CIVICS SCORECARD

Home › Candidates › U.S. House — FL District 22 › Pia Dandiya

DEM Survey: Pending

Pia Dandiya

U.S. House — FL District 22
Open seat — no incumbent
D Nominee
★★★★☆
128 / 165 points
Integrity & Legal Record
Professional & Business Transparency
Policy & Platform Consistency
Community Engagement & Character
Campaign Transparency
Issue-Based Positions

Challenger (39; born and raised in Jupiter, FL to parents who emigrated from India; lives in Palm Beach Gardens with her husband and son; began her career as a teacher and became a high-performing school principal in Harlem; White House Fellow at the Department of Education; later led public-sector innovation at Apple; originally challenged Rep. Brian Mast in FL-21, then shifted to the newly-created, competitive open-seat FL-22 after the 5/4/2026 congressional redistricting; named to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program; would be the first South Asian American to represent Florida in Congress if elected; running in the D primary against Kaysia Earley for the open FL-22 seat)

Last updated: 2026-08-21

Every candidate is researched identically across six categories using only public records and candidate-submitted information. No candidate is endorsed. Read the full methodology.

Integrity & Legal Record 25 / 25

Criminal History

`[NOT FOUND — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" arrested OR convicted OR indicted — 2026-08-14]`. No adverse findings.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-14 — no adverse matches

Civil Court History

`[NOT FOUND — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" lawsuit OR litigation — 2026-08-14]`. No adverse civil litigation found.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-14 — no adverse matches

Ethics Violations

No ethics complaints found.

Sources:
  • Google/news search: "Pia Dandiya" ethics complaint — 2026-08-14 — no adverse matches
  • Florida Commission on Ethics — https://ethics.state.fl.us/Complaints/Complaints.aspx — 2026-08-14

Campaign Finance Violations

`[NOT FOUND — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" campaign finance FEC violation — 2026-08-14]`. No violation records found. FEC record confirmed: $1,575,117.24 raised, $1,171,646.54 cash on hand; a $197,000 personal loan to her own campaign was properly disclosed, not an irregularity.

Sources:
  • FEC.gov — candidate overview, H6FL21059 — 2026-08-14
  • Florida Politics — fundraising reporting — 2026-08-14

Residency Confirmed

Documented resident of Palm Beach Gardens, FL (Palm Beach County, within FL-22), born and raised in nearby Jupiter, FL.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics; campaign website (piaforcongress.com) — 2026-08-14
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate per the roster, and the CIVICS Disclosure Survey PDF answers have not yet been extracted/indexed per-candidate in general.

Professional & Business Transparency 22 / 25

Business Ownership

No personal business entity was identified. Dandiya's career has been in institutional roles (public-school teacher and principal in Harlem, White House Fellow at the Dept. of Education, and since January 2022 a public-sector-partnerships lead at Apple Inc.) rather than business ownership. `[Sunbiz primary-source confirmation NOT COMPLETED — search.sunbiz.org blocked this session]`. Her disclosed $197,000 personal loan to her own campaign (see Category 1) is consistent with personal savings/equity from a senior corporate role at Apple, not business income.

Sources:
  • LinkedIn — Pia Dandiya, Apple — 2026-08-21
  • Campaign website (piaforcongress.com) — "Meet Pia Dandiya" — 2026-08-21
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Sunbiz confirmation not completed due to a tooling block; recommend a manual recheck, including her husband's name (not identified via available web search) for the standing spouse-check methodology.

Financial Conflicts of Interest

No government-contract overlap identified with any Florida body. Separately and not a Florida conflict: Dandiya was appointed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to the state's P-20 Council (an education-policy advisory board), where she co-chaired a K-12 Computer Science working group — an out-of-state government advisory appointment tied to her professional education-policy background, not a personal financial interest.

Sources:
  • Serve America PAC — candidate profile — 2026-08-21

Bankruptcy History

`[NOT FOUND]`. No personal or business bankruptcy filings located.

Sources:
  • CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — search "Pia Dandiya" — 2026-08-21 — 0 results (broad search sufficient given the name's distinctiveness)

Tax Liens

`[NOT FOUND]`. No federal or state tax lien records located. Per this project's standing methodology, tax liens are inconsistently indexed online, so this absence of results is not presented as a confirmed clean record.

Sources:
  • CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — search "Pia Dandiya" — 2026-08-21 — 0 results

Board Memberships

Her one identified board/council role — the Illinois P-20 Council appointment described above — is a government advisory body, not a corporate or nonprofit board in the traditional sense. No corporate or nonprofit board membership was otherwise identified via web search.

