Indian-American appointed to New Jersey Democratic campaign organization for outreach to community

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Amit Jani, a Democratic Party activist in New Jersey, says he will make every effort to bring more Indian-Americans into the campaign of gubernatorial and other races for public office in his newly- appointed position as outreach to Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities.

Jani, co-founder and president of the New Jersey Leadership Program, a non-profit that exposes South Asian youth to government and politics,  has been appointed to the state party’s campaign team, Victory 2017, to reach out to Indian-Americans and other Asians.

Victory 2017, the coordinated campaign between gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy for Governor and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, announced the hiring of two veteran state political operatives last week, who it said, “will undertake crucial roles between now and Election Day,” Nov. 8.

Jani will undertake electoral efforts among New Jersey’s growing Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.

“I am excited to start in this role,” Jani told Desi Talk. “It shows the AAPI community is a priority.”

“Indian-Americans are a growing and increasingly more engaged community, and I will try to make sure that the concerns and issues of this community are addressed and that we get as many of them involved (in the election process),” Jani added.

Victory 2017 Director Iris M. Delgado, in a press release, described

Jani as a “trusted” and “tested” political operative who brings “a wealth of first-hand organizing experience that cannot be matched,”

For the next 13 weeks, Jani will play a “critical” role “in building the diverse coalition that Democrats will need to elect champions up and down the ballot,” Delgado added.

Jani currently serves as a Hudson County Director for the South Asian American Caucus within the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.

In 2016, he worked in the advocacy organization South Asians for Hillary, on outreach nationally to the South Asian community. He is currently a national co-chair of the successor organization South Asians for America, which advocates for issues important to the South Asian- Americans and helps  campaigns across the country.

Jani has also been a district representative for Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., in Long Branch, and was a legislative aide to Congresswoman Judy Chu, D-California, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in Washington, D.C. He has also assisted on campaigns in New Jersey’s 14th Legislative District, for Senator Linda Greenstein and Assemblymen Wayne DeAngelo and Daniel Benson.