A Techie Eyes the Hill: Virginia State Senator-elect Suhas Subramanyam Announces U.S. Congress Bid
- The 37-year-old Indian American who has represented eastern Loudoun in the House of Delegates for the past four years, says he’s awaiting to address dysfunction and extremism in politics.
Virginia Delegate and state Senator-elect Suhas Subramanyam is running for U.S. Congress from the state’s 10th Congressional District to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who will retire at the end of her current term. Earlier this month, the 37-year-old Indian American who has represented eastern Loudoun in the House of Delegates for the past four years, won his State Senate bid to represent District 3. He replaced the incumbent, Democrat John Bell, who did not seek reelection following a cancer diagnosis. Democrats fared well in the state, helping flip the House of Delegates to Democratic control, and preserving a blue majority in the state Senate.
Subramanyam told American Kahani that he chose to run for Congress because he cares deeply about the community he represents in his home state. Over the years, he has not only seen a lot of the changes happening but has also felt the effects of some, he said, adding that he wants to address the “dysfunction and extremism in politics.” He describes himself as a “problem solver,” especially the “toughest” ones when the odds seem stacked against him.
The young lawmaker decided to run for the U.S. Congress seat, which overlaps his state Senate seat after getting positive feedback from his constituents in the “Democratic-leaning” and “diverse” district.” He has won five elections, and has “always had a good showing for Democrats,” he added. “I have a track record of success delivering for people all over the district and all the counties in the district,” he said. His U.S. Congress campaign has already received “a lot of support,” he said, adding that they raised “more than $100,000 in 24 hours.”
He joins “a packed field of Democratic contenders,” the Luudoun Times-Mirror reported, including Former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn; Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, Del. David Reid, D-Ashburn, state Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Herndon, former Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni and Mark Leighton, a librarian at George Mason University’s law school. was the first Democrat to declare her candidacy in October. Republican Mike Clancy, an attorney and technology company executive, is so far the sole candidate seeking his party’s nomination.
If elected to Congress, “working to protect reproductive rights, strengthening gun regulations, and reducing the cost of prescription drugs” would be his top priorities, he told the Loudoun Times-Mirror. Noting that he “got a track record of success delivering for people all over the district and all the counties in the district,” he told the paper that voters know him already and know that “I walk across the aisle when I need to. I listen to everyone, and I’m responsive.”
A former technology policy adviser to President Barack Obama, Subramanyam made history in 2019 when he won his bid for the House in the Nov. 5 election, along with Ghazala Hashmi, who won her State Senate seat. Both Subramanyam and Hashmi, along with dozens of other Democratic candidates were catalytic in turning the southern state totally blue as the Democrats took full control of the state legislature. In 2021, he was among the group of lawmakers that founded the Commonwealth Caucus, “aimed at encouraging bipartisanship within the General Assembly,” according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
An attorney by training, he runs S2 Impact, a technology consulting firm that advises companies and nonprofits on law, technology, and government regulations. He also enjoyed a stint on Capitol Hill as a healthcare and veterans policy aide. He clerked for Senator Dick Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked on reintroducing the DREAM Act and helped Senator Durbin and his team work on proposing a range of criminal justice reforms. He also served as a legislative aide handling legislation related to health care (including the Affordable Care Act), veterans, agriculture, food safety, and education.
Born and raised in Virginia, his parents are both physicians, as is his sister. He’s an alumnus of Tulane University in New Orleans, where he did his undergraduate degree and Northwestern University in Illinois where he graduated with a law degree. He is married to Miranda Peña Subramanyam, who works in international trade and volunteers in her free time at the Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter. They currently reside in Ashburn, Virginia with their two daughters.