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Introducing Rishi Kumar, our next Congressional Representative

Rishi at the capitol

Rishi Kumar is a Silicon Valley hi-tech executive and mechanical engineer running for U.S. Congress (CA-16). As a Saratoga councilmember, he was elected with the most votes in Saratoga's history for getting things done. He has served on Governor Brown’s UC Regents committee and California's K-12 public school computer science implementation panel. Rishi has been elected and served multiple terms as the Executive Board and Delegate to the California Democratic Party. He brings tech industry experience and a track record of people-centric public service. Rishi resides in Saratoga with his wife and two kids.

Rishi’s historic performance at the November 2022 election

  • In the November 2022 U.S. Congress election for CA-16, Rishi Kumar secured 102,000 votes, receiving a historic 42.2% of the total vote share - winning many cities and precincts in the congressional district. This marks the best performance by a challenger in three decades, even though he was outspent 3 to 1 by the incumbent. Rishi is poised for an upset victory in the 2024 election.
  • Rishi seeks to deliver to Congress not just tech literacy, but a Silicon Valley pragmatism with a "getting things done attitude."
  • Rishi believes that Silicon Valley needs innovative leadership, making choices based on a keen grasp of the valley’s innovation agenda, making choices that work best for our people and the long term economic vitality and success of our community.
  • Rishi’s motivation is to change the broken sold out Washington culture by bringing a new brand of people-driven, rather than lobbyist-driven, politics. Rishi’s run is for the people.

Rishi fights for the people and brings common sense thinking

Rishi believes in fiscally moderate, result-driven problem-solving approaches as a political leader. As an immigrant and an engineer working for IBM, Rishi found his calling as an activist stepping up for complex community challenges that he couldn’t ignore. As a councilmember of Saratoga, he challenged the system, unafraid to be the dissenting vote, and focused his energy on the tough community challenges. He led efforts to reject many of San Jose Water Company’s water rate increases that benefited a million residents of Silicon Valley, reduced burglaries - the largest reduction compared to any other Silicon Valley city, and stopped a potential 300-room hotel mega development project on a hillside in a high fire hazard zone. When his colleagues on the city council proposed a road tax, he was the only dissenting vote, pushing for a budget optimization approach instead to free up dollars for road repair. The council ultimately put the brakes on the road tax. Rishi brings a people-centric platform and a track record of getting-things-done to politics.

Rishi has a track record of empowering the youth

As a person of color, Rishi believes that if you are lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down. Rishi has championed the issues of disadvantaged communities across Silicon Valley, seeking to bridge the income gap. To rectify this issue, Rishi launched the no-charge Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Silicon Valley, which benefited thousands of disadvantaged students by empowering them through STEM and entrepreneurial skills. Since 2012, Rishi has also hosted the no-charge Lego Robotics Bootcamp to teach students robotic design and programming. As a member of the California Computer Science Strategic Implementation Panel, a California Department of Education initiative, Rishi has helped roll out a K-12 Computer Science curriculum for every Public School student in California that is scheduled to go live in 2022. During the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, Rishi organized hackathons, facilitated entrepreneurial boot camps for young students, and provided online coding classes to encourage continued growth for all students. His current internship program provides valuable leadership experience for hundreds of high school and college students all over the country. Rishi believes that equal opportunity should be afforded to all youth, regardless of their family’s income level in order to begin to bridge the income inequality gap.

Unique brand of politics

Rishi’s brand is exciting since he could potentially be the first tech-savvy congressman, keenly invested to grow the economy and create jobs - opportunity for all. Silicon Valley’s success as an innovation capital of the world will be in good hands

Rishi has been solving the data challenges in tech, and will solve the people-challenges as a U.S. Representative with your support. Rishi does not believe in partisan politics, but rather in problem solving - not Left, not Right, but Forward. We are NOT simply Red States, or Blue States - we are the United States. Rishi will always represent every person in his constituency, irrespective of party, or economic status or anything else. You can count on it! Never the special interests or those with fat wallets.

Here is Rishi’s personal story, the journey to the U.S., to Silicon Valley and the run for U.S. Congress.

Rishi on Capitol Hill

Rishi has been elected to the following organizations


  • Served two terms on the Saratoga City Council (2014-2022)
  • Elected and served multiple terms as the Executive Board and Delegate to the California Democratic Party
  • Board member of the California Democratic Party API Caucus and served multiple terms
  • National Democratic Party Delegate (2016)

He has been appointed to the following organizations


  • Served on the Governor’s University of California Regents committee
  • Served on the California Department of Education's K-12 public school computer science curriculum implementation panel - the curriculum is now live for every public school child
  • Founded the Bay Area Indian American Democratic Club http://www.baiadc.org
  • NLC Asian Pacific American Municipal Officials APAMO Board member
  • Director - CA League of Cities API Caucus
  • Member National League of Cities, Energy and Environmental Resources Committee
  • League of CA Cities Employee Relations Policy Committee
  • League of CA Cities Administrative Policy Committee

He served on the following bodies as a member of the Saratoga City Council


  • Santa Clara Valley Water Commission
  • Santa Clara County Library District Board of Directors
  • West Valley Clean Water Program Authority Board of Directors
  • West Valley Solid Waste Management Authority Board of Directors
  • Saratoga Ministerial Association
  • Saratoga Chamber of Commerce Board