Manka Dhingra (born 1973 or 1974) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

attorney and politician who is a Washington State senator. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, she was elected to represent the 45th legislative district, on

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

's Eastside in King County, during a 2017 special election. Dhingra is the first

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

elected to any state legislature in the United States. Dhingra, an Indian immigrant, founded the woman's advocacy organization API Chaya in 1996, and later worked under several elected officials at the state level. She joined the

King County Prosecuting Attorney The King County Prosecuting Attorney is a non-partisan elected official in King County, Washington. The Prosecuting Attorney leads the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and prosecutes all felonies (as well as all misdemeanors in unincorpo ...

's office in 2000 and has led the department's expanding mental health and veterans courts.

Early life and education

Dhingra was born in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

, India to a

family; her father worked for

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befor ...

and her mother was a schoolteacher. After her father died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

, Dhingra moved to California with her mother at the age of 13, joining her relatives. She graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, earning a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in history and political science in 1995, before moving with her husband Harjit Singh to

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census, up from 54,144 in 2010. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an an ...

Career

Dhingra founded Chaya, a non-profit organization to combat domestic violence against South Asian women, in 1996. She would later work in the offices of

state Supreme Court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by #Terminology, other names in some states) is the supreme court, highest court in the State court (United States), state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of State law (United States), st ...

justice

Barbara Madsen Barbara Madsen (born 1952) is an American jurist and a current Associate justice, Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court. She joined the court in 1993 as the first woman to be popularly elected to the Court in Washington (U.S. state), ...

and the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...

, while earning a degree from the

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washingt ...

in 1999. Dhingra joined the

's office in 2000 and served as a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King County. Her work in the office's mental health court and the

King County District Court Regional Veterans Court The King County District Court Regional Veterans Court is the veterans court component of King County District Court, Washington's largest court of limited jurisdiction, including the city of Seattle. The regional court was established in June 201 ...

earned membership in various mental health and anti-hate crime advocacy organizations. Dhingra identified herself as a nonpartisan prior to the 2016 presidential election. A few months after attending her first Democratic meeting, she declared her candidacy for the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

created by the death of

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Andy Hill. Dhingra defeated Jinyoung Englund, the Republican nominee, on November 7, 2017, with 55% of the votes. Dhingra's election overturned the Republican coalition majority in the

Washington State Senate The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Legislative Building in Olympi ...

, giving the

Washington Democratic Party The Washington State Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Washington, headquartered in Seattle. It is also commonly referred to as the ''Washington State Democrats'' and the ''Washington Democratic Party'' ...

complete control over the state's government for the first time since 2012. She was sworn in on November 29 and became the first Sikh woman to enter a state legislature. Dhingra was named as the deputy majority leader in the Senate and assigned as the chair of the Behavioral Health Subcommittee. She retained the 45th district seat by being re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

Personal life

Dhingra met her husband, Harjit Singh, while at the University of California, Berkeley. Singh works for

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

in Redmond. The couple have two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhingra, Manka Living people 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Indian descent Asian-American people in Washington (state) politics University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Washington School of Law alumni Democratic Party Washington (state) state senators Women state legislators in Washington (state) Politicians from Bhopal People from Redmond, Washington American Sikhs 1970s births 21st-century American women politicians