Harry Bhandari

Harry Bhandari (ह्यारी भण्डारी; born October 1, 1977) is a Nepalese-born American politician and educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the eighth district since 2019. Bhandari is the first Nepali American elected to a state legislature in the United States.

Bhandari unsuccessfully ran in the 2024 U.S. House of Representatives election in Maryland's 2nd congressional district, placing a distant second to Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski in the Democratic primary.

Early life and education
Bhandari was born in Thapathana, Nepal, on October 1, 1977, to father Ammar Bahadur and mother Kanti Kumari. He graduated from Prithvi Narayan Campus, earned his master's in English literature from Tribhuvan University, and later attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he received his Doctor of Philosophy in 2021.

Bhandari moved to the United States in 2005 to present a paper at George Mason University, and became a U.S. citizen in 2011.

Career
Bhandari became a teacher for Baltimore County Public Schools in 2006 and later taught at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, and worked a faculty member for Baltimore City Community College. He briefly returned to Nepal following the April 2015 Nepal earthquake to assist earthquake victims.

Bhandari first entered politics in 2008 as a volunteer for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He later served as the secretary of the Young Democrats of America's minority caucus and on the board of directors for the District 6 Democratic and Civic Association Club.

Maryland House of Delegates
Bhandari unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in 2014. He won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018, during which he ran on a slate with Carl W. Jackson and incumbent state delegate Eric Bromwell and defeated incumbent Republican state delegate Joe Cluster in the general election.

Bhandari was sworn in on copies of Bhagavad Gita and Vedas on January 9, 2019, and has served as a member of the Health and Government Operations Committee during his entire tenure. He has also chaired the Maryland Legislative Asian-American and Pacific-Islander Caucus since 2023.

During the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Bhandari ran to serve as a delegate for Joe Biden at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. He again applied to run as a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Biden, but was denied by the Maryland Democratic Party.

2024 U.S. House campaign
In January 2024, ahead of U.S. Representative Dutch Ruppersberger announcing that he would not run for re-election in 2024, Bhandari filed to run for Maryland's 2nd congressional district in the 2024 election. He officially announced his campaign on January 29. During the Democratic primary, Bhandari ran on a platform including healthcare and education. He was defeated in the Democratic primary election, placing second behind Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski with 8.5 percent of the vote.

Education
During the 2023 legislative session, Bhandari introduced legislation requiring high schools to teach conflict resolution classes. The bill did not pass out of committee.

Environment
During the 2023 legislative session, Bhandari introduced legislation to encourage schools to install solar arrays in school construction projects.

Gun policy
During the 2020 legislative session, Bhandari voted against a bill requiring background checks for shotgun and rifle sales.

In June 2021, following the fatal shooting of Nepali student Sagar Ghimire in Woodlawn, Bhandari promised to introduce legislation to strengthen the state's gun control laws during the 2022 legislative session. That year, he introduced the Sagar Ghimire Act to reassess Maryland's extreme risk gun law.

During his 2024 congressional campaign, Bhandari supported federal legislation to ban assault weapon sales.

Foreign policy
During his 2024 congressional campaign, Bhandari supported a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war, comparing it to the Nepalese Civil War.

Health care
During the 2019 legislative session, Bhandari supported a bill to establish the Prescription Drug Affordability Board to negotiate the price of prescription drugs in Maryland.

During his 2024 congressional campaign, Bhandari endorsed the Medicare for All Act. He also introduced bills to create a task force on reducing emergency department wait times during that year's legislative session.

National politics
In May 2021, Bhandari called on Congress to pass the For the People Act.

Social issues
During the 2023 legislative session, Bhandari introduced legislation that would make the state recognize Dashain as a commemorative day. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore, making Maryland the first U.S. state to recognize the festival.

In 2024, Bhandari introduced a bill that would require movie theaters to have limited screenings of movies with closed captioning and subtitle options.

Personal life
Bhandari is married and has two children. He lives in Nottingham, Maryland. In September 2018, following the fatal shooting of Brindra Giri in Towson, Maryland, Bhandari helped Giri's family with funeral arrangements and with translating from Nepali to English.