Pramila Jayapal Becomes The First Indian-American Woman To Be Elected To The U.S. House

Washington State Senator Pramila Jayapal’s election to the House of Representatives as the first Indian-American woman is a moment of pride and inspiration to all. She defeated her opponent, Democrat Brady Walkinshaw in the 7th Congressional District and won with 57 percent votes.

Pramila Jayapal was born in 1965 in Chennai,Tamil Nadu. At the age of 16, she moved to the United States to pursue her studies. As an immigrant herself, she could relate well to the ordeals of other immigrants. With this inspiration, Pramila founded Hate Free Zone, now called ‘One America’, after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The group advocates for immigrants like Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians. In recognition of her community work for immigrants, the White House felicitated her with the “Champion of change” award in 2012. She worked for over 20 years in the field of International and Domestic Social Justice, including for the Seattle-based International Health Organisation’s Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH).

Political Ideologies
The 52-year-old senator is a former banker, and an immigrant rights activist. She started her career in politics after succeeding Adam Kline in 2014. She won 52% of the votes and defeated six candidates. She declared her candidacy in January, 2016 for Congress in Washington’s 7th congressional district. During her campaign, she received an endorsement from Bernie Sanders which doubled the number of contributors to her campaign. She believes that people can make a difference irrespective of their origin, caste, colour or creed. Standing up for the people in the House of Representatives, she aims and hopes for a fair shot government that represents everyone’s interest.

The Logical Indian congratulates Pramila Jayapal on her outstanding victory and selfless work towards equal rights for immigrants.