Raja Krishnamoorthi

Subramanian Raja Krishnamoorthi (born July 19, 1973) is an American businessman, politician, and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for IL's 8th congressional district since 2017.

The district includes many of Chicago's western and northwestern suburbs, such as Hoffman Estates, Elgin, Schaumburg, Wood Dale, and Elk Grove Village.

A member of the Democratic Party, Krishnamoorthi serves as the Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Born in New Delhi, India and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Krishnamoorthi is the first ever Indian-American or person of South Asian descent to serve as Ranking Member or Chair of any full committee in the U.S. Congress.

He also serves as an assistant whip.

Krishnamoorthi was born in 1973 into a Tamil-speaking 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.

Though some early economic hardships necessitated living in public housing and using food assistance for a time, in 1980, the Krishnamoorthis moved to Peoria, Illinois, where his father became a professor at Bradley University and they enjoyed a middle-class upbringing.

Krishnamoorthi attended public schools in Peoria and was a valedictorian of his graduating class at Richwoods High School.

Krishnamoorthi attended Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering summa cum laude.

He then received a Juris Doctor with honors from Harvard Law School.

During law school, Krishnamoorthi was managing editor of the Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review, and published a law review article on the implementation of Local School Councils in Chicago public elementary schools.

After graduating from Harvard, Krishnamoorthi served as a law clerk for federal judge Joan B. Gottschall in the Northern District of Illinois, and then worked on Barack Obama's 2000 election campaign for the United States House of Representatives.

He also served as an issues director for Obama's 2004 campaign for the United States Senate, and aided in the development of Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address.

After being appointed to the Board of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Krishnamoorthi practiced law and then served as a special assistant attorney general, helping start the state's anti-corruption unit under Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

He served as deputy state treasurer for Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias from 2007 to 2009 and then as vice-chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council.

He was the president of high-tech small businesses in the Chicago area until he resigned before entering Congress to eliminate any conflicts of interest.

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.

Krishnamoorthi voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

In May 2022, Krishnamoorthi joined Hoffman Estates Mayor McLeod, WINGS President and CEO Rebecca Darr, and Chief of Police Kathryn Cawley in a ceremony recognizing the Village's formal acceptance of a $150,000 Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Krishnamoorthi secured for the Hoffman Estates Domestic Violence Project.

This funding furthers local organizations' ability to provide social services to the community related to combating domestic violence through expanding specialized police training, funds for a domestic violence counselor, and building an emergency fund to assist survivors of domestic violence.

In June 2022, Krishnamoorthi joined local officials to present the Schaumburg Police Department with a check for $340,000 in recognition of federal funding he secured for a mobile response unit for mental health and substance misuse.

This unit, implemented by the Schaumburg Police Department, Elk Grove Police Department, the Start Here Addiction Rehabilitation and Education Program, the Foglia Treatment Center, the Kenneth Young Center, and Live4Lali, allows the police to address 911 calls through crisis intervention overseen by social workers and community response professionals with experience related to mental health and substance disorders.

In 2012 he ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in IL's 8th congressional district, and lost to Tammy Duckworth.

When Duckworth ran 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, to Michael Noland's 29% and Deb Bullwinkel's 13%.

Krishnamoorthi defeated Republican Pete DiCianni in the November general election, capturing 58.1% of the vote after a campaign in which he vowed to fight for middle-class families in Congress.

Krishnamoorthi was sworn into office on January 3, 2017.

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, he was included in a list featured in The Guardian of "up-and-coming leaders of the Trump resistance in Washington."

In June 2017, the House unanimously passed the Thompson-Krishnamoorthi Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which would overhaul the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and provide more flexibility to states.

In November 2017, Krishnamoorthi and GT Thompson co-led a letter to the Senate education committee with 235 fellow members of the House urging them to take up the legislation.

During a January 2017 floor debate in the House of Representatives, Krishnamoorthi argued against repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Krishnamoorthi was unopposed for the 2018 Democratic nomination, and won the general election with more than 66% of the vote.

The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act passed the Senate and was signed into law by President Trump in July 2018.

Krishnamoorthi received 80% of the vote in the 2020 Democratic primary, and defeated Libertarian candidate Preston Nelson in the general election, 73% to 26%.

Krishnamoorthi won the 2022 Democratic nomination with 71% of the vote.

During the general election, he was named to the National Republican Congressional Committee's "Top Target" list.

Krishnamoorthi was reelected to a fourth term, defeating the Republican nominee by a 14-point margin.