Indian-American Republican Neel Kashkari, a former US Treasury official under the Bush administration, has qualified to challenge incumbent Democrat Jerry Brown in the California gubernatorial race in November.
California being a Democratic fortress, it will be a monumental challenge for the 40-year-old Kashkari, though. However, now that he has emerged as the Republican choice, Kashkari has pledged to go all-out to upset Governor Brown, who is otherwise being viewed as clearly headed for a fourth term. “Jerry Brown is not going to be able to ignore me,” Kashkari said.
In Tuesday’s open, non-partisan primary, Kashkari, who has also worked with Goldman Sachs, emerged second after Brown, trouncing Tea Party favourite Tim Donnelly and four other fellow-Republicans to qualify for the November race.In the other closely-watched California primary, Indian-American Ro Khanna has, as expected, taken the second spot to challenge incumbent fellow-Democrat Mike Honda for the US Congress from the heart of Silicon Valley.