Indian Americans should run for office at all levels: Raja Krishnamoorthi

It's time for Indian Americans to run for office at all levels and never miss to vote, influential Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi told community members gathered here from across the country.

We have to vote. Will everyone here vote in that coming election? Because we can talk politics all day, but doing politics is what matters. Remember, politics is not just a noun, it's a verb. And we have to do politics this year. We have to vote, Krishnamoorthi told a room full of eminent Indian Americans who had gathered in the American Capital for the annual summit of Indian American Impact, a Democratic think-tank.

Secondly, we have to work on political causes bigger than ourselves. We have to support our local mandirs. We have to support our local mosques. We have to support our local not-for-profits. I hope you do that and you give generously. But we also have to work on political issues bigger than ourselves, said the Indian American Congressman, who represents the suburb of Chicago in the House of Representatives.

Whether you're Democrat, Republican, independent, I don't care as long as you recognise that you need to participate in the civic affairs of your country. And now is the time to do it, he asserted.

My third and final point is, it's time to run for the office. It's time to run for office at all levels, Krishnamoorthi said a day after Vice President Kamala Harris said that Indian Americans are underrepresented in the elected offices in the United States.

Impact is making a strong impact so that we can have more and more and more people at all levels pulling up a seat to the table. There is this old saying in Washington, which is, if you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu. None of us can afford to be on the menu, not this year or any year, he said.

So, I hope that more people consider running for office. Perhaps you'll run for city council, maybe for State house, State senate. You'll run for Congress, Krishnamoorthi said.