As an immigrant, Rishi Kumar seeks to address tough challenges of Silicon Valley and America.
Rishi Kumar, an Indian American Silicon Valley hi-tech executive, serving his second term as
member, is making a second bid for the US House of Representatives in 2022.
Kumar hopes to unseat fellow Democrat Anna Eshoo, now in her 15th House term, to whom he lost in 2020 by a margin of over 50,000 votes.
However, giving his defeat a positive spin, Kumar says on his website, “We have already far exceeded the vote count of any prior challenger in the last 28 years of this district; 37% vote share.”
“We hold our head high about what we have accomplished together. We are hearing it loud and clear to not stop,” he wrote announcing filing of his candidacy for the 2022 election.
“We intend to bridge the shortfall of 50,000 votes over the next two years,” Kumar wrote. “The learning over the last 20 months has been incredible and we are excited about the possibilities.”
“Our district needs dedicated, intelligent leadership and we are ready to take charge,” he wrote citing “an unprecedented engagement with our neighbors.”
READ: Rishi Kumar: From immigrant student to Congressional aspirant (December 6, 2019)
“To address the tough challenges of Silicon Valley and America,” Kumar wrote, “We brought forward bold and innovative ideas with a getting-things-done attitude.”
“It is clear that our district residents want it better based on the support our movement has generated,” he wrote. “I am ready and will always keep fighting the good fight. Together, we can.”
Kumar, his official bio says, “brings a fiscally moderate, results-driven mindset to politics. As an immigrant and an engineer working for IBM, Kumar found his calling as an activist stepping up for complex community challenges that he couldn’t ignore, the site says.
As a council member of Saratoga, he challenged the system, unafraid to be the dissenting vote, and focused on toughest issues. In 2018, the people of Saratoga re-elected Kumar with the most votes in the city’s history for fearlessly addressing issues deemed daunting by others.
Kumar’s “motivation is to change the broken Washington culture by bringing a new brand of people-driven, rather than lobbyist-driven, politics,” it says.
His platform focuses on addressing current-day challenges such as the pandemic, the Silicon Valley tech exodus, income inequality, healthcare, and climate change.
As a person of color, Kumar “believes that if you are lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down,” it says.
READ: Indian American Aruna Miller raises $230,000 for another potential congressional run (April 16, 2021)
To help disadvantaged communities across Silicon Valley, he launched the no-charge Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for youth in many disadvantaged neighborhoods. This benefited thousands of disadvantaged students by empowering them through both STEM and entrepreneurial skills.
Since 2012, Kumar has also hosted the no-charge Lego Robotics Bootcamp to teach robotic design and programming.
As a member of the California Computer Science Strategic Implementation Panel, a California Department of Education initiative, he has helped roll out a K-12 Computer Science curriculum for every Public School student in California that is scheduled go live next year.
During the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, Kumar organized hackathons, facilitated entrepreneurial boot camps for young students, and provided online coding classes.
His internship program today is providing valuable leadership experience for hundreds of high school and college students all over the country, the campaign site says.
Kumar believes that equal opportunity should be afforded to all youth, regardless of their family’s income level to begin to bridge the income inequality gap, it says.
Kumar lives in Saratoga with his wife Seema, a networking industry professional, and their two sons.
1 Comment
Really?? This dumb truck was indicted in 2019 for a hit and run. Probably spent months in jail but must have paid off the prosecutor and DA. That’s what indians do — bribe their way thru everything. Shithole country culture is all the rage these days in America, what with Dems and socialist pigs going bonkers over 3rd world bums helping them steal yet another election!!