New Delhi born son of Tamil immigrants corners over 70% vote.
New Delhi-born Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi declared victory Tuesday night in his re-election bid to the US House of Representatives for the 8th district of Illinois for a third term.
Democrat Krishnamoorthi, 47, declared victory after winning the support of more than 71 percent of voters with over 60% of the precincts reporting results in the 8th district, which includes Chicago’s west and northwest suburbs.
He was pitted against Preston Nelson of the Libertarian Party in a Democratic stronghold. With no candidates forthcoming Republican Party had cancelled its primary in the district.
“I am honored that my constituents have elected me to represent them in Congress for another two years, and I am tremendously grateful to all my supporters who helped make my re-election possible,” he said. “Today, our country faces enormous and unprecedented economic and public health challenges.”
“No matter who controls the White House or the Senate in January, I am committed to doing whatever it takes to bring the country together to implement common-sense solutions that move our country and our people forward.”
Krishnamoorthi swept all of the Chicago area major newspaper endorsements on his way to winning re-election to Congress in the 8th District of Illinois.
Krishnamoorthi was born into a Tamil-speaking family in New Delhi, India in 1973. His family moved to Buffalo, New York when he was three months old so that his father could attend graduate school.
In 1980, the Krishnamoorthis moved to Peoria, Illinois where his father became a professor at Bradley University.
On graduating from Richwoods High School, Peoria, Krishnamoorthi earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University.
After earning a law degree from Harvard Law School, he served as a law clerk for Joan B. Gottschall and worked on Barack Obama’s 2000 election campaign for the US House of Representatives. He also served as an issues director for Obama’s 2004 campaign for the US Senate.
In 2012 he ran for the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives seat in Illinois’s 8th congressional district, and lost to Tammy Duckworth.
When Duckworth ran for the US Senate in 2016, Krishnamoorthi defeated Republican Pete DiCianni in the November general election. He was re-elected in 2018.