Update: Kathuria First Sikh to Run for Senate

July 15, 2003

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-sen15.html

On July 15, 2003 the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria is running for U.S. Senate and pledging to pump as much as $6 million to $15 million of his own money into the race... If elected, the Oak Brook Republican would be the first native of India and the first Sikh to serve in the U.S. Senate... 'Don't let the beard and turban fool you,' Kathuria said. 'I am an American...' Kathuria came to Illinois when he was 8 months old, when his parents, an engineer and physician, emigrated from India. He followed in his mother's footsteps and went to medical school. He served with the medical relief agency Doctors Without Borders in Kosovo in 1992."