Gautam Raghavan – Chief of Staff, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Gautam Raghavan currently serves as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and member of the Judiciary, Education & Labor, and Budget committees.

Until recently, Raghavan advised a broad range of progressive organizations focused on securing political power and social justice including the Biden Foundation, Indian American Impact Project, AAPI Victory Fund, and Out2Enroll. From 2014 to 2017, Raghavan served as Vice President of Policy for the Gill Foundation, where he managed multi-million-dollar investments in federal and state level policy advocacy focused on equal treatment for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans. From 2011 to 2014, Raghavan served as President Barack Obama’s liaison to the LGBTQ community as well as the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and from 2009 to 2011, as Acting White House Liaison for the U.S. Department of Defense and as Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Working Group. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Raghavan worked to strengthen the progressive movement and expand the Democratic Party as director of the 2008 Obama campaign’s Asian American Finance Committee and as Midwest Finance Director for the Democratic National Committee under Chairman Howard Dean. 

A first-generation immigrant, Raghavan was born in India, raised in Seattle, and graduated from Stanford University. He has been honored by the Tyler Clementi Foundation, NQAPIA, and Out Magazine and serves on advisory boards for the Council for Global Equality, Washington Leadership Program, and Sheryl Sandberg’s OptionB.org. He is also the editor of West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers, and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House(Penguin Books). He lives with his husband and their daughter in Washington, D.C.