US elections 2016: Indian-American elected to Congress from Illinois

The 2016 US elections are turning out to be historic in many ways. In Illinois, an Indian-American has been elected to the US Congress. Raja Krishnamoorthi, 43, is the first Indian-American to make it to the US Congress in this election, but there are several others in the fray right now.

While it is Krishnamoorthi's first term, Ami Bera is looking at a third term. Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Peter Jacobs are looking at the House and Kamala Harris is aiming for Senate. More Indian-Americans are hoping to make it to the Congress in time to come.

Krishnamoorthi tried to make it to the Congress in 2012, but that was not successful. He was born in New Delhi and moved to the US with his parents when he was three-years-old. He did his schooling in Peoria, Illinois, and went on to study mechanical engineering at Princeton and law at Harvard, like President Barack Obama. He had the opportunity to meet Obama in 1998 and even went on to work "low-level policy researcher" on his 2000 campaign. He was also a founding prosecutor in Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's anti-corruption unit.

Krishnamoorthi has three kids and lives with his wife Priya, a doctor, in Chicago. He runs a business and serves as president of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc. He is also a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organisation which provides training in solar technology to inner-city students and veterans.

"This election year has shined a bright light on the importance of standing up to bigotry and racism spewed by Donald Trump to uphold our American ideals of diversity," Krishnamoorthi had said on November 1 when he was endorsed by the United Hellenic Voters of America.

The Chicago Tribune wrote "what really sets him apart is a solid and enthusiastic grasp on issues from immigration to the war on Islamic State."