12 Interesting Facts About Bobby Jindal

Written by Diana Stancy

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal became the latest Republican to enter the 2016 presidential race, announcing yesterday that he will be making a run for the White House.

Here are 12 facts to know about Jindal:

1. Jindal was born with the name Piyush. As a child, though, he decided to go by Bobby after his favorite character, Bobby Brady, from “The Brady Bunch”. His name still legally remains Piyush.
2. Jindal is also the first Indian-American to become governor and Louisiana’s first non-white governor since Reconstruction. His parents are originally from India and moved to the United States about four months before Jindal was born.
3. After graduating from Brown University, Jindal was accepted to Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, but chose to attend Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. He studied health policy during his time at Oxford.
4. Although Jindal was raised Hindu, he later converted to Catholicism when he was a teenage. The Louisiana governor is known for being outspoken about his religious views and acknowledges they influence his political ideas concerning same-sex marriage and abortion.
5. In 1996, at 24, Jindal was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Just two years later, he became executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare where he worked to improve Medicare.
6. In 1999, Jindal was appointed president of the University of Louisiana System. He and his family are Louisiana State University fans as well.
7. Jindal’s wife, Supriya Jindal, studied chemical engineering at Tulane University.
8. According to USA Today, Jindal likes to work out more than an hour each day. While he enjoys biking and lifting weights, he doesn’t steer clear of junk food. Chocolate chip cookies, nachos and cheese and pizza are some of his favorites, USA Today reports.
9. When Jindal first tried running for governor in 2003, he lost. However, he’s won every election since then. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Congress as a representative for Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District. In 2007, he was elected governor.
10. Jindal has a close relationship with the Robertson family from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty”. When the show came under scrutiny for comments Phil Robertson made concerning homosexuality, Jindal supported the family. Likewise, the Robertson family has supported Jindal in his political endeavors, especially as he began to consider a presidential run.
11. Jindal’s views regarding Common Core have evolved over time. Originally, Jindal supported the standards and even helped implement Common Core in Louisiana in 2010. However, he is now staunchly opposed to it and even sued the Obama administration in 2014 for requiring the Common Core standards nationally.
12. Jindal and his wife have three children. They delivered their youngest child at home where a nurse instructed Jindal over the phone. Paramedics arrived shortly after the delivery.