Aruna Miller

Aruna Miller (née Katragadda; November 6, 1964) is an American politician (Democrat) and a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 15 in Montgomery County, Maryland. Maryland's Legislative District 15 is Montgomery County's largest district both in terms of geographic area and population and includes Boyds, Clarksburg, Darnestown, Germantown, Poolesville, Potomac, Dickerson, Barnesville, Beallsville as well as parts of Gaithersburg, North Potomac, and Rockville. Delegate Miller served on the Appropriations Committee and was the first Indian American woman to be elected to the Maryland legislature.

Miller has worked in Virginia, Hawaii, California and, over 25 years, in Montgomery County as an engineer. She has overseen programs that advanced access to schools, employment centers, and community facilities that are safe for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and those with disability. In 2015 she retired from Montgomery County to devote her full attention to her service in the Maryland legislature.

Early life and education
Miller was born November 6, 1964, in India. Her family came to the United States when she was eight years old. Along with her two siblings and parents, she lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, where IBM employed her father as a mechanical engineer. She attended public schools in New York and then attended Missouri University of Science and Technology earning a degree in Civil Engineering.

Maryland Legislature
Miller was sworn in as a member of House of Delegates on January 12, 2011 and appointed to the Ways and Means Committee (revenue, transportation & education subcommittees). She is a member of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the Montgomery County Delegation and a member of the Women Legislators of Maryland where she serves on the executive board.

After re-election in 2014, Miller was appointed to serve on the Appropriations Committee where she is Chair of the Oversight of Personnel Subcommittee and vice-Chair of the Transportation & Environment Subcommittee and in 2016 was appointed as vice-Chair of the Capital Budget. In the 2017 Miller was elected to Chair of the Women's Legislative Caucus.

In 2011, while serving as a Delegate, Miller encouraged strengthening economic and cultural development between Maryland and India and accompanied Governor Martin O'Malley on six-day trade mission to India, which resulted in nearly $60 million in business deals for the state of Maryland. Delegate Miller took a lead role in working with the Office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Economic Development to coordinate the Governor’s arrangements for his first stop to Hyderabad.

In 2013 Delegate Miller was one of ten Maryland lawmakers named to the Maryland Business Climate Workgroup designed to make recommendations and develop long-term plans to streamline business regulations, encourage business innovation, and develop public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure

In 2013 Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Delegate Miller as a Commissioner to the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB). The ICPRB's mission is to enhance, protect, and conserve the water and associated land resources of the Potomac River and its tributaries through regional and interstate cooperation.

Miller maintains her activism in community organizations, including serving on the boards of the Black Rock Center for the Arts, the Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation, & the Indian Biomedical Association. She is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery (class of 2013) and in 2012, Miller served as an at large Delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

2018 Congressional run
Miller ran for Congress in 2018 to represent Maryland's 6th congressional district to replace John Delaney, who is running for president in 2020. In April 2018, Miller won a straw poll of Democratic activists in Western Maryland. During the election, she was endorsed by the National Education Association, the Sierra Club, EMILY's List, and 314 Action, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand among others.

Miller was outspent in the primary 13:1 by David Trone, the largest self-funding congressional candidate in US history, and lost the overall primary to Trone by 9.3%, with 30.7% of the vote compared to Trone's 40.0%, and consequently did not advance to the general election. She won Montgomery County but this was the only voting district she won outright.

Personal life
In 1990, Miller moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, where she married her college sweetheart, David Miller; they have three daughters: Meena, Chloe, and Sasha. Miller is an avid animal rights advocate and vegetarian.