PIA DANDIYA

A proud product of District 21, Pia was born and raised in Jupiter to parents originally from India. Pia started her career as a teacher and most recently, was a high school principal in Harlem. She founded a high school with the goal of changing life trajectories for low-income students by putting them on a path to economic freedom. Every single graduate of her high school earned admission to college, despite 86% of them living below the poverty line. She founded her school at the age of 28, making her one of the youngest principals in the country, and it remains one of the highest performing high schools in New York state. Prior to this, Pia was a proud middle school and high school teacher in low-income schools where she led her students to 90%+ proficiency on state exams. She understands what it takes to create institutions that help American families change their life trajectories and is ready to bring her experience to Washington.

After her time as a high school principal, Pia was selected to be a White House Fellow where she served at the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Education. Her time in DC strengthened her conviction that the economic independence of every American is paramount to our country’s success – and that we can help all Americans achieve this goal through access to a good job, reliable childcare and high quality affordable healthcare.

Since the White House Fellowship, Pia has led public sector initiatives at Apple, working hand-in-hand with state leaders to harness the power of technology to better serve their communities. Her efforts have advanced bold solutions in education, healthcare and state government with the goal of making our institutions more effective and modernized. Pia was also appointed by Governor J.B. Pritzker to the Illinois P-20 Council, a state committee aiming to foster collaboration among state agencies, education institutions, local schools, and community groups, where she co-chaired the K-12 Computer Science working group.

In Congress, Pia will put the American people first. She is certain that elected leadership shouldn’t be about headlines or political fights – it should be about you. Pia is determined to make our institutions vehicles for economic freedom and will shift our national paradigm from helping Americans merely survive to helping them to be self-sustaining and thrive. She will be a proud voice for policies that put all Americans on a path to prosperity, including preparing Americans for jobs in the 21st Century, advocating for universal pre-K, reinstating reproductive rights, fighting inflation and ensuring Americans’ hard earned dollars go further.

Pia will also stand up for our country’s democratic ideals in this critical moment as politicians in Washington weaken programs that give millions of citizens a fighting chance, such as Social Security, Medicaid and support for our veterans. She will hold those who threaten our country’s core values accountable and fight to build a future that focuses on progress over polarization.

Pia holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard University and a Master’s in Education from Boston University in partnership with Teach For America. As an undergraduate, she spent her summers teaching English to slum children in New Delhi, working in Senator Bill Nelson’s Washington, D.C. office, and advocating for improved public education through the I Have A Dream Foundation in New York. These experiences, along with her time in the classroom, has taught Pia that in order to truly change outcomes, policymakers must work in partnership with the communities they serve.