A day after a Kentucky GOP lawmaker filed legislation that would ban immigrant citizens from holding state and local elected offices, a naturalized citizen filed to run for a Louisville seat held by a Republican.
Suhas Kulkarni, father of state Democratic Rep. Nima Kulkarni — who would also be disqualified under the bill — said the legislation was the last straw that pushed him into running for the state House as a Democrat.
Kulkarni said he decided to run for the seat the previous evening when he read about the two bills filed by Rep. Shane Baker of Somerset that seek to ban both naturalized citizens and those with dual citizenship from holding state and local offices in Kentucky.
“That's the straw that broke the camel's back,” Kulkarni said after filing for office on the Friday deadline for candidates. “And I said, ‘Something's got to be done about this.’”
Nima Kulkarni immigrated to the U.S. from India with her family at 6 years old. Suhas Kulkarni said he started out sweeping the floor in a neighborhood grocery store, but eventually started his own grocery, IT and export businesses that employed hundreds of people.
“Our family has had the actual experience of the American dream,” Suhas Kulkarni said. “At the end of the day, if somebody says to me that after all of this, you're not eligible to have some of the rights that citizens have, I don't agree with it. So I said, this is not the time for me to sit on the sidelines.”
Kulkarni filed to run for House District 48 against GOP incumbent Rep. Ken Fleming.
Read the rest at LPM News.
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