Before entering electoral politics, Jayapal was a Seattle-based civil rights activist, serving until 2012 as the executive director of OneAmerica, a pro-immigrant advocacy group.[2] She founded the organization, originally called Hate Free Zone, after the September 11 attacks. Jayapal co-chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus from 2019 to 2021, henceforth serving as chair.[3] She serves on both the Judiciary Committee and Budget Committee.[4]
After graduating from college Jayapal worked for PaineWebber as a financial analyst. At PaineWebber, she began to work on development projects from Chicago to Thailand. Later, she briefly worked in sales and marketing for a medical company before moving into the public sector in 1991.[8]
Early career
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. It successfully sued the Bush Administration's Immigration and Naturalization Services to prevent the deportation of over 4,000 Somalis across the country.[9] In 2008, the group changed its name to OneAmerica.[10][11] Jayapal stepped down from her leadership position in May 2012. In 2013, she was recognized by the White House as a "Champion of Change".[12][13]
Jayapal served on the Mayoral Advisory Committee that negotiated Seattle's $15 minimum wage[16] and co-chaired the mayor's police chief search committee, which resulted in the unanimous selection of the city's first female police chief.[17]
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[10] and won more than 51% of the vote in the August 5 primary, out of a field of six candidates.[18] She defeated fellow Democrat Louis Watanabe in November.[19]
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.[20] She co-sponsored a bill to test and track thousands of police department rape kits.[21]
In January 2016, Jayapal declared her candidacy for Congress in Washington's 7th congressional district, after Representative Jim McDermott announced his retirement.[23] In April, she was endorsed by Bernie Sanders.[24] On August 2, Jayapal finished first in the top-two primary, alongside state representative Brady Walkinshaw, also a Democrat.[25] This was the first time in the state's history that a federal seat was contested by two Democrats. Both identified as progressive Democrats.[26] The 7th is the most Democratic district in the Pacific Northwest, and the seat was all but certain to stay in Democratic hands even if a Republican took the second spot in the primary.
In the final weeks of the race, Jayapal and her supporters contested claims from Walkinshaw that she had not advanced enough legislation.[27][28] Jayapal won the general election with 56% of the vote.[29]
Tenure
Jayapal's freshman portrait
Jayapal became the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.[30][31]
On January 6, 2017, Jayapal objected to Georgia's 16 electoral votes, which Donald Trump had won by over 200,000 votes.[32] Because no senator joined her objection, the objection was dismissed.[33]
During Trump's inauguration, Jayapal met with constituents in her congressional district instead of attending the ceremony.[34]The Nation called her "a leader of the resistance," quoting Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling Jayapal "a rising star in the Democratic caucus."[35] In September, Representative Don Young apologized to her after calling her "young lady" in an exchange that went viral.[36] Jayapal has described facing sexism from colleagues in Congress.[37]
In September 2021, BuzzFeed reported that 14 former staffers had described Jayapal's congressional office as a volatile and dysfunctional workplace. Jayapal's office responded with a statement calling the allegations "sexist", "ugly stereotypes", and lacking context.[40]
In 2024, Jayapal raised over $400,000 for the election campaign of Vice President Harris, as well as making other public statements in praise of Harris.[41]
Foreign Affairs
Jayapal voted against a House resolution condemning the U.N. Security Councilresolution on Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.[42] In July 2019, she voted against a House resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. The resolution passed 398–17.[43] On July 16, 2023, she addressed the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and described Israel as a “racist state”. Later, she apologized for the remarks and issued a statement criticizing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu as "extreme right-wing" and said it had "engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies". She voted for a resolution proposed by August Pfluger which states that “the State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state", that Congress rejects "all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia" and that “the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel."[44][45]
In April 2019, after the House passed the resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Jayapal was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign "Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973 to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's armed conflict against Yemen's Houthi forces, initiated in 2015 by the Obama administration." They asserted the "Saudi-led coalition's imposition of an air-land-and-sea blockade as part of its war against Yemen’s Houthis has continued to prevent the unimpeded distribution of these vital commodities, contributing to the suffering and death of vast numbers of civilians throughout the country" and that Trump's approval of the resolution through his signing would give a "powerful signal to the Saudi-led coalition to bring the four-year-old war to a close".[50]
In December 2019, Jayapal introduced a bill to urge India to lift curbs on communications in Kashmir. These curbs were introduced as part of revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.[51] Later that month, the Foreign Minister of India canceled a meeting with U.S. lawmakers, citing Jayapal's inclusion on the invitee list.[52] The bill has seen no movement since its introduction in Congress.[53]
Jayapal meets with President Joe Biden in October 2021 in the Red Room of the White House.
