A longtime friend of Barack Obama, Raja worked on Obama’s successful 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate, serving first as the issues director for his primary campaign and then as a senior adviser in his general election campaign. Raja also advised Obama during his Presidential campaign and worked on his 2000 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Raja’s parents are immigrants from India and brought their three month-old son with them to Buffalo, New York, where Raja’s father attended graduate school in engineering. Later, the family moved to Peoria when Raja’s father received an offer to teach at Bradley University. Some 30 years later, Raja’s father remains on the faculty of Bradley University, and his parents live in the same home where Raja was raised. Raja attended public schools in Peoria, played junior varsity football and graduated from Richwoods High School as a valedictorian. Raja made some of his closest friendships in Peoria, and his years living in Peoria helped form the values and principles that guide him today.
From Peoria, Raja went to Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in public policy. After he worked two years in management consulting, Raja attended Harvard Law School, graduating with honors. After clerking for a federal judge in Illinois, he joined a large Illinois law firm where he became a partner, leaving in 2007 to become Deputy State Treasurer. Raja stepped down as Deputy State Treasurer in April 2009 prior to forming an exploratory committee for I
llinois Comptroller.
Raja, 36, is married to Priya, a doctor, and they have two sons: Vijay, 3, and Vikram, born in May 2009. They live in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates.
Inspired by Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign, Raja Krishnamoorthi would be the first Asian-American elected to statewide office in Illinois.
