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Ami Bera

Ami Bera

DemocratU.S. Representative, CA-6
Age61 (b. 1965-03-02)
GenderMale
In office since2013-01-03 (~13 yrs)
Race / ethnicitySouth Asian / Indian American (Gujarati heritage)
ReligionUnitarian Universalist
EducationB.S. in Biological Sciences (1987) and M.D. (1991), both from the University of California, Irvine
Prior occupationPhysician (internist); former Chief Medical Officer of Sacramento County and former Associate Dean for Admissions and clinical professor at UC Davis School of Medicine
Military serviceNo
BirthplaceLos Angeles, California
Marital statusMarried — Janine Bera
Children1
ResidenceElk Grove, California
Notable relativesFather Babulal Bera (immigrant from Gujarat, India) pleaded guilty in 2016 to federal election fraud tied to Ami Bera's campaigns; no notable relatives serving in elected office

Pending research: languages · openly lgbtq.

Career & politics

First elected2012
Previous officesChief Medical Officer, Sacramento County · U.S. Representative for California's 7th Congressional District (2013-2023)
CommitteesCommittee on Foreign Affairs (Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific; Subcommittee on South and Central Asia) · Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
CaucusesCongressional Asian Pacific American Caucus · New Democrat Coalition · Climate Solutions Caucus · American Sikh Congressional Caucus · Congressional Equality Caucus · Congressional Freethought Caucus · Congressional Ukraine Caucus · U.S.-Japan Caucus · Black Maternal Health Caucus · Rare Disease Caucus
LeadershipRanking Member, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific (119th Congress) · Ranking Member, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific (118th Congress) · Whip, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus · Vice Chair of Outreach, New Democrat Coalition
IdeologyMember of the centrist New Democrat Coalition; described as a moderate Democrat

Financial

Net worth: disclosed $5,704,067–$12,336,000 (2018) · estimate

No holdings recorded yet (from official Financial Disclosure filings).

Scandals & crimes ledger

resolvedFather Babulal Bera convicted of federal election fraud over illegal contributions to Ami Bera's campaigns
campaign-finance · 2009-05-11 · U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California · Babulal Bera (the congressman's father) pleaded guilty in May 2016 to two counts of federal election fraud and was sentenced on August 18, 2016 to one year and one day in federal prison, a $100,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Rep. Ami Bera was investigated but never charged; the DOJ concluded there was no indication he or his campaign staff knew of or participated in the scheme.
Babulal Bera, father of Rep. Ami Bera, orchestrated a conduit (straw donor) scheme in which he solicited relatives, friends, and acquaintances to make maximum-allowable federal contributions to his son's congressional campaigns (the unsuccessful 2010 run and the successful 2012 run), then secretly reimbursed those donors. Prosecutors said the illegally reimbursed contributions totaled at least roughly $225,000 (some reports cited nearly $270,000) between 2009 and 2010 and continuing into the 2012 cycle. He pleaded guilty in May 2016 to two counts of election fraud and was sentenced on August 18, 2016 to one year and one day in prison, a $100,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. The conduct involved Ami Bera's campaign committee but the formal conviction and sentence were against his father; Rep. Ami Bera himself was investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office and was not charged, with the DOJ stating in September 2016 that it found no indication the congressman or his campaign staff knew of or participated in the illegal contributions.