An October 24, 2022, letter, led by Jayapal and signed by 30 progressive Democrats, called on President Biden to pursue negotiations with Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine. The letter was withdrawn a day later after Jayapal said it was drafted months ago and was released by a staffer "without vetting". The reason for the retraction was disputed, and Politico reported that Jayapal approved the letter's release on October 24.[54]
She supports universal health care and co-sponsored the Expanded and Improved Medicare For All Act.[60]
In February 2019, Jayapal sponsored and introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019 with more than 100 co-sponsors. The bill would create a publicly financed comprehensive, universal, and guaranteed healthcare insurance system for every U.S. resident. It represented the continuation of progressives' long-term campaign in Congress to introduce a guaranteed health care system.[61][62] In 2021, Jayapal introduced similar legislation for the 117th Congress.[63]
Government transparency
Jayapal and Representative Jamie Raskin introduced the Trump Transparency Package, a series of bills aimed at promoting transparency and eliminating conflicts of interest in the Trump White House.[64]
She supports a ban on members trading in stocks.[65][66]
Jayapal was formerly married to Alan Preston.[74] She initially lost her Green Card when she gave birth prematurely in India and was unable to return in time to maintain Permanent Resident status.[75] She became a U.S. citizen in 2000.[11] She is the author of Pilgrimage: One Woman's Return to a Changing India, published in March 2000.[76][77]
Jayapal lives in Seattle with her husband, Steven R. Williamson.[78] Kashika, Jayapal's child from her previous marriage to Preston, is transgender and previously identified as non-binary.[79][80] She also has a stepson, Michael.[4] In 2019, Jayapal publicly wrote that she had chosen to abort a pregnancy because it risked her and the unborn child's health.[81]
Jayapal tested positive for COVID-19 on January 11, 2021. In a statement released after her diagnosis, she criticized her Republican colleagues for refusing to wear masks when members of Congress were placed on lockdown during the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[87]
On July 9, 2022, Seattle resident Brett Forsell was arrested after he arrived at Jayapal's Seattle house and yelled obscenities and threats at her.[88] Forsell was released and charged when more evidence had been collected.[89] Forsell had driven by her house repeatedly for weeks, shouting insults. When arrested, he was armed with a handgun with a round in its chamber. He was charged with felony stalking and released on $150,000 bail.[90] In June 2023, Forsell pled guilty to stalking and was sentenced to 364 days in jail followed by 24 months of probation.[91]
Electoral history
Washington's 7th Congressional District nonpartisan blanket primary election, 2016
^The Polish law in question said "Whoever claims, publicly and contrary to the facts, that the Polish Nation or the Republic of Poland is responsible or co-responsible for Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich <...> shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for up to 3 years". Following the international outcry and pressure, the criminal offense was replaced with civil offense in the law.[48]
^"Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
^ abJayapal, Pramila. "About Me". Pramila Jayapal. House of Representatives. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^"About". Pramila Jayapal. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
^Haltiwanger, John (October 25, 2022). "Progressive Democrats shot themselves in the foot with letter urging talks with Russia, claiming it was outdated and blaming staff for its release". Business Insider.
^Andrew Stanton. (January 24, 2022). "Here Are 27 Congress Members Urging Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy to Ban Stock Trading in House". Newsweek website Retrieved May 11, 2023.
^Karl Evers-Hillstrom. (May 11, 2023). "Lawmakers call for markup on stock trading ban before August recess". The Hill website Retrieved May 11, 2023.
^"Rep. Pramila Jayapal Urges President Trump to Open Doors To Immigrants". News India Times. July 14, 2017. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2020. Not only did she go through the gamut of visas, F1, F1B, etc., but she lost her Green Card when her child was born prematurely during a visit to India with her American husband, and could not come back to the U.S. on time to keep the permanent residence visa valid.
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