MIAMI (Diya TV) — Democrat Pia Dandiya defeated Republican Casey Askar in Florida’s newly redrawn 22nd Congressional District, winning 153,047 votes to Askar’s 141,886, according to unofficial state results. Her 51.9% victory flipped a district that President Donald Trump carried by more than 10 percentage points in 2024.

The result also made Dandiya the second Indian American woman elected to the House, after Rep. Pramila Jayapal. Jayapal congratulated her and described her as the third South Asian American woman in the chamber, counting Afghan American Rep. Aisha Wahab, who won a special election in August.

Florida’s new congressional map joined communities across the southern peninsula, from Marco Island through parts of Collier, Hendry, Palm Beach and Broward counties. Dandiya carried Broward and Palm Beach, where she grew up; Askar won Collier and Hendry. The new lines created an open seat and gave Republicans a voter-registration advantage: about 185,000 registered Republicans, compared with 146,000 Democrats and 150,000 voters with other affiliations, Florida Politics reported.

The contest drew millions of dollars in campaign and outside spending. Federal Election Commission records show that, through Oct. 14, Dandiya’s campaign reported $4.62 million in receipts. Askar reported $7.42 million, including $6.69 million in loans he made to his own campaign. Separate groups spent about $10 million opposing Dandiya, mostly through the No Going Back PAC, according to FEC independent-expenditure data compiled by SignalData. Those groups operated independently of her campaign.

Dandiya built her campaign around affordability, health care, education and economic opportunity. She also called for safeguards around data-center development, as residents raised questions about the facilities’ electricity and water use. In her victory speech, she pledged to fight for a future in which children can attend safe schools, find affordable medical care and pursue opportunities regardless of their ZIP code.

The win brings Dandiya back to the South Florida community where she grew up. Her parents immigrated from India; her mother, Bharati, founded a Montessori school in Jupiter, and her father, Dr. Rohit Dandiya, worked as a physician.

Dandiya studied government at Harvard and earned a master’s degree in education from Boston University. She began her career as a teacher and later founded Democracy Prep Endurance High School in Harlem at age 28. Her campaign says 86% of the school’s students came from low-income families and every graduate gained college admission.

She later served as a White House Fellow, working with the Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Education, then led public-sector initiatives at Apple. Dandiya has not previously held elected office. She will represent the district when the new Congress convenes in January.