Suhas Subramanyam, the Newest Samosa Caucus Member

If you’d told a young Suhas Subramanyam, now 38, that he’d end up in Congress, he probably wouldn’t have believed you. “Politics was the last thing on my mind,” Subramanyam, the representative-elect for Virginia’s 10th district, told The Juggernaut. But now he sits in his transition office — near where his mother first landed in the U.S. at Dulles International Airport in 1979, fresh from Bangalore to join his father, who was doing his medical residency at Howard University. It’s a full-circle moment.

With his win, Subramanyam joins the “Samosa Caucus,” a group of Indian Americans in the House of Representatives that is now six members strong. He’ll serve alongside Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), the group’s most tenured; Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who chairs the Progressive Caucus; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a self-described “progressive capitalist” from Silicon Valley; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), who coined “Samosa Caucus”; and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), a former entrepreneur. Subramanyam takes the “samosa” moniker in good humor. “I’m hopeful that we get more representation,” he said. “We have a great Pakistani community, Bangladeshi community, and Nepali one, too. Everyone loves samosas though, so I’m okay with it.”