Spouse Steve Williamson Name Pramila Jayapal | Website Official Children Janak | |
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Profession activist, author, politician Education | ||
Chris hayes and pramila jayapal discuss bernie sanders and blm
Pramila Jayapal (pronounced ; born September 21, 1965) is an American politician and activist from the State of Washington who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district, which encompasses most of Seattle as well as outlying parts of King County. As a member of the Democratic Party, she represented the 37th legislative district in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives., the first woman to represent the 7th District in Congress, and the first Asian-American to represent Washington in Congress. As a sitting State Senator, Jayapal endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2016 Democratic primary.
Contents
- Chris hayes and pramila jayapal discuss bernie sanders and blm
- Tedxrainier pramila jayapal
- Early life and education
- Advocacy work
- Early political career
- Elections
- Tenure
- Leadership posts
- Committee memberships
- Personal life
- References
Before entering electoral politics, Jayapal was a Seattle-based civil rights activist, serving until 2012 as the executive director of OneAmerica, a pro-immigration advocacy group. Jayapal founded immigrant advocacy group Hate Free Zone following the 2001 September 11 attacks. The organization successfully sued the Bush Administration's Immigration and Naturalization Services to prevent the deportation of over 4,000 Somalis across the country.
Described by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as a "rising star" in the Democratic caucus, Jayapal currently serves as the First Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and serves on both the Judiciary and Budget committees.
Tedxrainier pramila jayapal
Early life and education
Jayapal was born in Chennai, India, to an Indian family and was raised in Indonesia and Singapore. She immigrated to the United States in 1982, at the age of 16, to attend college. She earned her bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Advocacy work
Jayapal founded Hate Free Zone after the 2001 September 11 attacks as an advocacy group for immigrant groups. Hate Free Zone registered new American citizens to vote and lobbied on immigration reform and related issues. They successfully sued the Bush Administration's Immigration and Naturalization Services to prevent the deportation of over 4,000 Somalis across the country. The group changed its name to OneAmerica in 2008. Jayapal stepped down from her leadership position in May 2012. In 2013 she was recognized by the White House as a "Champion of Change."
Early political career
Jayapal served on the Mayoral Advisory Committee that negotiated Seattle's $15 minimum wage, and co-chaired the Mayor's police chief search committee, which resulted in the unanimous selection of the city's first woman police chief.
After State Senator Adam Kline announced his retirement in early 2014, Jayapal entered the race to succeed him. She was endorsed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and won more than 51% of the vote in the August 5 primary, out of a field of six candidates. She went on to defeat fellow Democrat Louis Watanabe in November 2014.
In the Washington State Senate, Jayapal was the primary sponsor of SB 5863, which directs the Washington State Department of Transportation to administer a pre-apprenticeship program targeting women and people of color; the bill passed into law in July 2015. She co-sponsored a bill to test and track thousands of police department rape kits. Over her two-year tenure in Olympia, Jayapal was rated "in the bottom 98% of legislators in the WA Senate" by FiscalNote, which analyzes the ability of legislators to advance sponsored legislation. This rating was used by her opponent in television advertising, and her political supporters objected to its use.
Elections
In January 2016, Jayapal declared her candidacy for Congress in Washington's 7th congressional district, after Congressman Jim McDermott announced his retirement. In April, she received an endorsement from Bernie Sanders. She also was endorsed by The Stranger in the 2016 primary and general election. An investigation by The Stranger found that Jayapal made exaggerated and misleading claims about her legislative record in Olympia while conducting her congressional campaign, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described her defense of a missed budget vote as "deceptive and duplicitous."
On August 2, 2016, Jayapal finished first in the top-two primary, alongside state representative Brady Walkinshaw, also a Democrat. She advanced to the general election in November and defeated Walkinshaw with 56 percent of the vote.
Tenure
Congresswoman Jayapal has sponsored legislation intended to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for working families and to significantly reduce student debt. She and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have introduced the Trump Transparency Package, a series of bills aimed at promoting transparency and eliminating conflicts of interest in the Trump White House. Jayapal and her fellow co-chairs of the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force introduced a package of Environmental Justice bills to fight the impact of climate change on frontline communities.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has said that Congresswoman Jayapal's proposals "seed an agenda for progressive politicians to take to the country" and that she has "given frustrated progressives the chance to fight back against the Trump administration." The Stranger noted that Jayapal chose to meet with constituents in the congressional district rather than attend Donald J. Trump's inauguration as president. The Nation called her "a leader of the resistance," quoting Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling Jayapal "a rising star in the Democratic Caucus."
Leadership posts
Committee memberships
Personal life
Jayapal became a U.S. citizen in 2000. She is the author of Pilgrimage: One Woman's Return to a Changing India, published in March 2000.
Jayapal lives in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle with her husband Steve.