Sarika Bansal, an Indian American candidate who ran in the municipal elections in Cary, North Carolina on October 10, has advanced to a runoff election due to falling short of the 50% vote threshold, allowing her opponent to request a runoff. Despite being the top-voted candidate with 48.67% of the votes, her challenger, Rachel Jordan, filed for a November runoff, scheduled for November 7.
Jordan’s campaign manager expressed that the runoff will provide constituents in District D, encompassing west Cary and parts of Chatham County, with another opportunity to choose their preferred candidate. The runoff will incur a total cost of $125,522, covering early and Election Day voting in four District D precincts.
Bansal’s campaign faced a disturbing incident in August 2023 when one of her campaign signs was vandalized with a racist attack. Her image was defaced and replaced with a photo of a Black person. The defaced sign was discovered in the Highcroft village neighborhood in District D, where she is running as an Independent candidate for a council seat. Bansal, who moved to the U.S. from India in 1999 for her undergraduate studies and settled in Cary with her family in 2015, described the incident as shocking and unsettling.
This event, coupled with the upcoming runoff election, has drawn attention to the challenges and dynamics of her political journey in North Carolina.
