ABOUT SUNJAY

I am a proud queer second-generation Indian-American, a community organizer, a transit-rider and biker, an engineer, and an Uptown homeowner.

My partner and I moved to Uptown because we wanted to live somewhere where we could walk down the street holding hands without worrying. This isn’t something we could take for granted, as visibly non-white and visibly queer people. But Uptown welcomed us: here, I found an inclusive neighborhood and a community that shared my vision for a more just world. 

Seeking ways to put my values into action, I became a community organizer. Being an organizer means building spaces where people can share more of themselves, find common ground with neighbors, and work collectively toward a common goal.

As an organizer: 

• I have knocked on doors and talked to neighbors across Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville, and beyond about the issues that matter most deeply to them. 

• I have worked with activists to harness people-power to lobby legislators and enact reforms that build a more just world, including legislation such as the Pretrial Fairness Act and the Language Access and Equity Act. 

• I have helped build community around shared progressive values, by running political education and affinity spaces for LGBTQ+ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. 

• As a member and leader with Asian American Midwest Progressives, I helped elect progressive champions across levels of government, including Alder Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, Alder Angela Clay, and State Rep. Hoan Huynh.

• I have brought together people from different racial backgrounds to address institutional and systemic racism, including through the Anti-Racism Team at my church. 

I know that we can build power and achieve enormous change by connecting with people, learning their stories, and building broad coalitions across race, class, and language. I’m running to bring that organizing spirit to the General Assembly.