Sugar Land, Texas – At 35, Himesh Gandhi became the youngest candidate in the history of Fort Bend County, Texas to win an “At Large” Sugar Land City Council seat, receiving more than 52 percent of the vote and leading his next closest opponent by 20 percent.
India America Today caught up with an excited Gandhi, who is a partner at the law firm of Hrbacek & Gandhi in the Houston, Texas metro city of Sugar Land, on the eve of his taking the oath of office at City Hall.
How does it feel to be in the public eye?
It feels great so far! We really enjoyed the process and met a lot of great people along the way and everyone has been very supportive. We had very strong support with people coming out to knock on the doors and bring voters out to vote.
What made you join this fray?
I always had an interest in community service and I grew up here in Sugar Land so it was important for me to make sure that there was excellent leadership. The interest was there and this is just another way of serving the community in this capacity.
What is your vision for your tenure?
To me, Sugar Land is a great city and I want to make sure it stays that way. I want to make sure it remains as one of the most premier cities in America to live in and I want to make sure I am a part of it moving forward.
There are going to be growth issues as it is a growing city. So I want to make sure that I add to that, making sure that the services remain at a high level, making sure it is a safe city and making sure the property values remain very high.
Who has been the most influential in your journey?
I will the whole way say my wife. She has been the absolute perfect support person and has been by my side. She has been very involved in the campaign and has helped me, guided me, navigated me and has been very supportive.
You are young – do you have your eyes set on higher targets?
I always keep my options open, but right now I am focused on the job at hand, which is to be the best city council member that I can be.
With the Indian American population crossing the 3 million mark with more than a million eligible voters, don’t you think Indian Americans deserve representation in Washington, DC?
We need good representation regardless of background, but our generation of Indian Americans are more involved in the political scene. It is encouraging and am just a small part of that.
What is your message to Indian Americans?
Stay involved, make sure your voices are heard, make sure you get out and vote in national elections, make sure you get involved in local elections. I tell everyone that you will make more impact with your voting in the state and local elections than anything else.
Many times your vote may not affect the national votes, but in your local races like school boards, city councils, sheriff, state rep, these are the races in which you can have a very strong voice and I encourage everyone to get involved in the system.
We have so many people who are registered to vote, but the actual number that vote is still low, so we need to continue to increase that.
So my message would be please get out and vote in all the elections, no matter where you are located.
Do you have plans to involve the city of Sugar Land in a more pan-American way?
From an economic stand point there are some opportunities to reach out, visiting with companies in different states so we can encourage some growth here, some relocations to the city of Sugar Land.
Having served on Sugar Land’s Economic Development Committee for a while, I have an interest in doing that. Hopefully, there would be opportunities to do that.