WASHINGTON, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian emigrant to the United States is hoping to become what he believes to be the first Russian-American to hold a seat in the US Congress, The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday.
Igor Birman, 31, the chief of staff to California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, has established an exploratory committee to investigate a run for the House of Representatives, according to the Bee.
Birman emigrated from Russia to the US with his family in 1994. "My parents risked their lives and everything they possessed to escape and eventually they did. I want to preserve the same freedom we found in this nation for other families," the Bee reported Birman as saying.
Birman is contemplating a challenge to Democratic Rep. Ami Bera next year for California’s hotly contested 7th Congressional District, which is made up of an area surrounding the state’s capital of Sacramento.
