Ami Bera | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Dan Lungren |
| Constituency | 7th district (2013–2023) 6th district (2023–present) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Amerish Babulal Bera (1965-03-02)March 2, 1965 (age 60) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | University of California, Irvine (BS,MD) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Amerish Babulal "Ami" Bera (/ˈɑːmiˈbɛrə/AH-meeBERR-ə; born March 2, 1965) is an Americanphysician and politician who has been serving as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from California since 2013. He is a member of theDemocratic Party and representsCalifornia's 6th congressional district, which is inSacramento County.
Prior to his time in Congress, Bera worked as a physician and served as thechief medical officer for Sacramento County. He has also been involved in various community organizations, including theAmerican Red Cross and theCalifornia State Board of Education.
Bera is also a member of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee and has been an advocate for diplomacy and global engagement.[1][2][needs update]
Bera's father, Babulal Bera, immigrated to theUnited States fromRajkot,Gujarat,India in 1958.[3][4] Two years later, Babulal Bera was joined by his wife, Kanta.[5] Ami Bera was born inLos Angeles[6] and raised in theOrange County city ofLa Palma. He attendedJohn F. Kennedy High School while living there.[7][1]
Bera has a bachelor's degree inbiological sciences from theUniversity of California, Irvine, also earning hisDoctor of Medicine degree there in 1991.[7][8] From 1997 to 1999 he was the medical director of Care Management at the Mercy Healthcare for Sacramento. He served as thechief medical officer for theCounty of Sacramento and later as the associate dean for admissions at theUC Davis School of Medicine.[9] From 2005 to 2012, he served as a clinical professor at the school.[citation needed]
Bera challenged three-termRepublicanincumbentDan Lungren in the general election forCalifornia's 3rd congressional district. He ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.[10] He raised more money than Lungren for the five quarters through mid-2010,[11][12] making him the only Democratic challenger with more cash than a sitting Republican member of the House.[13] Bera was one of 17 candidates the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee targeted to take over Republican-held or open seats in 2010.[14]
Lungren was the only incumbent Republican whose race was rated a "tossup" byCQ Politics, but it was rerated "Lean GOP" in the campaign's final days,[15] and the race was considered competitive by both parties. Polling byDaily Kos in September showed Lungren leading Bera, 46%–38%.[16][17] Bera cited health care, education and economic recovery among his top legislative priorities. In November, Lungren won reelection, defeating Bera 51%–43%.[18]
In 2010, after Bera accepted a $250 donation fromBasim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento chapter of theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the California Republican Party called on him to return the money. Bera returned the money after these concerns were raised.[19]
Bera announced a rematch against Lungren in 2012. The district had been renumbered the 7th district, and made somewhat more compact. It lost all of its territory outside ofSacramento County, making it slightly friendlier to Democrats.
On November 13, 2012, Bera attended freshman orientation as congressman-elect while votes were still being counted.[20] Candidates in these tight races sometimes attend the orientation by the Committee on House Administration, whose chairman was Bera's opponent, Lungren.[21]
On November 15, 2012, theAssociated Press called the race for Bera, who won 51%–49%.[22][23]
Bera ran for reelection in 2014, facing former Republican congressmanDoug Ose, who had represented what was then the 3rd from 1999 to 2005.[24] TheRothenberg Political Report rated the 7th district "Lean Democratic," butThe Sacramento Bee reported that Bera was "viewed by both parties as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country."[2][20] Bera was a member of theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline program, designed to support vulnerable candidates.[25] In June 2014,Politico reported that the DCCC planned to support Bera with $1.7 million in ads throughout fall 2014, and the House Majority PAC, a political action committee designed to support Democratic candidates, reserved $200,000 for late-election television ads.[26]
The Hill reported that Bera's campaign received donations from parents of another Democratic candidate,Kevin Strouse, only to have Bera's parents then donate a similar amount to Strouse's campaign. According toThe Philadelphia Inquirer, "The donations appear legal, campaign finance experts say, though two said any agreement among the parents to trade donations could be viewed as an attempted end run around contribution limits."[27][28] In May 2016, Bera's father, Babulal, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of elections fraud.[29]
