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Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Louisiana politician. Jindal was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives on November 2, 2004, from Louisiana's First Congressional District (map).
Biography
Jindal, born to Indian immigrants, as a Hindu but converted to Catholicism while in high school. He graduated from Brown University with honors in biology and public policy. Afterwards, he received a master's degree in politics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He will be the only Indian-American in the next Congress, and only the second ever, after Dalip Singh Saund, to serve in the U.S. Congress.
His previous public service includes time as the Louisiana Secretary of Department of Health & Hospitals, Executive Director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, and Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was also the youngest ever president of the University of Louisiana System.
He was chosen by Scholastic Update magazine as "one of America's top 10 extraordinary young people for the next millennium."
2003 race for Governor
In the 2003 open primary for Governor of Louisiana Jindal came in first place with 33% of the vote. In the runoff election he faced then-Lt. Governor Kathleen Blanco in 2003, a conservative Democrat. Blanco won with 52% of the vote to Jindal's 48%. Some political analysts believe that his loss was partly due to the fact that white conservatives from northern Louisiana did not vote for Jindal because he is not white. Other political analysts believe that Jindal lost because of his refusal to answer questions about his record and policies he enacted during his public service. Still others note that a significant number of Louisiana conservatives remain more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican.
Despite losing the election, the run for Governor made Jindal a well known figure on the state's political scene.
House victory
In 2004 Jindal easily won his race for the House, taking 78% of the vote. He succeeded David Vitter, who declined to run for reelection in order to run for Louisiana's Senate seat being vacated by John Breaux. (Vitter won the Senate seat.)