Tripti Joshi (Editor)

Raja Krishnamoorthi

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Spouse(s)
  
Priya Krishnamoorthi

Role
  
Lawyer

Name
  
Raja Krishnamoorthi


Website
  
rajaforcongress.com

Occupation
  
Lawyer, engineer

Political party
  
Democratic Party

Raja Krishnamoorthi wwwdailyheraldcomstoryimageDA20150717news15

Born
  
July 19, 1973 (age 50) New Delhi, India (
1973-07-19
)

Alma mater
  
Princeton University (B.S.E.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)

Residence
  
Schaumburg, Illinois, United States

Education
  
Harvard Law School, Princeton University

Raja krishnamoorthi democratic candidate for illinois state comptroller


Subramanian Raja Krishnamoorthi (born July 19, 1973) is an Indian-American businessman, public servant, and politician from the state of Illinois who is the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 8th congressional district.

Contents

Us congress aspirant raja krishnamoorthi asks nris for support dallas usa tv9


Early life

In 1973, Krishnamoorthi was born into a Tamil family in New Delhi, India. His family moved to Buffalo, New York, when he was three months old, so that his father could attend graduate school. They lived in public housing and used food stamps. In 1980, the Krishnamoorthi family moved to Peoria, Illinois. His father became a professor at Bradley University.

Krishnamoorthi attended Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He then received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Early career

After graduating from Harvard, Krishnamoorthi served as a law clerk for Joan B. Gottschall, and worked as a staffer on Barack Obama's 2000 election campaign for the United States House of Representatives. Krishnamoorthi served as an issues director for Obama's 2004 election to the United States Senate. Krishnamoorthi aided in the development of Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address.

Krishnamoorthi served as a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, as a special assistant attorney general under Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, and as deputy state treasurer for Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois Treasurer from 2007 through 2009. He was the president of Sivananthan Laboratories and Episolar Inc., which develop and sell technology for military and civilian customers, until resigning all his business positions before entering Congress to eliminate any conflicts of interest.

Electoral career

In 2010, Krishnamoorthi ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Illinois Comptroller. He lost the primary election to David E. Miller by less than 1% of the vote. He ran for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in Illinois's 8th congressional district in the 2012 elections. Tammy Duckworth defeated Krishnamoorthi in the primary election, 66%–34%.

With Duckworth running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, Krishnamoorthi again declared his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the March 2016 primary election with 57% of the vote, while Michael Noland earned 29% and Deb Bullwinkel received 13%. In November 2016, Krishnamoorthi defeated Republican Pete DiCianni in the general election, capturing 58.1% of the vote after a campaign in which he vowed to fight for middle-class families in Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives

Krishnamoorthi was sworn into office on January 3, 2017, stating, "I will continue to focus on the middle class and our commitment to ensure that hard work is rewarded."

While Krishnamoorthi attended President Donald Trump's January 2017 Inauguration, he said he did so in part, "because I want President Trump to look at the crowd and Congress and see on day one that he will be strongly opposed if he continues to pursue policies that hurt working families." The day before the inauguration, Krishnamoorthi was included in a list featured in The Guardian of "The up-and-coming leaders of the Trump resistance in Washington."

The day after the inauguration, Krishnamoorthi addressed a crowd of more than 250,000 at the Chicago Women's March, "Today’s march was about people from every walk of life coming together to declare their support for the rights of women and all Americans. Women’s rights are human rights. A loud chorus of voices including mine will speak up for the rights of women and all Americans to make a better life in this country."

Later that week, Krishnamoorthi delivered a speech on the House floor in opposition to a Trump administration decision to block an Obama administration policy that would have reduced mortgage costs for lower and middle-income families by hundreds of dollars per year. Krishnamoorthi closed his remarks by referencing President Trump's campaign slogan, stating "the Trump administration’s order to make mortgages more expensive will not strengthen our economy. It will not create jobs. And it will not make America great again. But it will make life harder for working families."

Health care

During a January 2017 floor debate in the House of Representatives, Krishnamoorthi argued against repealing the Affordable Care Act. Citing his experience running small businesses Krishnamoorthi stated, "repealing without replacing the Affordable Care Act would devastate our economy and harm millions of middle-class families. Within the 8th District of Illinois, we could lose upwards of over $550 million from our economy and over 4,000 jobs. I know firsthand how important health coverage is to workers and to business. Without the protections of the Affordable Care Act, we will see fewer entrepreneurs take the risk of starting a business and fewer workers take the risk of working for a start-up."

Islam and Immigration

On January 28, 2017, President Donald Trump's executive order placing restrictions on people entering the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries caused 18 travelers arriving at O'Hare International Airport to be detained and questioned by federal officers, including a family of legal permanent residents and their 18-month-old baby who held U.S. citizenship. Krishnamoorthi arrived at O'Hare within hours to speak to immigration officials but was told they were unavailable. While joining a protest at the airport Krishnamoorthi said of the detentions "They applied legally, they've been vetted and they've been here, in many cases, for decades, and they were detained by their own country at the airport. So many of our businesses rely on green card holders -- how are we supposed to attract these people if they think they'll be detained at the airport if they go abroad for a wedding, or just to show their baby to relatives?"

In a WGN Radio interview the next morning, Krishnamoorthi denounced President Trump's immigration initiative, calling it the "worst executive order you could draw up to unify the country."

Committee assignments

  • Committee on Education and the Workforce
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
  • Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits and Administrative Rules (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Information Technology
  • Source:

    Personal life

    Krishnamoorthi's wife, Priya, is a doctor. They live with their two sons, Vijay and Vikram, and daughter Sonia in Schaumburg, Illinois.

    In January 2017, Krishnamoorthi, a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, and his elder son attended the Cubs' official White House commemoration of their World Series victory.

    References

    Raja Krishnamoorthi Wikipedia