Four Americans of Nepali origin are seeking seats in state legislatures in Maryland, New Hampshire and New York in the United States midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3. All four are running as Democrats.
The four candidates are Harry Bhandari for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 8, Satish Chapagain for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 7A, Bishwa Bahadur Shah for the New Hampshire House of Representatives in Hillsborough County District 41, and Sarahana Shrestha for the New York State Assembly in District 103. Bhandari and Shrestha are incumbents seeking third terms, while Chapagain and Shaha re first-time candidates.
These are state-level races. State legislators deal with state laws, budgets, schools, healthcare, housing and transport. The four are not competing against each other, as they stand in different constituencies.
Harry Bhandari, Maryland District 8
Bhandari was born on October 1, 1977, in Thapathana in what is now Parbat district. He moved to the United States in 2005 and became a citizen in 2011. He holds a master’s degree in English literature from Tribhuvan University and a PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, completed in 2021. He worked as a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools and as an adjunct instructor at Baltimore City Community College, and earlier as a principal and English teacher in Kathmandu public schools.
He first won election to the House of Delegates in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022, becoming the first person of Nepali origin to serve in a US state legislature. He sits on the Economic Matters Committee, chairs its Land Use and Zoning Subcommittee, and chaired the Maryland Legislative Asian-American Pacific-Islander Caucus from 2023 to 2025. He says he helped secure legislative recognition for an annual Dashain Day in Maryland.
District 8 elects three delegates. Bhandari received 6,374 votes, or 25.52 percent, in the Democratic primary and advanced with Nick Allen and Kim L. Ross. The Republican candidates are Brian A. Campbell, Glen Geelhaar and Steven J. Riemer.
Satish Chapagain, Maryland District 7A
Chapagain began his career in journalism in Nepal and was once central vice-president of the Nepal Press Union. According to his campaign biography, he moved to Baltimore County in 2008 and worked at Subway, drove for Uber and worked in hotels. He joined Baltimore County Public Schools as an interpreter in 2012, started a small business in 2021 and was elected to the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee in 2022. He has also advised the Non-Resident Nepali Association’s International Coordination Council.
His campaign priorities include public safety, schools, affordable healthcare, roads and public transport, small businesses, protection of the Chesapeake Bay and services for older residents. In a Maryland Matters questionnaire, he expressed caution about approving data centres without plans to address their effects on electricity, water and nearby communities.
District 7A elects two delegates. Chapagain won his primary with 2,718 votes, or 26.13 percent, behind Democratic rival Ly Xinzhen Brown, who received 2,945 votes. Both advanced. They face Republican incumbents Ryan Nawrocki and Kathy Szeliga, and voters will choose two of the four.
Bishwa Bahadur Shah, New Hampshire District 41
Shah served 15 years in the Nepali Army before moving to the United States in 2002. He first settled in New York City and later moved to Manchester, New Hampshire. He has worked as a taxi driver, insurance agent and real-estate agent, ran a Subway franchise with his wife for about ten years until the Covid-19 pandemic affected the business, and provided home care for two people with paraplegia after moving to New Hampshire in 2020. He also ran a Nepali-language community newspaper, Nepali Khabar, in New York from 2005 to 2009, and became a citizen in 2013.
His platform focuses on reducing living costs, healthcare and childcare access, support for seniors, school funding, tax relief, and affordable housing and down-payment help for young adults.
The New Hampshire House has 400 members serving two-year terms. District 41 covers Manchester wards 2, 4, 5 and 7 and elects three representatives. Shah won about 23 percent in the Democratic primary, finishing behind Lily Foss and Tom Stewart, and all three advanced. The Republican candidates are Ryan Hebert, Jason Hodgdon and Joseph Skinner. Voters can choose up to three candidates.
Sarahana Shrestha, New York Assembly District 103
Shrestha was born and raised in Kathmandu, moved to the United States in 2001 as a student and became a citizen in 2019. A climate organiser in the Hudson Valley before entering politics, she campaigned against fossil-fuel infrastructure and for greater public control over energy. She was elected to the Assembly in 2022, becoming the first legislator of Nepali origin in the New York State Legislature, and was re-elected in 2024.
Her priorities include affordable housing, publicly owned renewable energy, utility accountability, healthcare access, public education, workers’ rights, childcare and immigrant rights. Bills she has sponsored include measures on a Hudson Valley Power Authority, solar energy for schools and utility-service disconnections.
District 103 covers parts of Ulster and Dutchess counties, including Kingston, New Paltz, Rhinebeck, Saugerties and Woodstock. She appears on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, allowed by New York’s fusion voting system, and votes on both count towards a single total. Her Republican opponent, Santos Lopez, also appears on the Conservative Party line.
A possible fifth candidate
Ricky Gurung is also identified as a Democratic candidate for the New Hampshire House in Merrimack County District 10, as being of Nepali origin.
Why it matters
The candidates differ in background and priorities, and shared ancestry or party does not mean identical platforms. Their candidacies reflect a growing Nepali-American presence in elected office, building on Bhandari’s 2018 win and Shrestha’s 2022 victory.
