Raja Krishnamoorthi is a lawyer and engineer, who currently serves as the president of in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Background
Raja Krishnamoorthi was born on July 19, 1973 in New Delhi, India. He was 3 months old when his parents immigrated to Buffalo, New York, where his father completed a graduate degree in industrial engineering. In 1980, his family moved to Peoria, Illinois after his father was appointed as a faculty member at Bradley University.
Education
Krishnamoorthi graduated from Richwoods High School in Peoria, Illinois. After two years in management consulting, he graduated from Harvard Law School in 2000.
Career
He is the Democratic nominee for Illinois"s 8th congressional district in the 2016 elections. Previously, Krishnamoorthi was Deputy Treasurer of Illinois from 2007-2009. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University.
After law school, Krishnamoorthi clerked for Judge Joan B. Gottschall at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
He then joined the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis in 2002. While at Kirkland & Ellis, Krishnamoorthi was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as a Special Assistant Attorney General with the Public Integrity Unit.
He also served on the board of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. Krishnamoorthi left Kirkland & Ellis in 2007 to become the Deputy Treasurer of Illinois.
2010 Illinois Comptroller race
In April 2009, Krishnamoorthi resigned from his position as Deputy Treasurer of Illinois and opened a campaign exploratory committee for Illinois Comptroller.
In 2010, he sought the Democratic nomination for Illinois State Comptroller, and lost to David East. Miller. 2012 Congressional bid
On May 22, 2011, Krishnamoorthi announced he was forming an exploratory committee to run for the United States. House seat in Illinois"s Eighth Congressional District. On March 20, 2012, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Tammy Duckworth.
2016 Congressional bid
He will face Republican Pete DiCianni
Krishnamoorthi serves as the president of in Bolingbrook, Illinois, a position he has held since September 9, 2010.
The company describes itself as a research, development, and commercialization firm specializing in night vision military technology, solar cells, biosensors to detect weapons of mass destruction, and radiation detectors.