Upendra Chivukula had already enjoyed a string of political successes in 2014 when he decided to challenge three fellow Democrats for the New Jersey House seat that became vacant when former Representative Rush D. Holt Jr. decided not to run for re-election.

Mr. Chivukula, 67, had been the deputy mayor and mayor of Franklin Township, a sprawling suburb near New Brunswick with a fast-growing Indian population. In 2001 he won a seat in the Assembly, becoming the first Indian-American elected to the State Legislature.

Still, naysayers predicted that he would never get close to 10 percent of the vote.

“But I got 22 percent,” Mr. Chivukula said. He did not win, but he shook up the political establishment in the central part of the state.

“People woke up,” he said. “They said, ‘Oh my God, We have to pay attention to the Indian-American community. If they come together, they can make a big difference.’”