This Oct. 16, at a rally where former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders came to Seattle to get out the vote for state Senator Pramila Jayapal who is running for U.S. Congress from District 7, some booing and heckling broke through the loud cheers. That was when the two progressives endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Predictably, the bitterness and disenchantment about giving up and following Clinton still lingers among some avid Sanders fans.
This is the state that gave the Democratic Socialist Sanders a resounding victory (72.7 percent) in the caucuses against Clinton this August, and Jayapal has been among his strongest backers.
“I’ve never described myself as a Socialist,” Jayapal said. “I have always been a Democrat. I believe you make change from within the party,” Jayapal told News India Times.
“No one can call me an ‘establishment’ candidate,” either, she asserted. “I’ve been fighting from ‘outside’ all these years. I’ve taken on the establishment on one issue after another. Yes, I’ve broadened the base of the Democratic Party,” she said. In 2013, Jayapal was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for her grassroots mobilization on issues of immigration, hate crimes, and women’s issues.
At the rally with Sanders however, Jayapal tried to bring around the disenchanted. “I know some of you aren’t that excited about it. We were all supporters of Bernie,” Jayapal told them according to news reports.”But let me tell you something. As an immigrant woman of color, I simply do not have the luxury to allow Donald Trump to get anywhere near the White House.”
Jayapal tells it like it is, which according to some observers, has been her strength, along with her grassroots organizational skills in the 20 years or so before she ran for and won the state Senate seat from District 37 in 2014.
Rainbow Coalition
It also partly explains her fundraising prowess. Federal Election Commission records show Jayapal had $2.23 million in her campaign coffers as of Sept. 30, while her opponent, also a Democrat, Brady Pinero Walkinshaw, reported $1.46 million.
Though Walkinshaw and Jayapal were the top two winners in the August caucuses, the Indian-American won 42 percent of the vote to Walkinshaw’s 21 percent in a 9-way race. That’s how popular she is and why many observers expect her to win her bid for Congress from District 7.
But it’s not enough she says for the remaining weeks to Nov. 8. “We may be well-positioned to win, but we still have to raise a lot of money before election day and I hope the Indian-American community around the country will support me,” she said. “We have another $350,000 to reach our goal of $3 million needed for this Congressional race,” she estimated. So far her campaign has reached more than 300,000 voters “to build a movement,” with an army of volunteers whose diversity is probably unprecedented despite District 7 being 76 percent white (Ballotpedia.com).
She said they had to hike up fundraising efforts because Walkinshaw was raising large amounts. “But it’s not just about how we raise the money; it’s also about how we are spending it.” Unlike her campaign, Walkinshaw has focused on TV ads, she says.
“Jayapal is doing something different …” said an analyst in an August 23 article in the online news site Crosscut.com. “She’s running her 7th Congressional District campaign on a platform that hasn’t been common of Seattle politicians in the past, emphasizing racial justice and immigration reform.”
“I’m so proud our campaign has galvanized people from all groups,” Jayapal told News India Times. “I’ve had support from white, brown, and black, the disabled, the LGBT community, rich and poor. That’s the kind of coalition we need (nationally) to deal with issues.”
Because both candidates are Democrats in a “safely Democratic” district, they are competing for the same votes. They also need to convince at least 15 percent of the Republican vote in the district, Jayapal said. As to how she has or will do that, Jayapal said, “I am talking about working people – a lot of white, low-income Republicans,” who she believes, will go with her agenda. “I say the system is controlled by the very wealthy; that we may not agree on things, but you will get a person who listens, is honest about where she stands and we agree to disagree,” Jayapal says about her approach. According to her, a significant portion of the white electorate of District 7 is liberal, “This district went 70 percent for Sanders!”
In January when Jayapal announced her candidacy to replace Congressman Jim McDermott, D-Wash., she described herself as a “bold progressive fighter.”
“I’m running for Congress because our system is rigged for corporations and the wealthy. The time has come to tackle this inequality,” she declared echoing the fighting words of Sanders.
When asked if she believed in the Capitalist system, Jayapal said, “I believe that having an economy that’s rigged means Capitalism doesn’t work in theory.” Corporate greed in the existing capitalist system is overtaking the opportunities for everyone, she contended. “There’s truth in the saying, ‘We’re all better off when we’re all better off’,” Jayapal said.
On Presidential Candidates
She distanced herself from the “rigged” system Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has often referred to.
“He’s talking about a rigged political system – when it works against him,” Jayapal said. “Donald Trump made money out of government-funded loans, never paid taxes, and bragged about that. That’s a perfect example,” of the system not working and money going to the wealthiest, Jayapal said.
On how Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton could expand her support among Millennials, Jayapal said, “She should be out with young people more, making sure she is talking to them on issues that she has taken up and which concern them – college costs, climate change …”
She has some policy differences with Clinton despite her support. “She is much more of a hawk. War should be the last answer, not the first,” Jayapal said. “Also, I support a single-payer system of healthcare and that needs to be looked at.” And finally, “I hope she upholds her promise to change the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership),” Jayapal said referring to a trade pact President Obama has been trying to push through.
Activist Turned Politician
During her activist days, Jayapal led one of the largest voter registration efforts in Washington State, helping more than 23,000 new Americans register to vote.
After 9/11, in response to hate crimes and discrimination targeting the Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities, Jayapal founded Hate Free Zone, which later became OneAmerica, an advocacy group dedicated to organizing and advocating for many diverse “communities of color” her website says. She has fought for comprehensive immigration reform, and held positions in national and state organizations to further that goal.
In the state legislature, Jayapal’s bills deal with problems of domestic violence, youth, and people with disabilities, among others.
She has written a memoir, Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland, and several essays and articles.
Jayapal came to the U.S. as a 16-year old for higher education at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
She worked on Wall Street as a financial analyst and went on to earn a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, Illinois. After working in the medical equipment industry for a year, she began a full-time engagement with social justice issues and advocacy.
She lives in Seattle with her husband Steve Williamson, an officer and director of United Food Workers International Union 21, the largest private-sector union in the state with more than 44,000 members working in grocery store, retail, health care, and other industry jobs. She has a son Janak, and a step-son Michael.
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