Ami Bera

Early life, education, and career

Bera's father, Babulal Bera, immigrated to the United States from Rajkot, Gujarat, India in 1958. Two years later, Babulal Bera was joined by his wife, Kanta. Ami Bera was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Orange County city of La Palma. He attended John F. Kennedy High School while living there.

Bera has a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine, also earning his Doctor of Medicine degree there in 1991. From 1997 to 1999 he was the medical director of Care Management at the Mercy Healthcare for Sacramento. He served as the chief medical officer for the County of Sacramento and later as the associate dean for admissions at the UC Davis School of Medicine. From 2005 to 2012, he served as a clinical professor at the school.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Bera challenged three-term Republican incumbent Dan Lungren in the general election for California's 3rd congressional district. He ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He raised more money than Lungren for the five quarters through mid-2010, making him the only Democratic challenger with more cash than a sitting Republican member of the House. Bera was one of 17 candidates the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee targeted to take over Republican-held or open seats in 2010.

Lungren was the only incumbent Republican whose race was rated a "tossup" by CQ Politics, but it was rerated "Lean GOP" in the campaign's final days, and the race was considered competitive by both parties. Polling by Daily Kos in September showed Lungren leading Bera, 46%–38%. Bera cited health care, education and economic recovery among his top legislative priorities. In November, Lungren won reelection, defeating Bera 51%–43%.

In 2010, after Bera accepted a $250 donation from Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the California Republican Party called on him to return the money. Bera returned the money after these concerns were raised.

Bera announced a rematch against Lungren in 2012. The district had been renumbered the 7th district, and made somewhat more compact. It lost all of its territory outside of Sacramento County, making it slightly friendlier to Democrats.

On November 13, 2012, Bera attended freshman orientation as congressman-elect while votes were still being counted. Candidates in these tight races sometimes attend the orientation by the Committee on House Administration, whose chairman was Bera's opponent, Lungren.

On November 15, 2012, the Associated Press called the race for Bera, who won 51%–49%.

Bera ran for reelection in 2014, facing former Republican congressman Doug Ose, who had represented what was then the 3rd from 1999 to 2005. The Rothenberg Political Report rated the 7th district "Lean Democratic," but The Sacramento Bee reported that Bera was "viewed by both parties as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country." Bera was a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline program, designed to support vulnerable candidates. In June 2014, Politico reported that the DCCC planned to support Bera with $1.7 million in ads throughout fall 2014, and the House Majority PAC, a political action committee designed to support Democratic candidates, reserved $200,000 for late-election television ads.

Tenure

During his first five terms in office (2013–2022), Bera was a cosponsor of 95 legislative items that became law and an original cosponsor of none.

Acts designating a name for a federal property accounted for 44 of the 95, typically with 50 or more cosponsors. Another 37 were general consensus items cosponsored by at least one third of the 435-member House, of which 27 were cosponsored by at least two thirds. Bera cosponsored only one successful item with fewer than 30 cosponsors. He was the final of 7 cosponsors for H.R.3399 in the 116th Congress, which became law on October 30, 2020.

The law authorized the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 to continue through 2025 and made California eligible for program grants. Nutria are an invasive species of large, semiaquatic rodents whose burrowing could threaten levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where productive farmland lies below sea level.

During the 118th Congress, his sixth term in office (2023–2024), Bera was a cosponsor of 15 legislative items that became law and an original cosponsor of none.

Acts designating a name for a federal property accounted for 11 of the 15, typically with 50 cosponsors, and three other acts were cosponsored by at least two thirds of the House.

Bera was the 25th of 62 cosponsors of the bipartisan H.R.4581, which became law on 12 July 2024 and clarifies that activities to prevent stillbirths are a permissible use of Federal funds.

In an interview covered in the Elk Grove Citizen, Bera said his first year in Congress "was about being focused here in the district but also building my reputation in Washington, D.C."

In October 2013, Bera announced that he would give up his federal pay for the duration of the government shutdown. He also announced that in response to sequester cuts, he would donate 8.2% of his check each month to local organizations affected by sequester cuts.

Committee assignments

For the 119th Congress:

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific

Subcommittee on South and Central Asia

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Subcommittee on National Intelligence Enterprise

Subcommittee on National Security Agency and Cyber

Caucus memberships

American Sikh Congressional Caucus

Black Maternal Health Caucus

New Democrat Coalition (vice chair of outreach)

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (whip)

Climate Solutions Caucus

Rare Disease Caucus

Congressional Equality Caucus

U.S.-Japan Caucus

Congressional Coalition on Adoption

Congressional Ukraine Caucus

Congressional Freethought Caucus

Political positions

Abortion

He is pro choice. He opposed the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it a "blow to women's rights and reproductive health care".

Personal life

Bera and his wife, Janine Bera, have one child. They reside in Elk Grove, California, which is outside of his district.

On April 4, 2022, Bera was one of nine people attacked by a rabid fox outside the US Capitol. He said afterward, '"I expect to get attacked if I go on Fox News; I don't expect to get attacked by a fox."

Bera is one of three Unitarian Universalists in Congress.