After three different careers in public education, the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft, Indian American Democratic Nick Pyati has launched a bid for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District “to help build a party that can win again.”
Launching his campaign with a YouTube video Pyati, 42, says the decision to run for Congress came not from long-held ambition but from frustration with Washington’s trajectory in recent months.
“I had no plans to run for office. I liked my job and had no reason to leave. But after the first hundred days of the Trump Administration—and Democrats’ failure to respond—I left my job to help build a party that can win again,” he said.
The former Microsoft strategy executive, who is running to fill the seat left open by retiring Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky called for a “stronger, fairer and freer America.”
The Democratic primary for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District will take place in March 2026.
Pyati said he is “done waiting” for establishment Democrats to “create a plan to win” in the wake of Donald Trump’s second presidential victory in November 2024.
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Born and raised in the Chicago area, Pyati who moved to Evanston just last year, said residents’ degree of engagement and care in the community is “astonishing” and “wonderful” to experience.
Though the top concern for Democrats in the district is to “end the Trump era,” he hopes to support progressive initiatives like expanding health care and an energy transition through economic innovation and growth — a topic he says has “totally fallen off the radar” for the party.
“The reason we care about economic growth and why I want to talk about it — it lets us be ambitious and visionary, instead of limiting ourselves to what’s possible with a little bit of a tax increase,” Pyati said.
Pyati also said he aims to propose a solution to a Democratic identity crisis that would reconcile progressive ambitions with a “real plan” to appeal to a coalition beyond Democratic voters.
“The chance we have to create a message that can reach many more people without sacrificing our values is one that we haven’t had since I’ve been interested in politics,” Pyati said. “I don’t want us to miss that chance, because not only can we put this terrible era behind us, we can actually start making real progress.”
Pyati earned a bachelor’s degree from the Columbia University and a graduate degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School. His career experience includes working as a public school teacher, prosecutor, and corporate strategy senior leader.