No Labels co-founder and formerGeorge W. Bush advisorMark McKinnon said of Bera, "He is the most important member of our Problem Solvers—of the entire group. He stepped up immediately as a freshman to take a leadership position. He was out early advocating on our big issues likeNo Budget, No Pay.”[30]
In response to a poll by the American Sikh Committee to Evaluate Congressional Candidates, Bera did not answer two questions about the Indian government's part in the1984 anti-Sikh riots in which 8,000Sikhs were massacred after Indianprime ministerIndira Gandhi's assassination. Instead, he noted that in 2005, Indian prime ministerManmohan Singh had publicly apologized to the Sikh community for the government's role. Bera also stated that, while it was a tragedy, he was more focused on the treatment of Sikhs in the U.S. and could not dictate how the Indian government should approach the matter.[31] In response, some members of the Sikh-American community, and some PACs representing them, publicly withdrew their support for Bera.[32] But with the majority of the Sikh-American population coming from outside of Bera's district, the advocates acknowledged that they were unlikely to affect the outcome of the race.[31]
On election night, Bera "was down by more than 3,000 votes...but came back to win after all the absentee and mail-in ballots were in." In the end, he won 50.4% of the vote to Ose's 49.6%.[33]
Bera ran for reelection in 2016. He facedRepublicanSacramento CountySheriffScott Jones in the general election.[34] In January 2016, the Elk Grove-South County Democratic Club, Bera's home club, voted against endorsing him, citing concerns with his record on trade and Syrian refugees.[35]
Bera's 2016 race was "one of the nastiest Congressional races with allegations and insinuations being bandied back and forth" and was also "one of the last two House races in the entire nation yet to be called." As he began his third term, he was joined by three new Indian-American House members:Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois,Pramila Jayapal from Washington, andRo Khanna from California.Silicon Valley entrepreneurM. R. Rangaswami said Bera "was the first Indian American to be in Congress in a long time and now can actually lead a Caucus...able to shepherd Pramila, Raja and Ro and get them going during their freshman year."[33]
A coalition of dissatisfied groups prevented Bera from garnering his party's endorsement in January, but at the state Democratic convention in February, he was endorsed, with 90% of the delegates voting to endorse.[36][37][38]
During the 2016 campaign Bera's father, Babulal Bera, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, and fined $100,200, for federal campaign finance violations that helped fund two of his son's campaigns.[39]
Bera narrowly defeated Jones in the general election, with 51% of the vote to Jones's 49%. The margin of victory was 4,802 votes.[40]
Since 2016, which saw the election to the House of three other Indian-Americans and to the Senate of the first Indian-American Senator,Kamala Devi Harris, Bera has been described as the "Godfather" of Indian-Americans onCapitol Hill.[41]
In 2018, Bera was reelected, garnering 155,016 votes (55%) and defeating Republican Andrew Grant, a formerU.S. Department of State official, who received 126,601 (45%).[42]
In 2020, Bera was reelected, garnering 217,416 votes (56%) and defeating Republican Buzz Patterson, a retiredUnited States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who received 166,549 (43%).[43]
During his first five terms in office (2013–2022), Bera was a cosponsor of 95 legislative items that became law and an original cosponsor of none.[44] Acts designating a name for a federal property accounted for 44 of the 95, typically with 50 or more cosponsors. Another 37 were general consensus items cosponsored by at least one third of the 435-member House, of which 27 were cosponsored by at least two thirds. Bera cosponsored only one successful item with fewer than 30 cosponsors. He was the final of 7 cosponsors for H.R.3399 in the 116th Congress, which became law on October 30, 2020.[45] The law authorized the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 to continue through 2025 and made California eligible for program grants.Nutria are an invasive species of large, semiaquatic rodents whose burrowing could threaten levees in theSacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where productive farmland lies below sea level.
During the 118th Congress, his sixth term in office (2023–2024), Bera was a cosponsor of 15 legislative items that became law and an original cosponsor of none.[46] Acts designating a name for a federal property accounted for 11 of the 15, typically with 50 cosponsors, and three other acts were cosponsored by at least two thirds of the House. Bera was the 25th of 62 cosponsors of the bipartisan H.R.4581, which became law on 12 July 2024 and clarifies that activities to prevent stillbirths are a permissible use of Federal funds.
