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Pramila Jayapal

U.S. House · WA-7 · Democrats · since 2025

also

Candidate for U.S. House · WA-7

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Biography

Overview

Pramila Jayapal is a Democratic U.S. Representative from Washington's 7th congressional district, serving since 2017. She is the first Indian American woman to serve in the U.S. House and the first Asian American to represent Washington at the federal level. Before entering electoral politics, she was a Seattle-based civil rights activist and executive director of OneAmerica, an immigrant advocacy group she founded after September 11, 2001. She previously served in the Washington State Senate representing the 37th legislative district from 2015 to 2017.

Career

Jayapal served as Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus from 2021 to 2025 and previously as co-chair from 2019 to 2021. In the Washington State Senate, she was the primary sponsor of SB 5863, which established a pre-apprenticeship program for women and people of color in transportation, and the bill passed into law in 2015. She co-sponsored the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act and has introduced Medicare for All legislation multiple times since entering Congress. She co-founded the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force. She was arrested in 2018 while protesting the Trump administration's family separation immigration policy.

Prior political experience

Jayapal won her first House election in 2016 with 56% of the vote in a race against fellow Democrat Brady Walkinshaw, the first time in Washington history that two Democrats competed for a federal seat. In 2018, she won re-election with 83.6% of the vote. Washington's 7th congressional district is the most Democratic district in the Pacific Northwest.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress-0.614

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
-0.561
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 325 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
5thU.S. House WA-72025–presentIn progressPramila Jayapal—
4thU.S. House WA-72023–2025Term endedPramila JayapalPramila Jayapal
3rdU.S. House WA-72021–2023Term endedPramila JayapalPramila Jayapal
2ndU.S. House WA-72019–2021Term endedPramila JayapalPramila Jayapal
1stU.S. House WA-72017–2019Term ended—Pramila Jayapal

Committee assignments

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
2024U.S. House WA-7Won83.56%