Suraj Patel is an American lawyer, professor, and politician.^[1] Patel is a member of the Democratic party,^[2] and was a candidate for the newly-created 12th congressional district in Manhattan, New York City.^[3][4] The district covers the northern end of Central Park southward to Union Square.^[5]

Patel served in the 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign as an organizer, and later on the advance team for the White House from 2008 to 2016, working on Obama's 2012 reelection.^[6][7] Patel is an adjunct professor at NYU Stern, lecturing on business ethics.^[8]

Patel first ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Representative Carolyn Maloney in 2018, and again in 2020.^{[3][9][10][11]}

Patel announced his candidacy for the 2022 US congressional elections on February 14, 2022.^[12][13] He was endorsed by environmental lawyer Steven Donziger in May 2022, by former Democratic presidential and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang in June 2022,^[14][15] and journalist Matthew Yglesias.^[16] Running against Maloney and Jerrold Nadler in the redrawn 12th congressional district, Patel finished in third place with 19 percent of the vote.^[17]

A 30-second campaign advertisement for Patel was required to remove at least one "sensitive" topic before it aired on the streaming service Hulu.^[18][19] The original advertisement had included footage of the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and references to climate change.^[18][20][21]

Patel describes himself as a "practical and progressive" Democrat.^[22] His platform for the 2022 US congressional election has included a technocratic focus on reducing housing and transit regulation, along with support for rezoning initiatives.^[3] A self-described "YIMBY", Patel supports the theory of market urbanism that encourages large-scale infrastructure and zoning reforms to address high housing costs.^[23] Patel has advocated for increased road safety standards and reforming street design.^[24]

Patel is a proponent of “The Abundant Society” plan, a supply-side progressivism policy targeted at reducing inflation through a combination of tariff reductions, suspending the Jones Act and Foreign Dredge Act, and expanding domestic manufacturing through passing federal spending bills like the COMPETES Act.^[25][4]

Patel has previously advocated for increased competition from challengers in congressional primary races.^[26][27] Patel supports congestion pricing.^[28]

Patel was born in Mississippi to parents of Gujarati Indian origin, and grew up in Indianapolis.^[29][30] He speaks English and Gujarati.^[31] In 2022, Patel became engaged to Emily Bina, a producer at The Atlantic.^[32]

• Delayed Justice: A Case Study of Texaco and the Republic of Ecuador's Operations, Harms, and Possible Redress in the Ecuadorian Amazon Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 2012^[33]
• The Pandemic Shows Why the U.S. Must Invest in Public Research Scientific American, 2020^[34]