Indian American Suneel Gupta running for Congress in Michigan

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NEW YORK – Indian American Suneel Gupta, a former executive of Groupon, is running for Congress in Michigan’s 11^th District.

According to the Michgan Radio, Gupta is up against Tim Griemel, a term-limited state representative and Haley Stevens, who was chief of staff for the Auto Task Force. All three will be battling for the Democratic seat at the primaries on August 7.

According to his campaign website, Gupta earned his undergraduate degree in computer programming from the University of Michigan and has a law degree along with an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

Gupta then began working for Groupon, and eventually became the company’s first Vice President of Product Development.

In 2012, Gupta co-founded the mobile health company Rise with his brother Dr. Sanjay Gupta and together they have lowered the cost of quality care for thousands of patients; the company then became an official technology partner for former first lady Michelle Obama’s team.

In 2016, Michael Bloomberg asked Gupta to join his bi-partisan commission on the Future of Work to bring Rise’s lessons to policymakers.

Gupta has also lectured on Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan and has been named as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.

If elected, Gupta has three priorities on his plate: affordable, quality healthcare for all; a world-class education for every student and a return to decency.

In order to provide affordable, quality healthcare for all, Gupta will use collective bargaining power to lower the cost of prescription drugs, prioritize the opioid epidemic by holding drug companies accountable for it and acknowledge and invest in mental health care.

“At a time when Donald Trump wants to cut Medicare by over $500B, I’m the candidate in this race with hands-on healthcare experience who has stood up to the pharmaceutical companies who are ripping off families and seniors – and I will fight him every step of the way,” Gupta states on his campaign website. “I will not rest until we acknowledge that living in the greatest country in the world comes with the responsibility to take care of our neighbors and to make healthcare a human right.”

To provide a world-class education for every student, Gupta will prevent for-profit charter schools from receiving a single dime of tax-payer money, reducing crushing student loan debt for parents and students and empower every student to pursue higher education or community college.

“Generations ago, America made a commitment to give every child the education they need to obtain a good-paying job. It’s time to restore that commitment. Betsy Devos has looted our education system, and let corporations siphon taxpayer money from our schools,” he continues.

In order to return to decency, Gupta will prevent the use of tax-payer money to sweep bad behavior underneath the rug, demand that women receive equal pay for equal work, as well as access to affordable child care and family leave and fighting tooth-and-nail for common-sense gun legislation, reversing the tide of Citizens United so that the NRA and large corporations can no longer drown out the voices of families.

“In Donald Trump’s America, we’re being divided into two camps, and pitted against each other every day. But in this country, we are better than that. We know that decency and strength are not opposing values,” he adds.

Gupta has been hailed as “The New Face of Innovation” by the New York Stock Exchange magazine for building companies that have created thousands of good-paying jobs.

Gupta was born and brought up in the U.S. and his parents worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years until they were laid off in 2001.

Gupta is married to journalist Leena Rao for eight years now. They have two daughters, Sammy, 5, and Serena, 1.