CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Nov. 9, 2009 – 3:54 p.m.
Fired By Trump, Now a Contestant for Congress
By Greg Giroux, CQ-Roll Call
He was fired by Donald Trump. Now Surya Yalamanchili wants to be hired next year by voters in Ohio.
Yalamanchili, a marketing executive who might be remembered by fans of the NBC reality TV program “The Apprentice,” is running as a political independent for the 2nd District House seat of Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt , according to a statement of candidacy and a statement of organization he recently filed with the Federal Election Commission.
In an interview on Monday, Yalamanchili emphasized the need for more responsibility and transparency in government. “The overriding issue for this campaign is to get special interests out of the way and get individual people’s voices heard in government again,” he said.
Yalamanchili, who is not accepting PAC contributions, bemoaned the large amounts of campaign funds that the financial services industry has bestowed on both the Democratic and Republican parties, which he said have engaged in partisan bickering and ignored the nation’s long-term challenges.
Among his ideas are establishing a commission, patterned after the system that recommends military base closures, that would make “specific recommendations to either cut programs, get them in line and also for long-term restructuring of certain entitlement programs.”
Yalamanchili said that the economic stimulus law President Obama signed into law in February included a “lot of pork” but was a “painful pill that we probably had to take.” He said the health care bill the House passed last weekend was “better than what we have now,” but didn’t include enough consumer choice or “tort reform” to curb lawsuit abuse. He prefers a health bill promoted by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Sen. Robert F. Bennett of Utah.
His campaign Web site, www.votechili.com, refers to a campaign slogan, “Vote Chili,” that he also used during a run for freshman class president a decade ago at Rutgers University. It’s a play on his last name as well as a reference to the food that is popular around Cincinnati.
Yalamanchili served as the director of marketing for LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking site, and before that as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. He also has a background in technology and plans to blog every day during the campaign.
He appeared on the sixth season of The Apprentice, which aired in early 2007, and was “fired” in the eighth week, after his team lost a competition. Yalamanchili drew similarities between reality television and politics, which he said are both infused with “gotcha” moments, distortion and one-upmanship.
“Having been on a reality TV show and having been behind the scenes of it, it’s very representative of the current state of Democratic and Republican party politics,” he said.
Though every House member affiliates with either the Democratic or Republican parties, Yalamanchili said that the political environment in 2010 will be conducive to independent candidates because voters are yearning for change.
“I think they’re starting to realize that it’s not going to be found in the Democratic and Republican parties,” Yalamanchili said. “I think 2010 is really going to be the start of an independent movement.”
Ohio’s 2nd District, which takes in part of Cincinnati and some suburbs and rural territory east of the city, has a generic Republican lean, as evidenced by district’s backing of John McCain over Barack Obama by 59 percent to 40 percent in the 2008 presidential balloting. But Schmidt has had a shaky hold on the district during her 51-month tenure, and she’s being challenged in the GOP primary next spring by Mike Kilburn, a longtime county commissioner.
The Democratic field includes state Rep. Todd Book, who is favored by party leaders, and David Krikorian, who won 18 percent of the vote as an independent candidate in the 2008 election. Schmidt won 45 percent of the vote and Democratic physician Victoria Wulsin won 37 percent.
CQ Politics currently rates the 2nd District race Leans Republican.
To follow all the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map.
Comments
It was not Todd Book who received 18% of the vote in 2008 - it was David Krikorian. Krikorian is running in 2010 for the Democratic nomination, but in '08 was an independent candidate in the general election. Book, however, is also a candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination, and he is likely to easily defeat Krikorian, who has no roots in the Democratic Party and who ran in '08 as a conservative alternative to Schmidt.
Thanks Bob for your comment -- Krikorian's name was inadvertently dropped in this version but has since been restored. Best, Greg Giroux, CQPolitics.com
Surya should do his homework- the commission to study and act on the deficit has already been proposed. HR 1557, a bi-partisan bill from Rep. Frank Wolf, and Rep. Jim Cooper, has been pending all year. House leadership is not interested in moving it ahead. Wolf is the same Rep. who proposed the Iraq Study Commission, which also turned out to be a very good idea.
Hearing this morning in Senate Budget Committee on the Cooper/Wolf bill, HR 1557...... Maybe the candidate should tune in!!
This guy thinks the HealthCare Bill is better than what we have now. He's obviously a liberal parading as an independent, but rightfully fearful of showing his true colors. Could be a winning strategy.
That's my district, but this guy is crazy if he thinks he's going to win. We don't necessarily go crazy for Jean Schmidt, but at least she opposes the Health Care takeover in full and the porkulus bill in full. How someone can say that the special interests are ruining the government (which I agree with) and then says that the porkulus bill was painful but necessary and the Health Care bill is better than what we have now is beyond me. The things he supports are the antithesis of his claims, but I guess if it worked for Obama, maybe he does have a shot.
Surya 4 Congress He's pretty epic. I mean really which guy has the guts to lose the apprentice and run for congress, you really need to care for your people to do something like that.
He's not the first Apprentice to run - Raj Bhakta, who lost in Season 2, went on to lose to Alison Schwartz (PA-13) in the '06 cycle. IIRC, one of the high points of his campaign was riding an elephant across the Rio Grande to show our lax border security.
A shout-out to Brian from another conservative in the OH-2 Congressional District. Jean Schmidt will continue to win narrow victories unless she is challenged in the GOP primary by a candidate better suited to carry the full conservative message. She has prevailed against Democrat challengers with and without serious third party candidates, and has won GOP primaries against both RINOs and fiscal conservatives supported by an out-of-touch local GOP leadership. The key to her continued victories has been the social conservative side, and her impeccable credentials there will give her the edge unless they are matched by a well-rounded conservative candidate who can attract all conservative voters - social, fiscal, and traditional. This district will be won or lost in the GOP primary, probably by Jean or possibly by a more conservative candidate. Most "Republican leaning" and many "Democrat leaning" districts will go the same way, with new conservative candidates facing tougher races in the GOP primaries than in the general election in 2010. Democrats are on track to lose it all in 2010 in a worse debacle than their 1994 performance defending Hillary-Care.
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