Who Is Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal?

India born Pramila Jayapal is a Congresswoman who has been re-elected for the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive term. The Indian-American Jayapal, from the Democratic Party, defeated Republican Craig Keller by a massive 70 percentage points in the Seventh Congressional District of Washington State. She received 344,541 votes as against just 61,940 for Keller.

Who Is Pramila Jayapal?

Jayapal was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Her father MP Jayapal, is a marketing professional and her mother Maya Jayapal, is a writer. She spent her childhood in Jakarta and Singapore and went on to pursue her undergrad studies in America when she was just 16 years old.

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

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Here's a bit about Jayapal you should know. She is the younger sister of two. Jayapal studied English literature and later picked economics for her Bachelor's degree at Georgetown University. She also did her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. She worked in a banking company on Wall Street for a couple of years, before stepping into activism and followed that into politics.

What You Should Know

• Pramila Jayapal, Indian-American Congresswoman has been re-elected for the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive term.
• Jayapal, from the Democratic Party, defeated Republican Craig Keller by a massive 70 percentage points in the Seventh Congressional District of Washington State.
• In 2016, Jayapal became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

Pramila lives in Seattle with her husband Steve Williamson, an officer and director of UFCW 21. She has a son named Janak.

In 2016, Jayapal became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

The outgoing US House of Representatives has four Indian-American members. Pramila is the second Indian-American to have been declared elected to the House of Representatives.  Two other Indian-American Congressmen, Dr Ami Bera and Ro Khanna, are leading in their respective Congressional districts in California, as per early trends.