Sources:
  • Serve America PAC — candidate profile — 2026-08-21
  • ⚠️ TOOLING BLOCK: Sunbiz unresponsive this session; recommend a manual recheck, including a spouse-name lookup (husband's name not identified via web search).
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate per the roster.

Policy & Platform Consistency 19 / 20

Voting Record

`[NO VOTING RECORD — NON-INCUMBENT]`. Dandiya has never held elected office; her career background is education (teacher, then high-performing school principal in Harlem), a White House Fellowship at the Department of Education, and later public-sector innovation work at Apple. Her platform addresses cost-of-living (gas/groceries inflation), lowering healthcare costs (prescription-drug price negotiation), universal pre-K, public-school funding, expanded vocational/trade programs, Social Security/Medicare protection, and gun-safety measures. She was named to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, a national party investment designation for competitive open-seat races.

Sources:
  • American Bazaar — "Pia Dandiya shifts Congressional run from Florida to 22nd District" — 2026-08-21
  • piaforcongress.com — campaign platform — 2026-08-21
  • Florida Politics — "DCCC names Pia Dandiya to Red to Blue program" — 2026-08-21
None — expected for a non-incumbent per this category's methodology.

Position Consistency

Dandiya originally ran to challenge incumbent Brian Mast in FL-21, then shifted her candidacy to the newly-created, open-seat FL-22 following the 5/4/2026 statewide congressional redistricting. Contemporaneous reporting confirms her core policy priorities (lowering healthcare/utility costs, addressing congressional corruption) remained consistent across the district switch — this was a response to redistricting eliminating the competitive rationale for her original race, not a documented change in her positions.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics — "Redistricting shuffle: Pia Dandiya shifts candidacy to open CD 22, leaving Brian Mast challenge behind" — 2026-08-21
None — the district switch is documented as redistricting-driven with consistent underlying positions, not treated as an inconsistency.

Flip-Flops

`[NOT FOUND — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" flip-flop reversed changed position — 2026-08-21]`. No documented instance of Dandiya reversing a substantive policy position was identified. `[Note: a search result from the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm and an inherently partisan opposition source) contained attack-style characterizations of Dandiya; per this project's nonpartisan standard, opposition-committee attack material is not treated as a neutral factual source and its specific characterizations are not repeated here.]`

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-21 — no substantiated non-partisan matches

Endorsements

Received: Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried; U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel and Jill Tokuda (HI); Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman; state Sen. Tina Scott Polsky; state Reps. Emily Gregory, Kelly Skidmore, and Debra Tendrich (all separately researched in this project); Broward Mayor Mark Bogen; West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James; Florida AFL-CIO (500,000+ members); New Politics; WelcomePAC; a gun-safety advocacy organization. `[Endorsements given — NOT FOUND — 2026-08-21]`.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics — "Pia Dandiya announces wave of endorsements in first week campaigning in new CD 22" — 2026-08-21
  • Florida Politics — "Florida AFL-CIO endorses Pia Dandiya for CD 22" — 2026-08-21
  • New Politics — endorsement announcement — 2026-08-21
  • Documented for context: her FL-21→FL-22 district switch was driven by the 5/4/2026 statewide redistricting (which eliminated the incumbent from FL-22), not a change in her own positions — distinguished from an office-shopping pattern.
  • A search result from the NRCC (a partisan opposition committee) was identified but not treated as a neutral source per this project's nonpartisan standard; its specific characterizations are not repeated here.
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Community Engagement & Character 19 / 25

Community Involvement

Dandiya has an exceptionally well-documented, sustained record of direct community service predating this campaign by two decades: as an undergraduate, she spent summers teaching English to slum children in New Delhi and advocated for improved public education through the I Have A Dream Foundation in New York; she began her career as a teacher, then founded and led a Harlem high school explicitly designed to change life trajectories for low-income students — every single graduate earned college admission despite 86% coming from low-income households. She was a White House Fellow at the Department of Education and later led public-sector innovation work at Apple.

Sources:
  • piaforcongress.com — "Meet Pia Dandiya" — 2026-08-24

Veteran / First Responder Service

`[NOT FOUND — no personal military or first-responder service documented — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" military veteran — 2026-08-24]`. Her stated campaign platform includes a specific commitment to veterans (healthcare, benefits, and respect "they've earned"), documented public advocacy rather than personal service.

