PERSON: Raja Krishnamoorthi

U.S. House of Representatives

Representative

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi was elected in November 2016 to represent the 8th District of Illinois, which includes the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago. Raja’s policy platform focuses on growing and strengthening the middle class by supporting small businesses, rebuilding our infrastructure, and protecting Social Security and Medicare. Raja knows our economy works best when it works for all of us, and that’s why he’s fighting to make college more affordable, expand access to paid sick and parental leave, and guarantee equal pay for equal work.

Raja is the child of immigrants and was reared in Peoria, Illinois. He attended public schools in Peoria and was a valedictorian of his high school class. Scholarships and student loans allowed Raja to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in mechanical engineering and a certificate from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy. He then graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and clerked for a federal judge before practicing law in Chicago.

Raja pursued public service while practicing law and was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as a Special Assistant Attorney General to help start the state’s Public Integrity Unit created to root out corruption in Illinois. As a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Raja chaired its Audit Committee, helping to provide thousands of low and moderate-income families across the state with affordable housing. Raja also served as Illinois Deputy Treasurer. There, he oversaw the state’s technology venture capital fund and helped revamp programs such as the state’s unclaimed property program to become leaner and more efficient.

After his time in the Illinois Treasurer’s Office, Raja returned to the private sector, serving as president of research-oriented small businesses developing technology in the national security and renewable energy industries. Raja also served as the Vice-Chair of the Illinois Innovation Council and co-founded InSPIRE, a non-profit that provides inner-city students and veterans with training in solar technology.

Raja and his wife, Priya, a physician, live in Schaumburg with their two sons and baby daughter.

— krishnamoorthi.house.gov