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Jay Chaudhuri, an attorney in North Carolina with 15 years of experience in state government, announced his run for the state Senate June 2. He decided to run for the District 16 Senate seat currently held by Democratic Senator Josh Stein who is expected to announce his run for state attorney general shortly. The Democratic primary is scheduled for May 3 next year and Chaudhuri is the first to announce his candidacy.
Chaudhuri has already raised more than $105,000 from 113 donors in 10 days, he told News India Times. adding that most of it was from friends, family, and neighbors. “Seventy percent of it is from individuals in North Carolina,” Chaudhuri clarified. He has received the endorsement of state Treasurer Janet Cowell to whom he was the general counsel and policy advisor, as well as several statewide and local community leaders, according to a press release. Going by the amount state Sen. Stein had to raise back in 2008 during a highly competitive Democratic primary, Chaudhuri estimates he will need $500,000 to win his party’s endorsement next May. He fully expects more Democratic hopefuls to throw their hat in the ring before the primaries.
District 16 appears heavily Democratic with Stein winning 67.1 percent of the vote in 2014 against a Republican opponent. However, the state Senate, state House of Representatives as well as the Governor’s mansion are in the hands of Republicans. The district has a significant Asian and Pacific Islander population at close to 10 percent, whose support Chaudhuri hopes to draw upon for the Democratic primary. “In the town of Morrisville alone which is part of District 16, 1 in every 3 individuals is Indian-American. And there are 3 temples in this town,” he said. More than 67 percent of the residents in District 16 are white, and 15.3 percent black according to the 2010 Census.
The Raleigh, N.C. resident said he had devoted his entire career to fighting and working for the people of North Carolina. He was special counsel to Attorney General Roy Cooper as well as Cowell. At Cooper’s office, he said he had fought to protect children from online predators and at Cowell’s he had helped recover almost $100 million in pension and unclaimed property funds for retirees and taxpayers.
“At the top of my agenda is to have a strong and robust public education system,” which he said had been diminished by Republican funding cuts. “North Carolina has a tradition of investing in public education and I want to bring that back,” he added. “I will fight to make sure that world-class teachers deserve world-class pay. I will fight to make sure that every North Carolinian has an opportunity to move up the economic ladder. And, I will fight to make sure that we have an open and honest government,” Chaudhuri says on his campaign website.
Born in Chattanooga,Tennessee, Chaudhuri’s parents, Debi and Mithu Chaudhuri, left India 50 years ago. They settled in Fayetteville, N.C. in 1972 where his father worked at the Veteran Administration Hospital before entering private practice. Chaudhuri graduated from Davidson College, Charlotte, N.C., Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, New York, and North Carolina Central University School of Law. The North Carolina Bar Association recorded him with a Citizens Lawyer award and last year the publication Lawyers Weekly honored him with the Leaders in the Law award. He has also received several fellowships. He currently serves on the several councils and boards. He is married to Sejal Mehta, a former New York City prosecutor. The couple has two children.
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