When Suhas Subramanyam was a teenager, he got competing invitations. One group of friends wanted to drive to Florida to volunteer for John Kerry’s campaign. The other wanted to drive there to volunteer for George W. Bush.
“They both asked me if I wanted to come, and I said no to both,” he says.
He didn’t vote in that election at all, he says. As a student at Tulane University in New Orleans, “I didn’t care about politics as much at the time. It really wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina hit the city and I got involved in community activism that I realized politics is important.”
Now Subramanyam is a freshman in Congress, succeeding Jennifer Wexton, who decided not to run again after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder.
“I’m excited that I’m here, but it’s hard to see someone you really like having to leave without wanting to,” he says.
A member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, Subramanyam represents a large chunk of the D.C. exurbs, including Loudoun County.
“We have a lot of federal workers and federal contractors who are really hurting, and a lot of science and tech assets that are facing cuts,” the Virginia Democrat says.
Subramanyam sat down with Roll Call last month to talk about his jobs over the years, ranging from junior House aide to technology policy adviser for President Barack Obama. More recently, he was the first Indian American to ever serve in the Virginia General Assembly.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Q: What’s your earliest memory of politics?
A: We had a straw poll in my first grade class of who should win the election between Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush. I was the only person to vote for Clinton. That was my first election, and I lost. But they say you lose the first one, and then after that you always win, right?
Growing up, my mom was a Democrat. My dad was a Republican, but lately he’s been a Democrat. My mom won that fight.
Q: In your early 20s you went to work for then-Rep. Suzanne Kosmas. What moments stand out?
A: It was pretty surreal. One of the issues they put me on was health care, and that ended up being the Affordable Care Act session.
It was one of the reasons she probably lost her reelection. But it was a principled vote, and I’ve always respected her for voting yes, even though her constituency, which benefits a lot from it now, didn’t like her vote at the time.
She voted no on the House bill that had a public option, and then she voted yes the second time. I saw it as my job to give her the best information and let her make her own decision. My opinion has always been we should have had a public option and that the Affordable Care Act was a compromise, and we should have gone back and fixed more parts of it.
Q: Next you clerked for Sen. Dick Durbin on the Judiciary Committee.
A: It was just a summer job during law school, and I was a clerk for the staff, and it was fantastic. It was one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever had.
This was a time when bipartisanship started slipping away, and there were Republicans who had supported bills like the DREAM Act who felt like they couldn’t support it anymore. It was becoming sort of a bad thing to work with the other side, and I thought that was a shame. But we were still working with other offices, including Republicans, on making the best policy. I learned how you can be aggressive and forceful in front of the cameras but still work collaboratively behind the scenes, and that’s how you get things done.
Q: You later landed at the White House’s science and technology policy office. What was that like?
A: I always wanted to work for President Obama. It was a bucket list thing. I loved that I could write a memo to him and I would get notes back. There was one memo that I wrote with my team where he asked for the citation of something he wanted to learn more about, so that’s someone who cares a lot. He was very deliberate, and that has pros and cons, but the pros outweigh the cons, and he made really careful and educated decisions. He treated the office with a lot of dignity.
Q: Now you’re in Congress, after Wexton endorsed you as her successor in a crowded primary. She was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy.
A: I was hoping, even with her health issues, that she could continue to serve. We’ll text her for advice from time to time because she knows how to navigate difficult situations and do really good work. But yeah, it was bittersweet the whole time. I still think about how I got here, and the fact that I’m excited that I’m here, but it’s hard to see someone you really like having to leave without wanting to.
Q: You hired some of Wexton’s key staff. Why was that important to you?
A: I had worked with a lot of her staff already when I was in the state legislature. Her chief of staff, Abby Carter, has always been a friend and supporter, and so the transition has been pretty seamless. I’ve picked up some of [Wexton’s] work, but I’ve also carved out my own path as well, like wanting to do more on technology policy and consumer protection.
Q: What has your time in Congress been like so far?
A: We’ve been busy. Right now it just feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day, because our district is just facing a crisis. We have a lot of federal workers and federal contractors who are really hurting, and a lot of science and tech assets that are facing cuts.
I always tell people if I wasn’t here, I’d be at home yelling at the TV, so I might as well be here yelling at Congress. I’m hoping it can’t get worse and it can only get better.
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