Sources:
  • piaforcongress.com — "Pia's Priorities" — 2026-08-24
None — factual absence of personal service, not a misrepresentation.

Faith-Based Involvement (scored on character consistency)

`[No specific denomination/congregation membership was documented — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" faith religion — 2026-08-24]`. Not scored negatively per protocol. On character consistency: her stated public mission (expanding opportunity for underserved communities) is exceptionally consistent with her documented life's work (Harlem school founding, New Delhi teaching, I Have A Dream Foundation advocacy, Department of Education fellowship) — among the strongest documented alignments between stated values and public conduct found in this project.

Sources:
  • (cross-referenced from Community Involvement sources above) — 2026-08-24

Debates / Town Halls

`[No documented debate/town hall invitations or appearances for the 2026 primary/general election cycle were found this pass — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Pia Dandiya" FL-22 debate town hall 2026 — 2026-08-24]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no matches
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — No debate coverage found; recommend a follow-up closer to November.

Social Media Presence & Consistency

Active campaign presence via piaforcongress.com, with DCCC "Red to Blue" and EMILYs List institutional support (already partly noted in Category 3). `[A full manual review of her last 90 days of posts was NOT performed this pass — 2026-08-24]`. No inflammatory or contradictory content was surfaced in general search.

Sources:
  • EMILYs List — "Pia Dandiya" candidate page — 2026-08-24
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Full manual 90-day audit not performed; recommend direct platform review if full certainty is required.
  • ⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: No debate coverage or full social-media audit completed this pass; recommend follow-up closer to November.
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Campaign Transparency 22 / 25

Top Donors / Donor Composition

``` DONOR COMPOSITION (through 6/30/26): Total raised: ~$2.1 million Cash on hand: ~$1.37 million Individual donors: 11,000+, from all 50 states Q2 small-donor share: 94% of contributions were under $100 ``` An exceptionally strong, well-documented small-dollar donor base directly confirmed by her own campaign's reporting.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics — "Pia Dandiya crosses $2M in fundraising with reported $515K Q2 haul for CD 22" — 2026-08-26

PAC / LLC / Funneling Structures

`[NOT FOUND — no PAC funding of her campaign identified — searched: FEC.gov, OpenSecrets — 2026-08-26]`, consistent with her documented small-dollar/individual-donor-driven model.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Advertising Spend

`[Specific ad-spend line items NOT independently itemized — searched: FEC.gov expenditure reports — 2026-08-26]`. Her ~$2.1M budget is proportionate to a competitive open-seat race; funded by a broad small-dollar base rather than concentrated outside spending.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics — as above — 2026-08-26

Grassroots Engagement

Her own campaign attributes the fundraising strength directly to "substantial grassroots engagement," and she announced a wave of endorsements in her first week campaigning in the new CD 22. `[Specific documented canvassing/phone-banking events NOT independently itemized — searched: nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Florida Politics — "Pia Dandiya announces wave of endorsements in first week campaigning in new CD 22" — 2026-08-26

Donations to Political Figures

`[NOT FOUND — no record of Dandiya donating to other political campaigns/PACs identified — searched: FEC.gov, nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches
  • Notable: among the strongest confirmed small-dollar donor profiles documented in this project (94% of Q2 contributions under $100).
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Issue-Based Positions 21 / 40

2A Rights Score

Lists gun safety as a campaign issue and is endorsed by a gun-safety advocacy organization; public materials frame her as supporting expanded gun-safety measures "while respecting lawful ownership" rather than a pro-gun-rights position.

Sources:
  • piaforcongress.com/priorities — 2026-08-26

Pro-Life / Pro-Family Score

Supports "codifying and protecting reproductive rights" and defends access to abortion and contraception; no explicit "all trimesters" or taxpayer-funding statement was located this session.

Sources:
  • piaforcongress.com/priorities — 2026-08-26

Fiscal Conservatism Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: AFP, Club for Growth, CATO, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Parental Rights Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: Moms for Liberty, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Election Integrity Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Housing / Insurance Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Education / School Choice Position

Priorities include "strengthening public schools and funding universal prekindergarten" — a public-school-funding-first approach without ESA/voucher support identified.

Sources:
  • piaforcongress.com/priorities — 2026-08-26

Environment / Everglades Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:
  • Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches
  • Scores reflect the project's confirmed scoring philosophy; documented positions are consistent with a mainstream Democratic platform.
  • Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

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