Indian-American legislator raises $400,000 for Congress bid

Indian-American legislator raises $400,000 for Congress bidWashington, Oct 15 - Raj Goyle, an Indian American member of the Kansas House of representatives, has set a record by raising $403,083.68 during his first three months as a candidate for Congress.

The amount is the highest amount of money ever raised in the first quarter by a challenger in the history of Kansas' 4th Congressional District, according to Examiner. com.

Goyle had also set a record for raising the most money ever for a state house race when he ran for office the first time in 2006.

He set a record by winning that election and serving the 87th district as the first Indian American member of the Kansas legislature. He may have set a record for the youngest freshman legislator to take a major piece of legislation onto the floor and have it passed.

Now he wants to set the record of being the first Indian American to serve Kansas' 4th Congressional District, only the third ever to serve in the US House of Representatives.

"I'm proud to have the support of so many people," Goyle said. Goyle got contributions from over 800 individual donors. Half of the contributions to his campaign were $100 or less.

Goyle was elected to the Kansas State House of Representatives in 2006, defeating a three-term incumbent. Goyle won re-election in 2008 with 67 percent of the vote.

He is seeking the seat now held by Todd Tiahrt, who is not running for re-election in order to run for the Senate.

Among the Republican candidates are businessmen Mike Pompeo and Wink Hartman as well as state senators Dick Kelsey and Jean Schodorf.

Kansas' 4th Congressional District has been in Republican hands since 1994 when Tiahrt unseated Democratic Rep. Dan Glickman.

The Wichita-based district went 58 percent for Sen. John McCain last year and 64 percent for President George Bush in 2004. It includes all or parts of 11 southeast Kansas counties.