New York, Nov 17 (IANS): An Indian-American businessman and real estate broker is among 21 candidates who have qualified to run for Congress in Alabama state's 2nd District as a Democrat.

Vimal Patel, 39, will be contesting the March 5 primary next year along with 13 Democrats and eight Republicans for the District, which spans south Alabama and includes Montgomery County and a portion of Mobile County.

"You see, after I qualified, I got back to work. I'm not a career politician. I worry about what these career politicians are doing and if you also worry - together - we must rise to fix it.

We have an opportunity here to elect a consensus candidate that will shake the system," Patel wrote on Facebook.

Patel told al.com that his business skills would make him effective in Congress and help tackle issues like the federal deficit and the long-range outlook for social security.

According to him, those in Washington have responded to these foundational problems with complacency.

Previously, Patel ran for the 2nd District seat in 2022, losing in the Democratic primary to Phyllis Harvey-Hall.

Patel's family immigrated from India in 1980. Born in America, Vimal Patel graduated from Charles Henderson High School in Troy and earned a political science degree from Auburn in 2007.

After graduating in 2007, Patel chose to return to Troy to handle his family's hospitality business with hotels in Troy, Montgomery, and Dothan and a laundromat in Eufaula.