Indian-American Democratic employment lawyer R K Sandill, who entered the Harris County judicial race, has created history by becoming the first from the community to be elected a district judge in Texas.Sandill won the 127th judicial district court here on the Tuesday election, receiving a total of 554,482 votes and defeated incumbent Republican Judge Sharlyn Wood.However, another Indian-American candidate Ashish Mahendru, also contested on the Democratic ticket for judicial race, lost to Sharon McCally in the 334th judicial district race. McCally received 563,517 votes and Mahendru 532,135 votes.The civil district court normally handles civil matters including personal injury, medical malpractice, and commercial disputes, State Constitutional issues, temporary restraining orders, eminent domain cases, tax cases, and collection. Sandill, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston Law Center, is an associate attorney with Steele Sturm, PLLC in Houston, and had also worked in the Clinton administration as a member of the President's and the First Lady's Advance Teams.Despite the Democratic sweep in the Harris County judicial races, another Indian-born Ashish Mahendru, 37, fell little short, unlike Sandill and could not unseat the incumbent. Mahendru attended University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1993 and later attended the University of Texas School of Law.He has authored articles on the subject of guardians ad litem and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. He lives with his wife, Sameera Kapasi Mahendru, an Assistant City Attorney and their two sons.
