Indian-American Raja Krishnamoorthi, who was an adviser in President Barack Obama's 2008 poll campaign, has registered a big win in the Democratic Congressional primary in the US state of Illinois by defeating the state senator.
Krishnamoorthi's win brightens the chance of yet another person of Indian-origin to be elected to the US House of Representatives in the November general elections.
Born in New Delhi, 42-year-old Krishnamoorthi, an attorney and entrepreneur, polled 57 per cent of the votes in the eighth Congressional District of Illinois as against his two other rivals State Senator Mike Noland (29 per cent) and Deb Bullwinkel (13 per cent).
The district has a sizable Indian-American population.
"Thank you! I'm honoured to be the Democratic Party nominee for Congressman of Illinois' 8th District," he tweeted late last night after results were out.
Krishnamoorthi seeks to replace his party man Tammy Duckworth who decided against seeking re-election and instead run for the US Senate against incumbent Republican Mark Kirk. Duckworth won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat.
In the November 8 general elections, Krishnamoorthi now faces Peter DiCianni of Republican party who ran unopposed during the primary.
If elected, Krishnamoorthi would join Ami Bera, 51, the only Indian-American lawmaker in the current US House of Representatives in the next Congress beginning January next year. Bera is seeking his third-term in the November general elections.
Ahead of the primary elections, Krishnamoorthi was endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives and Congressman Jan Schakowsky.
Krishnamoorthi was previously the policy director and a senior adviser for Barack Obama's 2004 US Senate campaign and also an adviser to Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.
He served as deputy treasurer of Illinois from 2007-2009 under Illinois treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and in 2010 ran for the Democratic nomination for Illinois state comptroller, losing to David E Miller by less than one per cent votes.
Born in New Delhi in 1973, Krishnamoorthi's parents immigrated to New York when he was three months old.
He is currently the president of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc, small businesses that develop and sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries.
