Aruna Miller, a Democrat and former delegate to the Maryland House, scripted history by becoming the first Indian-American Lieutenant Governor of Maryland.

Aruna Miller has created history by becoming the first Indian-American politician to be sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, a state bordering the US capital. Aruna, a democrat and a former delegate to the Maryland House, became the 10^th Lieutenant Governor of the state. The Lieutenant Governor is the state's second-highest official, following the Governor, and takes on the role when the Governor is not in the state or incapacitated.

Aruna was born in Andhra Pradesh and immigrated to the United States when she was seven. She spent most of her life trying to fit in as an immigrant growing up in a new country, as a female engineer in a male-dominated field, or as an Indian American legislator in a legislature. It took her a long time to realize that it was never about needing to fit into a space created by others. Moreover, it was about having the courage to be her authentic self in every space.

Miller tweeted that she is humbled and honored to be the lieutenant governor. In the Senate chamber of the State House in Annapolis, she took the oath of office alongside her family, the newly elected Governor Wes Moore, and state legislators. She then addressed the audience outside the historic building. Moore became Maryland’s 63rd governor and the state’s first and the country’s only current black chief executive.

The Washington Post reported that Miller’s swearing-in will dismantle the barrier that no other immigrant or woman of color has breached before her. She was part of the historic Democratic ticket sailing to victory in November and gave Maryland its first black governor and attorney general, and its first female comptroller.

Aruna’s father, who migrated after the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 cleared racial and national-origin quotas to allow a new immigrant generation to enter the United States, returned to India in 1972 to bring Aruna, her mother, and two siblings to the United States. She added that she came to this country as a stranger in a strange land with a strange family. She learned English while attending public school and graduated from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. She also expressed gratitude for the Pell Grants she received after her father lost his job because of his illness.