Chennai-born lady up for US House seat

A Chennai-born Malayali, she came to the US in 1982 to attend Georgetown University. She worked on Wall Street as a financial analyst and after working in the medical equipment industry for a year, she found her passion in the social justice arena. 

Jayapal (50) would be facing either of the two candidates she defeated in the open primary by more than 16 per cent. Besides Pramila, there are three other serious Indian-American contenders for seat in US House of Representatives. Ami Bera is seeking his third term from California. He is the only Indian American in the current Congress. Two others running for a House seat are Raja Krishnamoorthi from a suburb of Chicago and Ro Khanna from Silicon Valley. All are considered to have a bright chance of winning the November general elections.

Running from the seventh Congressional district in Washington State, Jayapal swept the Tuesday night open primary with 38.2 per cent of the votes. Jayapal was endorsed by former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders.