Bobby Jindal Fast Facts

Here’s a look at the life of former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Personal

Birth date: June 10, 1971

Birth place: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Birth name: Piyush Jindal

Father: Amar Jindal, engineer

Mother: Raj (Gupta) Jindal

Marriage: Supriya (Joly) Jindal (October 1997-present)

Children: Slade, Shaan and Selia

Education: Brown University, B.S., Biology and Public Policy, 1991; Oxford University, M.A., Literature, 1994 (Rhodes scholar)

Religion: Born Hindu, converted to Roman Catholicism

Other Facts

First Indian-American elected to Congress since 1956.

First Indian-American governor in the United States.

Son Shaan was born with a heart defect and had surgery as an infant.

Jindal delivered son Slade at home before the EMTs arrived.

As a boy, he insisted on being called Bobby after his favorite character in “The Brady Bunch.”

Timeline

1994-1995 - Associate at consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

1996-1998 - Jindal restructures Louisiana’s Medicaid program from bankruptcy to surplus, while serving as secretary of the Health and Hospitals Department.

1998 - Appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.

1999-2001 - President of the University of Louisiana System.

2001-2003 - Assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

2003 - Runs for governor of Louisiana. Wins the Republican primary but loses a runoff against Democrat Kathleen Blanco.

2004 - Elected to the US House of Representatives and serves two terms.

October 20, 2007 - Elected governor of Louisiana with 54% of the vote, winning 60 of 64 parishes.

2009 - Delivers the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s first address to Congress.

October 22, 2011 - Reelected to a second term as governor with 65.8% of the vote, winning 64 of 64 parishes.

November 2012 - Is named 2013 chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

May 18, 2015 - Jindal announces that he is establishing a presidential exploratory committee.

June 24, 2015 - Jindal announces on social media that he is running for president. He later makes a formal announcement at an event in Kenner, Louisiana.

October 20, 2015 - Jindal’s book “American Will: The Forgotten Choices That Changed Our Republic” is published.

November 17, 2015 - Announces he is ending his presidential campaign.

January 11, 2016 - Leaves the office of governor as John Bel Edwards is inaugurated as his successor.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal waves to the crowd at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, where he spoke on February 26, 2015.

Jindal talks with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley before President Barack Obama addressed members of the National Governors Association at the White House on February 23.

Jindal and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (center) campaign with Florida Gov. Rick Scott on November 3, 2014, in The Villages, Florida.

Jindal, a gun rights advocate, speaks during the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting Leadership Forum on April 25, 2014 in Indianapolis.

Jindal greets President Obama at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on November 8, 2013.

Following Hurricane Isaac, which hit Louisiana in August 2012, Jindal takes part in a briefing with President Obama, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana (left) and Saint John the Baptist Parish President Natalie Robottom in the Emergency Operations Center in LaPlace, Louisiana.

Jindal campaigns for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on May 24, 2012.

Jindal and Texas Gov. Rick Perry walk together after a Perry presidential campaign meet-and-greet in Muscatine, Iowa, on December 21, 2011.

Jindal speaks with workers and fishermen involved in the cleanup effort of the BP oil spill on a command post boat in Barataria Bay on June 15, 2010, off Grand Isle, Louisiana.

Jindal listens to reporters' questions in Venice, Louisiana, on May 12, 2010, after the BP oil spill, which has been called the largest environmental disaster in American history.

Jindal shakes hands with Marine Corps veteran Elmo Norton after speaking to delegates at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans on April 9, 2010.

Jindal, his wife Supriya and children attend the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV victory parade on February 9, 2010.

Jindal tours reconstruction efforts at Jackson Barracks, the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard, with then-President George W. Bush on August 20, 2008.

Jindal speaks at St. David's Catholic Church in New Orleans with Sen. John McCain during the Arizona senator's bid for president in 2008.

Jindal takes the oath of office on January 14, 2008 -- becoming the country's first Indian-American governor -- while his wife Supriya holds the Bible.

Jindal speaks to the media at a rally in Covington after his victory in the 2007 gubernatorial race.

After he lost the gubernatorial race in 2003, Jindal ran for a seat in the U.S. House and served in Congress from 2005 until his inauguration as governor in 2008. Here, he joins Sen. Mary Landrieu and other members of the Louisiana congressional delegation at a press conference to discuss relief and recovery legislation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Jindal concedes defeat in the 2003 Louisiana governor's race at his election headquarters, with wife Supriya and 2-year-old daughter Selia-Elizabeth at his side.

Jindal shakes hands with his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, at the Louisiana gubernatorial debate in 2003.

While campaigning for his first gubernatorial campaign in November 2003, Jindal gets a high-five from young supporter in Shreveport.

Bobby Jindal's career in politics

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