Meet Aruna Miller, the Indian American running for US Congress

Monday January 15, 2018 , 2 min Read

Aruna Miller was seven years old when she migrated to the US from India with her parents. Civil engineer by profession, she entered politics in 2000 after realising she wanted to do her share for the betterment of her society.

In 2010, Aruna was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates where she now represents 15th district. She recently filed her nomination to take part in the US congress election which will be held in June, 2018. Talking about her decision in an interview with PTI, she said,

As an immigrant, I have been afforded incredible opportunities here. I want to pay it forward and make sure we keep the doors of opportunity open to all our citizens. Congress needs more experienced, progressive legislators at this critical time, if we are going to enact and keep policies that really serve the best interests of the people and our country.

53-year-old Aruna will be contesting the election against four others — David Trone (businessman), Roger Manno (State senator), Andrew Duck (retd. intelligence officer), and Nadia Hashimi (pediatrician and writer). And the first round of elections will be taking place on June 26, 2018.

In her time in the General Assembly, some of her significant achievements include making the governor set aside $3 million in the annual budget for programmes related to sexual assault and rally against the sale of cigarettes to minors. She his largely interested in promoting public safety, protecting environment and the well-being of children. Talking about her to The Baltimore Sun, her endorser, Michael E. Busch said,

In her time in Annapolis, Aruna has taken on some of the most difficult and sensitive issues we face. She's built consensus and forged commonsense, progressive solutions.