Sam Arora

Arora's parents are Punjabis who immigrated from New Delhi, India to the United States in the 1970s, settling in Montgomery County, Maryland. They moved to New York City for several years, where Arora was born, and they returned to Maryland in 1982. He attended the Barrie School, where he was student body president and graduated salutatorian.[2] He earned a bachelor's degree cum laude from Columbia University, where he was a founder of the Columbia Political Union,[3] and a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was president of the student bar association.[4]

Arora currently is Vice President for Business Development of the Arora Group, a health care services firm that primarily serves the Department of Defense and U.S. Coast Guard.

Arora began working in 1999 as an intern and briefly as a staff assistant to U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) before moving to New York to attend Columbia University, where he began interning on the exploratory campaign for then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and later in her Senate office. He served as an aide to Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe during the 2003-2004 election cycle before returning to work for Sen. Clinton's campaign committee for Clinton's 2006 re-election campaign and part of her 2008 presidential primary campaign. Arora also served as a legal clerk to Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and in the criminal appellate division of the U.S. Attorney's Office.[5]

Arora ran for a delegate seat in the three-member 19th district, where he grew up. The district includes the Montgomery County communities of Silver Spring, Wheaton, Leisure World, Northwood, Four Corners, Aspen Hill, Kemp Mill, Olney, Derwood, Laytonsville and unincorporated areas of Rockville and Gaithersburg. Incumbents Roger Manno and Henry B. Heller had decided against seeking reelection, creating two open seats in the 19th.

Six Democrats filed for delegate and, in the Democratic primary election held on September 14, Arora won a place on the Democratic ticket for the general election along with incumbent Benjamin F. Kramer and Bonnie Cullison.[15]

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Ben Kramer	7,603	26.3%	Won
Bonnie Cullison	6,083	21.1%	Won
Sam Arora	5,767	20.0%	Won
Jay Hutchins	4,559	15.8%	Lost
Hoan Dang	3,277	11.3%	Lost
Vivian Scretchen	1,600	5.5%	Lost

In the general election, the three Democratic nominees faced two Republican candidates, and the Democratic team won in a landslide with Arora placing second.[16]

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Ben Kramer, Democrat	23,526	25.8%	Won
Sam Arora, Democrat	22,242	24.4%	Won
Bonnie Cullison, Democrat	21,795	23.9%	Won
Linn Rivera, Republican	11,929	13.1%	Lost
Tom Masser, Republican	11,362	12.5%	Lost

In 2006, Arora was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" on Capitol Hill by The Hill newspaper, which wrote that he "bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Ben Stiller."[17]

The 2010 election of Arora and Aruna Miller along with the re-election of Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve made Maryland the first state in the United States to elect more than one Indian American to a state legislature.[18]

• Campaign website