In an interview covered in theElk Grove Citizen, Bera said his first year in Congress "was about being focused here in the district but also building my reputation in Washington, D.C."[47]
In October 2013, Bera announced that he would give up his federal pay for the duration of the government shutdown. He also announced that in response to sequester cuts, he would donate 8.2% of his check each month to local organizations affected by sequester cuts.[48]
In a 2015 op-ed supporting theTrans-Pacific Partnership in theSacramento Bee, Bera copied several sentences from documents produced by theBusiness Roundtable andThird Way and from an Obama White House report. He received criticism, including from labor groups like theCalifornia Labor Federation, for parroting lobbying firms. Bera later wrote an apology, though he stood by the sentiment of the op-ed.[49][50]
As of October 2021, Bera had voted in line withJoe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.[51]
In 2022, Bera was bitten by arabid fox onCapitol Hill and received the appropriateshots.[52] Coinciding withWorld Rabies Day, Bera introduced legislation, the Affordable Rabies Treatment for Uninsured Act, which would create a government program that would reimburse health care providers who administer the treatment to people who are uninsured. A five-shot regimen ofrabies immunoglobulin andrabies vaccine can cost over $5,000.[53]
On March 6, 2025, Bera was one of ten Democrats in Congress who joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting to censure Democratic congressmanAl Green for interrupting PresidentDonald Trump'sState of the Union Address.[54]
According toThe Hill in 2014, "Bera, who faces a tough race this fall against Republican Doug Ose, is a strong advocate for tackling climate change, but global warming isn't his focus when he talks aboutthe drought with constituents."[55]
Bera supports theAffordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted against repeal efforts.[56][57]
On November 19, 2015, Bera voted for HR 4038, legislation that would effectively halt the resettlement of refugees from Syria and Iraq to the United States.[58]
In 2016, Bera called onPakistan "to take responsibility and start cracking down" onterrorists based in its country, and praised theBJP for its restraint in the face of theattack on an Indian Air Force base byPakistani terrorists.[59]
Bera called a June 2016 speech by Indian prime ministerNarendra Modi to a joint session of the U.S. Congress "the perfect speech for this moment in time" and claimed that India was becoming "a global leader and a global partner with the United States." "As an Indian American and aGujarati American," Bera said, "I was thrilled by the prime minister's speech."[60] Narendra Modi is alsoGujarati.
Bera voted to provide Israel with support following2023 Hamas attack on Israel.[61][62] Bera boycotted Prime MinisterNetanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress on July 25, 2024, saying that Netanyahu is "the one person standing in the way" of a cease-fire and hostage release.[63]
In 2017, Bera voted against theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[64]
In 2022, Bera was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.[65][66]
For the118th Congress:[67]
He ispro choice.[77] He opposed the2022 overturning ofRoe v. Wade, calling it a "blow to women's rights and reproductive health care".[78]
Bera and his wife, Janine Bera, have one child.[7] They reside inElk Grove, California, which is outside of his district.[79][80][81]
On April 4, 2022, Bera was one of nine people attacked by arabid fox outside the US Capitol. He said afterward, '"I expect to get attacked if I go on Fox News; I don't expect to get attacked by a fox."[82]
Bera is one of threeUnitarian Universalists in Congress.[83]
| Year | Office | Party | Primary | General | Result | Swing | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | P. | Total | % | P. | |||||||||
| 2010 | U.S. House | 3rd | Democratic | 49,022 | 100.0% | 1st | 113,128 | 43.19% | 2nd | Lost | Hold | [84] | ||
| 2012 | 7th | 49,433 | 41.0% | 2nd | 141,241 | 51.68% | 1st | Won | Gain | [85] | ||||
| 2014 | 51,878 | 46.72% | 1st | 92,521 | 50.40% | 1st | Won | Hold | [86] | |||||
| 2016 | 93,506 | 54.00% | 1st | 152,133 | 51.17% | 1st | Won | Hold | [87] | |||||
| 2018 | 84,776 | 51.65% | 1st | 155,016 | 55.04% | 1st | Won | Hold | [88] | |||||
| 2020 | 106,124 | 50.32% | 1st | 217,416 | 56.62% | 1st | Won | Hold | [89] | |||||
| 2022 | 6th | 76,317 | 52.61% | 1st | 121,058 | 55.95% | 1st | Won | Hold | [90] | ||||
| 2024 | 76,605 | 51.85% | 1st | 165,408 | 57.62% | 1st | Won | Hold | [91] | |||||
| Source:Secretary of State of California |Statewide Election Results | ||||||||||||||
Modi, he said, spoke to him in Gujarati. "I could actually understand a majority of what he was saying. He knew that my parents were from Rajkot and that I was Gujarati-American."
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 7th congressional district 2013–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 6th congressional district 2023–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 101st | Succeeded by |
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