When Sanjyot Dunung was six, she and her family arrived in Des Plaines, Illinois from India, armed with little more than determination and the dream of a better life. They stayed with friends until her parents could save enough to get their own apartment. By the time she was nine, inspired by her parents’ tireless work ethic, young Sanjyot began babysitting. At just ten years old, she had already launched her first entrepreneurial venture—watching toddlers on Sunday mornings while their parents attended church.
Now, at 49, Dunung is taking a bold step forward, running for Congress in Illinois’s 8th District. Her campaign is centered around a powerful message: “Born in India, Made in America.”
The Race to Succeed Congressman Krishnamoorthi
On May 14, 2025, Sanjyot Dunung officially announced her candidacy for Illinois’s 8th Congressional District, stepping into a highly competitive race to replace four-term Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. Krishnamoorthi, who has represented the district since 2017, recently revealed he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Dick Durbin.
Illinois’s 8th District, which covers a mix of suburban areas including Des Plaines, Elgin, Schaumburg, St. Charles, Geneva, and parts of Cook and DuPage counties, has been classified as “Solid Democratic” by the Cook Political Report.
The Democratic field is already crowded with several notable candidates. They include Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison from Mount Prospect, Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole (both former staffers for Krishnamoorthi), brand executive Christ Kallas, tech consultant Junaid Ahmed, attorney Dan Tully, and former U.S. Representative Melissa Bean, who previously held the seat from 2005 to 2011. Additionally, Indian American businessman Neil Khot is reportedly also seeking the Democratic nomination.
On the Republican side, the race features business owner Mark Rice, attorney Kevin Ake, and several other candidates. The primary election is set for March 17, 2026, with the general election to follow on November 3, 2026.
“People Are Tired of Career Politicians”
Dunung’s campaign message is clear and intentional. “I’m running for Congress because the American Dream is at risk,” she said in interviews. “Voters are frustrated with career politicians who promise change but fail to deliver. I’m offering fresh, responsible ideas to confront today’s economic instability and restore opportunity.”
In her campaign announcement, Dunung added, “As a small business owner and a mother of three sons—one of whom serves in the military—I understand what families are facing. At a time of widespread frustration with the status quo, I’m stepping forward as the change candidate, ready to fight for the American Dream and put people ahead of politics.”
Dunung is the founder and CEO of Atma Global, an award-winning company that creates innovative learning content and solutions centered on global cultures, countries, business, and international issues for corporate, government, education, and travel audiences
Her campaign website underscores that she is “not a career politician,” but instead highlights her record as a proven, innovative, award-winning entrepreneur and EdTech small business founder committed to expanding learning opportunities for everyone.
The Educational Foundation
Dunung earned a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University, where she was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award. According to the Truman Center for National Policy, she serves as a Professor of Practice at Thunderbird and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Thunderbird Global Alumni Network.
Building Atma Global: An Award-Winning EdTech Business
According to her company website, Dunung is the founder and CEO of Atma Global, an award-winning education technology company that develops innovative learning content and solutions focused on countries, cultures, business, and global issues. Serving corporate, government, education, and travel sectors, the New York City–based firm has earned multiple prestigious awards. The company also provides cultural advisory services to Fortune 100 corporations and public institutions, helping them understand and address the impact of culture on global strategy and operations.
In addition to her entrepreneurial work, Dunung is a prolific author. Multiple sources, including the Truman Center and her campaign materials, credit her with writing sixteen books and textbooks on international business. Her work has appeared in major publications such as Forbes and Fast Company, including a February 2025 Fast Company article titled “How to Innovate Diversity for a Changing Global World.”
Dunung has also contributed to public service, having served on President Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Working Group on international trade. Her campaign materials further note that she was recognized in 2021 as one of the Asian American Business Development Center’s Outstanding 50 in Business award recipients.
The Single Mother Story
According to news coverage, Dunung raised three sons as a single mother while also caring for her aging father and her mother, who lived with muscular dystrophy—experiences that have played a central role in shaping her policy agenda. One of her sons currently serves in the U.S. military, placing her within what she has described as “a patriotic military family.”
Her campaign materials, cited by multiple media outlets, highlight these roots: “Grounded in the values she learned growing up in Des Plaines, Sanjyot raised three children while balancing the care of her aging and disabled parents and running a small business. She has worked with people from all walks of life to help strengthen the community.”
Key Endorsements
Dunung has received several notable endorsements, including support from the Hindu American PAC and ASPIRE PAC (Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Rising & Empowering Political Action Committee), the political organization linked to Democratic Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander members of Congress.
Despite these endorsements, Dunung faces notable fundraising obstacles. Shaw Local reports that six of the eight Democratic candidates—and the sole Republican—seeking to replace Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District have already assembled six-figure campaign war chests. By contrast, Dunung is widely expected to depend more heavily on grassroots donations and personal resources rather than institutional Democratic Party backing, consistent with her positioning as an outsider candidate.
The “Made in America” Narrative
India West noted that Dunung’s campaign is grounded as much in personal story as in policy, highlighting a trajectory that spans delivering newspapers during college, building innovative startups, raising three sons as a single mother, and ultimately shaping national trade policy—an arc the publication described as distinctly American.
The outlet quoted Dunung as saying, “My life was Made in America. This campaign was Made in America. It could not have happened anywhere else.”
This framing also serves to distinguish Dunung from Raja Krishnamoorthi, who was born in New Delhi in 1973 and immigrated to the United States as an infant before being raised largely in Peoria, Illinois. By underscoring that she arrived in the U.S. at age six and grew up in Des Plaines—within the district she is now seeking to represent—Dunung presents herself as having deeper and more direct roots in the local community.
