Former Democratic state legislator Aruna Miller made history in Maryland during the midterm elections, becoming the country’s first South Asian woman elected as a state lieutenant governor.
According to NBC News, Miller was born in Hyderabad, India, and moved to the United States in 1972 when she was seven. She grew up in New York and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
Miller won the gubernatorial race along with Democratic candidate Wes Moore with 60.95 percent of the votes against the GOP candidates Dan Cox and Gordana Schifanelli.
In a series of tweets, Miller thanked the voters and said that she would strive for Maryland to be a state “where people feel safe in their communities and in their skin.”
Miller served two terms as a member of Maryland’s House of Delegates, the lower chamber of the legislature, since 2011. Times of India reports that she represented District 15 until 2019.
Miller earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, according to IndiaWest Journal. She worked for 25 years in the transportation department of Montgomery county, retiring in 2015.
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