Two Indian-American candidates — Sandeep Dixit and Ritesh Tandon — are heading into the final days of their respective US House races with only a few thousand dollars each in cash on hand, a sharp contrast to the tens of millions flowing into higher-profile Indian-American contests, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The November 3 election is now days away.

Sandeep Dixit in Ohio's 13th District

Sandeep Dixit, an independent candidate in Ohio's 13th congressional district, reported just $2,044.25 in cash at the close of the October 1–14 reporting period, according to his pre-general FEC filing. Dixit raised $10,476 during those two weeks, with nearly all of it — $10,000 — coming from a single contribution by Rajanee Shendure, a financial planner based in Solon, Ohio. An additional $250 was contributed by Dhairyashil Rao.

Dixit spent $8,431.75 in the same period, directing funds toward yard signs, flyers, $1,000 each on Google and Meta advertisements, and $2,000 with Vibe.co. The pre-general report, due on October 22, was filed on October 24, according to FEC electronic filing records. Over the full election cycle through September 30, Dixit has raised $81,896.

He faces a daunting financial gap. Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes, the incumbent, raised $123,861.24 in the pre-general period alone and held $941,757.91 in cash as of October 14. Republican Carey Coleman raised $2,806.10 and had $62,793.16 on hand. Dixit, running without party backing in a district centred on Akron, is thus the least-funded candidate in a three-way race.

Ritesh Tandon's Uphill Battle in California

In California's 17th congressional district, Republican Ritesh Tandon — a technology entrepreneur — is mounting a challenge against fellow Indian-American Representative Ro Khanna, who holds one of the largest campaign war chests in the entire House of Representatives.

Tandon's pre-general report, received by the FEC on October 15, shows he raised $4,551 from October 1 to 14 and had $5,227.22 in cash. His total cycle fundraising stands at $57,011.48.

By contrast, Khanna's campaign, Ro for Congress, raised $84,314.40 in the same two-week period, spent $442,389.37, and sat on $16,578,402.31 in cash as of October 14. That means Khanna holds more than 3,000 times as much cash as his challenger — a disparity that makes Tandon's campaign one of the most resource-constrained incumbency challenges in the country. Tandon has run against Khanna before, making this a repeat contest.

The Wider Context: Money Flooding Other Indian-American Races

The stark funding gap stands in contrast to the financial firepower deployed elsewhere in Indian-American contests this cycle. In Arizona, Indian-American Democratic candidate Amish Shah, and in Florida, Pia Dandiya, have together attracted outside group spending of more than $23 million, underscoring how unevenly campaign resources are distributed across the community's congressional candidates.

Notably, both Dixit and Tandon are competing in districts where structural disadvantages — incumbency, party machinery, and fundraising infrastructure — compound the financial gap. For independent and lesser-known candidates, grassroots-level funding often struggles to translate into the ad spend, ground operations, and media presence that competitive races demand.

What Happens Next

All figures are based on the campaigns' own FEC filings and may be subject to amendment. With the election on November 3, both Dixit and Tandon have little room to close the financial distance before polls open. Their outcomes will be closely watched as a measure of how far civic engagement and name recognition alone can carry a candidacy against heavily funded opponents.