Pia Dandiya

Pia Dandiya is an educator and former public school founding principal running as the Democratic nominee for Florida's 22nd District. According to her campaign website, her career ran from teaching to founding a high school, a White House Fellowship, and public-sector work at Apple. She is campaigning on lowering costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and education.[1][2]

According to her campaign website, Dandiya was born and raised in Palm Beach County to parents from India.[2] She started her career as a middle and high school teacher and, at 28, became founding principal of a high school, which she describes as making her one of the youngest high school principals in the country. She says 86% of her students came from low-income families and 100% earned admission to college.[2] She describes herself as a White House Fellow who served at the Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Education under both Democratic and Republican presidents. After the fellowship, she says, she led public sector work at Apple, focusing on modernizing education and health care systems.[2]

Dandiya initially sought to challenge Republican Rep. Brian Mast in Florida's 21st District, then moved her campaign to the 22nd District, which was created through redistricting and has no incumbent running.[3] She won the August 18, 2026 Democratic primary for the 22nd District with 68.6% of the vote, defeating attorney Kaysia Earley.[4][1][3] She describes herself as a mother, and her campaign website says she is running for Congress for her students and her son.[2]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.