Indian-American Pramila Jayapal Elected As Chair Of Congressional Progressive Caucus

Pramila Jayapal, a Congresswoman of Indian-American origin, was elected the Chair of the United States' Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) on Wednesday, thereby taking office as one of the most powerful lawmakers of the Congress. Earlier this year, the 55-year-old was re-elected to the US House of Representatives for her third consecutive term. Jayapal will play a significant role in President-elect Joe Biden's administration, when he takes over as the 46th President of the US in January 2021.

"As a lifelong organizer, I am honoured that my colleagues have elected me to lead the Congressional Progressive Caucus at this pivotal moment. We have massive crises knocking at our nation’s door, and the work of the Progressive Caucus has never been more important. The American people need Congress to lead with vision, conviction, empathy, and dedication to people and families in every community who are struggling right now," Jayapal was quoted saying in the official press release. She also mentioned that the Caucus would be committed to tackling racial inequality and injustice in the US.

Read her tweet below: 

It's an incredible honor to be elected Chair of the @USProgressives as we fight for policy solutions that build power where it should be built: with the people. We have so much more to do to finally deliver a just and equitable America—and I'm ready to get back to work. pic.twitter.com/XlBygulvdp

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 9, 2020

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More About The CPC

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is a caucus (conference) associated with the US Congress and is generally identified as the left-leaning arm of the Democratic Party. Jayapal, along with Deputy Chair Katie Porter, will be among the top lawmakers of the 117th US Congress with their election to the caucus.

The Executive Board will reportedly comprise "26 members, one Chair, one Deputy Chair, one Whip, two Chair Emeriti, two Special Order Hour Conveners, ten Vice Chairs, one Executive Board Member At-Large and eight Deputy Whips." More than half the members of the caucus are women and people of colour.

The caucus announced its new leadership on social media with the following tweet: 

With massive crises facing our nation, the work of the CPC has never been more critical.

We're proud to introduce our incoming leadership team, led by @RepJayapal as Chair, @RepKatiePorter as Deputy Chair, and @Ilhan as Whip. Meet the full team ⬇️https://t.co/n8Qi4Qvv2R

— Progressive Caucus (@USProgressives) December 9, 2020

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Who Is Pramila Jayapal?

Pramila Jayapal was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As a representative of the US Democratic Party, she defeated Republican Craig Keller by a massive 70 percentage points in the Seventh Congressional District of Washington State in the US Election 2020. She received 344,541 votes as against just 61,940 for Keller. She was re-elected for her third consecutive term.

Jayapal was a civil rights activist before foraying into politics. She was the executive director of OneAmerica, a pro-immigration advocacy group, formed after 9/11. She ran the organisation for 10 years. Like her mother Maya Jaypal, Pramila too has written books, articles and poems. Her book Pilgrimage: One Woman’s Return to a Changing India, is about her sojourn in India in 1995. More about her here.