Left turn ahead

Pramila Jayapal and her three Indian American Democratic colleagues were re-elected to the congress on November 3, demonstrating the growing political heft of the community

- LAVINA MELWANI

Don’t ever tell Pramila Jayapal that something cannot be done; she will get it done. Jayapal, the Democrat who represents Washington state’s seventh congressional district in the house of representatives, is “one of President Donald Trump’s most fearless opponents” and a “fast-rising Democratic star”. She won a third house term on November 3, defeating her Republican rival winning more than 80 per cent of the total polled votes.

Jayapal, 55, is the first Indian American woman to be elected to the house of representatives. She came to America as a 16-year-old student from Chennai to attend Georgetown University. Her family used all its savings to send her and her sister for education abroad.

While doing her MBA at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, Jayapal helped develop a course around economic development and tutored on the southside of Chicago at Cabrini-Green, one of the most notorious public housing projects in the metropolis.