Jay Chaudhuri (born August 6, 1969) is an American attorney, professor, politician and a Democratic member of the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

. First appointed to fill a vacancy in April 2016 caused by the resignation of

Josh Stein Joshua Stein (born September 13, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who serves as the 50th and current Attorney General of North Carolina, a position he has held since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Stein previously served as a ...

(to run for

North Carolina Attorney General The Attorney General of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The attorney general is a constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies in legal matters, supplying other state offici ...

), Chaudhuri was later elected and re-elected, becoming North Carolina's first Indian-American state legislator. In January 2019, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Senate Minority (Democratic) Whip, the second-highest ranking position in the Democratic caucus.

Early life and education

Born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

immigrants, Chaudhuri moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina when he was 3. Chaudhuri went on to study at Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, later attending Davidson College,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and finally

North Carolina Central University School of Law The North Carolina Central University School of Law (also known as NCCU School of Law or NCCU Law) is the law school associated with North Carolina Central University. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the ...

Career

A longtime aide to then-State Senator and

state Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gener ...

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 20 ...

, and later to state treasurer

Janet Cowell Janet Cowell (born July 19, 1968) is the former North Carolina State Treasurer, serving from 2009 to 2017, and is the first woman to hold that position in North Carolina. She was previously a two-term member of the Raleigh City Council and a ...

, Chaudhuri taught part-time as an adjunct law professor at

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...

for two years. In 2016, Chaudhuri joined plaintiff law firm Cohen Milstein as a part-time counsel.

References

External links

, - Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Davidson College alumni Politicians from Raleigh, North Carolina American politicians of Indian descent Asian-American people in North Carolina politics Columbia University alumni North Carolina Central University alumni North Carolina Central University faculty Politicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee 1969 births Living people 21st-century American politicians {{NorthCarolina-politician-stub