Search Results for: ricky gill

When a Sikh runs: a recap of the Ricky Gill campaign

It was just over a week ago that we learned of the results of the elections in the United States, including that to represent California’s 9th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. In that race, a Sikh American named Ricky Gill challenged incumbent Representative Jerry McNerney to represent the district in Congress. Rep. McNerney would win this election by receiving almost 55% of the vote. As a Sikh American, I followed the Ricky Gill campaign on this blog. His […]

When a Sikh runs: the curious case of Ricky Gill

The case of Republican candidate for Congress Ricky Gill, running against incumbent Jerry McNerney to represent California’s 9th Congressional District, makes for an interesting study about a Sikh American seeking public office in this country. His campaign, and his reluctance to publicly acknowledge his Sikh background, has been a recurring topic on this blog. On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to observe Ricky Gill in person. I had attended the Centennial celebration of the Stockton Gurdwara — which is […]

Republican Ricky Gill says the “S” word

After months of silence, in an article printed in the Stockton Record, Republican candidate for Congress (for California’s 9th District) Ricky Gill finally openly acknowledges his Sikh background: » Religion: Gill, who attended St. Anne’s Catholic and Mokelumne River schools before Tokay, is a practicing Sikh. “It is the faith of my fathers,” he said. With less than a month to go before the election, the timing of this rare public statement by him is interesting. One wonders as to […]

GOP Candidate Ricky Gill passes on representing Sikhs again

In his address to the Republican National Convention today, Ricky Gill, who we can only presume is a Sikh American running for Congress in California’s 9th Congressional District, passed on the unique opportunity to acknowledge our visible minority — whose recent turmoil in Oak Creek, Wisconsin occurred not a month ago — on the national stage. Certainly, Gill’s primary concern should be to represent his district. No one can fault him for focusing on the issues of his geographical constituency. […]

CA Candidate for Congress Ricky Gill to speak at GOP Convention

To follow-up on last week’s post “Wherefore art thou, Ricky Gill?” that discussed Republican candidate (for California’s 9th Congressional District) Ricky Gill’s apparent reluctance to publicly acknowledge his religious background, we now learn that Gill will be speaking at the Republican National Convention later this week: “It will be an honor to speak on behalf of our Valley and Delta communities on a national stage,” Gill said. “While we face some of the greatest challenges, our communities are among the […]

Wherefore art thou, Ricky Gill?

I have written several times about Ranjit “Ricky” Gill, the Republican Party candidate for Congress in California’s 9th Congressional District. Gill is challenging Democratic Party incumbent Jerry McNerney for the seat. Gill, 25, is the son of Sikh physicians in the Stockton, California area. Much of the donations to his campaign have come from the Sikh community, as well as interests in the healthcare and agricultural industries.  The northern California constituency for which Gill is contesting is an area that […]

Ricky Gill, from the Nikki Haley school of politics

Ricky Gill – as mentioned on this blog recently – is a Republican candidate seeking to represent California’s 9th District, who seems to be taking a page out of Nikki Haley’s school of campaiging (via @sepiamutiny): [Ricky] Gill is the son of two doctors of Punjabi descent, Param and Jasbir Gill, and grew up immersed in Sikh traditions. On the campaign trail, he does not dwell on his heritage, preferring instead to call himself “a nontraditional candidate” and emphasizing his […]

The Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2012: Honorable mentions

For each of five days, I looked at what I considered as the Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2012: The Oak Creek Massacre Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana Victories in employment equality The inspiring grace of Balpreet Kaur Sikh Americans celebrate a century All of these stories were significant in relation to Sikh Americans during the year. However, there were several events during 2012 that arguably could be considered among the top five stories (and, while the “top five” list […]

Taking a tally of the Sikh American candidates of 2012

As discussed previously, the 2012 election cycle involved several Sikh candidates at federal, state and local levels. Interestingly, to my knowledge, the Sikh candidates that were running were all in the state of California. After last night’s election results, below is a tally of how each Sikh American candidate fared after the voting closed last night. Representative Jerry McNerney versus Ricky Gill California’s 9th Congressional District Ricky Gill’s campaign has been a regular topic on this blog, particularly around his […]