Pramila Jayapal
U.S. Representative from WA, District 7
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Biography
Pramila Jayapal is a Democratic U.S. Representative from Washington's 7th District and former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Pramila Jayapal was born September 21, 1965, in Chennai, India, to a Malayali family and spent much of her childhood in Indonesia and Singapore. She came to the United States in 1982 at age 16 and graduated from Georgetown University in 1986 with degrees in English and Economics, then earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in 1991. Before entering electoral politics, she was a prominent Seattle-based immigrant rights activist and executive director of OneAmerica, an advocacy group she founded after September 11 as Hate Free Zone. She served in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017 before her election to Congress in 2016. Now serving her fifth term representing most of Seattle, she is the first Indian American woman elected to the U.S. House. She chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus from 2021 to 2025 and sits on the House Judiciary, Education and the Workforce, and Budget committees, focusing on immigration, healthcare, and progressive economic policy.