Considering that she almost wasn’t on the ballot, victory was no doubt sweet for Nashua’s Latha Mangipudi, who won election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Ward 8 over Peter Silva on Tuesday.

The initial tally in September’s Democratic primary had Mangipudi losing to former city alderman Carl Andrade by three votes. A recount discovered a package of her votes had been credited to Andrade. Mangipudi ended up a 45-vote winner.

And surely Mangipudi had to take a little extra satisfaction by winning nearly 60 percent of the vote after Silva attempted to use her Indian heritage to rally people to vote against her. At a Republican forum, Silva said there were so many people of Indian descent who came out to vote during the primary that “I thought I was in New Delhi.” He urged his colleagues to get out and vote to counter the large number of Indian residents in the ward that he predicted would “be coming out of the woodwork.”

When criticized for his comments, Silva responded with contempt. He said people offended by his words were the ones at fault because he spoke the truth.

It comes as no surprise, Silva earned his political stripes as majority whip and majority leader under former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien, a Republican who led with boundless arrogance.

Mangipudi’s victory offers more proof that voters are tired of antagonistic and confrontational politics.

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