Bobby Jindal | |
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55th Governor of Louisiana | |
In office January 14, 2008 – January 11, 2016 |
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Lieutenant |
Mitch Landrieu Scott Angelle Jay Dardenne |
Preceded by | Kathleen Blanco |
Succeeded by | John Bel Edwards |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district |
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In office January 3, 2005 – January 14, 2008 |
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Preceded by | David Vitter |
Succeeded by | Steve Scalise |
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation | |
In office July 9, 2001 – February 21, 2003 |
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President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Margaret Hamburg |
Succeeded by | Michael O’Grady |
Personal details | |
Born |
Piyush Jindal June 10, 1971 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Supriya Jolly (1997–present) |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater |
Brown University (BS) New College, Oxford (MLitt) |
Signature |
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who was the 55th Governor of Louisiana between 2008 and 2016, and previously served as a U.S. Congressman and as the vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
In 1996, Jindal was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and in 1999, at age 28, he was appointed as the youngest president in the history of the University of Louisiana System. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Jindal as principal adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
He first ran for governor of Louisiana in 2003, but lost in the run-off election to Democratic candidate, Kathleen Blanco. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second Indian American in Congress, and was re-elected in 2006. Jindal ran for governor again in the 2007 election and won, making him the first Indian American governor in the U.S. and, at 36 years old, the second youngest governor of Louisiana after Huey P. Long, who was 35 when he was elected in 1928. Jindal was re-elected in 2011 in a landslide, winning more than 65% of the vote. Until the election of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in 2010, he was the first and only Indian American Governor in the United States.