Senator Satveer Chaudhary
Minnesota Senate

In 2000, Satveer Chaudhary became the first Asian Indian senator in American history. In 1996, when he was elected state representative, Chaudhary became the first Asian-American member of the Minnesota Legislature and only the fourth Asian Indian elected to a state legislature in the United States. Currently Senator Chaudhary is the senate’s youngest member at age 32. He represents District 52, which includes the communities of Columbia Heights, Fridley, Hilltop, Mounds View and New Brighton, northern suburbs of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Senator Chaudhary is a lifetime resident of his district, raised and currently residing in Fridley and a graduate of Columbia Heights High School. He furthered his education at St. Olaf College where he received his B.A., at the University of Minnesota Law School where he received his J.D., and at Oxford University where he studied British and American foreign policy. In addition to serving as State Senator, Chaudhary is a licensed attorney and business consultant.

State Representative Satveer Chaudhary jumped directly into the political fray during his first session of the Minnesota House of Representatives by serving on 112 committees, chairing the House DWI Subcommittee and serving as Vice Chair of the House Civil and Family Law Committee. For his efforts, Rep. Chaudhary was nominated legislator of the year by the Minnesota Community College Students Association, nominated for Freshman Legislator of the Year by Politics in Minnesota magazine and listed in Who’s Who in American Politics, a prominent national political directory. House Leadership also appointed him to the board of directors for the World Trade Center in St. Paul, and he served as Co-Chair of the Anoka County Legislative Delegation.

In the Senate, Chaudhary currently served on seven committees, including Transportation, Crime Prevention, Education, E-12 Budget Division, Finance, and Transformation and Public Safety Budget Division. He serves as Vice Chair of the Transportation Committee and also as Chair of the Education Subcommittee on Technology. In his legislative work, Senator Chaudhary continues to focus on local community projects, improving education, implementing stricter laws regarding child pornography, supporting commuter transit, and banning felons from obtaining arms. His community activities remain stronger than ever, as a sportsman, volunteer attorney, and party activist.

For his dedicated work in the House and Senate, the worldwide Asian Indian community has recognized him, naming Chaudhary one of the top 50 non-resident Indians in the world (NRI World magazine). Chaudhary’s commitment to public service also earned him an invitation to New York shortly after September 11 to extend a message for American unity. In spring 2001, Senator Chaudhary also had the honor of serving as the Dalai Llama’s escort when he visited Minnesota and traveled as a selected delegate by the American Council of Young Political Leaders to travel to Argentina and Uruguay in summer 2001.

The active role he has taken in the Minnesota political world is evidence of traits handed down by his parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from India in the 1960's: “My parents taught me to value education, hard work, and to never forget how we began.”