Jayapal, Pramila, 1965-

Pramila Jayapal (born September 21, 1965) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served as the U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district's first female member of Congress, she is also the first Asian American to represent Washington at the federal level.

Born in Chennai, India and mostly raised in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore, Jayapal immigrated to the United States in 1982, at age 16, to attend college. She earned a BA from Georgetown University and an MBA from Northwestern University. Jayapal worked for PaineWebber as a financial analyst after graduating from college. At PaineWebber, she began to work on development projects from Chicago to Thailand. Later, she briefly worked in sales and marketing for a medical company before moving into the public sector in 1991. Jayapal founded Hate Free Zone after the 2001 September 11 attacks as an advocacy group for immigrant groups. Hate Free Zone registered new American citizens to vote and lobbied on immigration reform and related issues. The group changed its name to OneAmerica in 2008. Jayapal stepped down from her leadership position in May 2012. In 2013 she was recognized by the White House as a "Champion of Change." In 2014, Jayapal was elected to the Washington Senate from the 37th district.

In January 2016, Jayapal entered the race to succeed Representative Jim McDermott in Washington's 7th congressional district, finishing first in the August top-two primary and defeating State Representative Brady Walkinshaw, a fellow progressive Democrat, in November. In Congress, Representative Jayapal has been a leader on immigration, including fighting the Trump Administration’s inhumane policies of separating children from their parents and crafting legislation to create a fair and humane immigration system. She has also championed legislation to address income inequality, such as the $15 minimum wage and expanded collective bargaining rights for workers. She has worked extensively on health care issues as the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All bill in the House, and she is the author of the College for All Act, which would ensure every American has access to higher education. She has authored other landmark pieces of progressive legislation including the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Ad, Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, the Housing is a Human Right Act, and the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. She has also helped to introduce the THRIVE Act and other legislation to transition our economy to 100% clean energy and address the crisis of climate justice.