Vegasdesi.com previously reported on six South Asian American candidates who are running for an office in an upcoming election.  The first contributions and expenses report for the year 2020 have been filed with the Nevada Secretary of State.  Unfortunately, all the candidates have one thing in common – a lack of financial support from our prosperous community to finance their respective campaigns.

Here’s the analysis of fundraising activities by all the candidates.

Fayyaz Raja – Former Vice-Chairman of the Clark County Democratic Party, Fayyaz Raja is running for an open seat Clark County Commission District C.  Raja has previously served as Chair of the Asian American Pacific Islanders Democratic Caucus and is currently is President of the South Asian Political Network Alliance, a non-partisan PAC.  Raja’s financial filings show total contributions of $19,306, including a loan of $7,250 from Mrs. Raja, along with an in-kind contribution of $7,500.  Most of the funds, $18,820, were used for campaign signs, labor, advertisements and refreshments.

Deepen Kothari – Deepen Kothari is running for an open seat Clark County Commission District D.  Not much information is available on the candidate Kothari. Kothari did not raise and spend any money during the report filing period.

Radhika Pochampally – Kunnel.  Three years resident Democrat Radhika Kunnel is running for the Nevada State Assembly District 2.  The open AD2 seat has attracted 10 candidates – 5 Republicans, 4 Democrats and 1 Non-Partisan.  The District which covers most of the Summerlin neighborhoods has over 40,950 active registered voters with 15,100 Republicans,  14,400 Democrats and the rest of them are Non-Partisans and smaller parties.  Kunnel raised over $5,000 plus $6,800 in in-kind donations from friends and family.  During the same period, Kunnel spent $2,700, mostly on printing and advertising.

Swadeep Nigam – Former Treasurer of the Clark County Republican Party, Swadeep Nigam, is running for an open non-partisan seat of Regent, State University District 3.  There are 4 candidates in the race which covers over 140,000 active registered voters, majority of them Democrats.  Nigam has been active in the local social and political scene for over 30 years and had many leadership political positions in the past.   Currently, he is serving on the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine.  For the past 10 years, Nigam has funded a scholarship for the graduating Clark County high school seniors through Nevada Policy Research Institute, a local think tank. For the period ending March 30^th, 2020, Nigam did not raise or spend any money on his campaign.

Sayed Zaidi, a candidate for the State Assembly, District 42 and Anand Nair, a candidate for the Trustee, Clark County School District A, did not file the mandatory financial report for the period ending March 30^th with the office of the Nevada Secretary of State.  The due date to file the candidates’ Contributions and Expenses report was April 15^th, 2020. 

Due to the current lock-down and social distancing, this year the primaries will be held via a mail-in ballot to all the active registered voters. The signed mail ballot envelope must be postmarked by June 9, 2020, and must be received by the elections department by 5:00 p.m. on June 16, 2020.

Previous news on all the candidates – their background and political activism…