Margaret. "Life and death - Graduation was important to Silas Kulkarni but not as important as his dad." Houston Chronicle. Sunday, June 7, 1998. Lifestyle p. 1. Newsbank Record Number: 3060644. Available from the Houston Public Library.
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