RUFI NATARAJAN
advisory board member
Her primary focus is affecting the progressive political agenda that she has supported since immigrating to the US in 1972. Her goal is to leverage her skills in progressive politics for Texas.
Rufi Natarajan first started her political activism in 2015 where she volunteered with Planned Parenthood and the Houston Women’s Clinic to protect and escort women seeking abortion services. She was always looking for a way to give back to her community, from serving on the Advisory Board of Refugee Services of Texas to registering voters with the National Organization for Women – Houston Area. She quickly learned that many issues our community faced needed to be addressed by actively participating in local elections. Rufi was determined to give a voice to as many women as possible by becoming a Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar (VDVR). She started registering voters in mosques, grocery stores, and in her own neighborhood to provide voter education in the upcoming elections. This led her to join various campaigns, such as the 2015 Sylvester Turner for Mayor Campaign and the 2016 Anne Sung for HISD Trustee District VII Campaign and the 2018 Todd Litton for Congressional District 2 Campaign, where she canvassed and increased visibility for the candidates.
In 2017 Rufi brought her experience and passion to the Harris County Democratic Party (HCDP), where she hit the ground running by setting up a successful program for obtaining new Sustaining Members and renewing expired memberships. She facilitated outreach amongst 34 Democratic Clubs to increase the number of Sustaining Members in each club and helped build the total number of Sustaining Members for HCDP. She used her acquired skills to run for Democratic Precinct Chair for Precinct 0070, which encompasses Rice Military, Washington, and Crestwood area, to increase voter turnout by block walking, mailing newsletters to neighbors, and informing them about upcoming elections. She also served her community as a Presiding Judge for the elections in her precinct. Rufi has served as President for ROADWomen and Bayou Blue Democrats in hopes of increasing the Democratic presence.
Rufi continued her work towards the 2018 Midterm Election by serving as the Chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Committee for HCDP to help build civic engagement and increase voter participation within this community. She assembled and managed a team of activists and community leaders to conduct voter outreach efforts in the AAPI community in Harris County which included managing phone banks in several major Asian languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese. HCDP will be expanding this program for the 2022 elections.
In 2019, Rufi began her work on flipping Texas House District 134 by recruiting a team of dedicated volunteers who conducted weekly phone banks up until the 2020 Election. She also hosted several house parties, block walks and raised funds for the campaign. These organized efforts helped with the winning Ann Johnson campaign for HD 134.
She led efforts to organize and fundraise for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 annual Johnson, Rayburn, Richards (JRR) events. The headliners consisted of Secretary Hillary Clinton and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to name a few. When the pandemic started in 2020, Rufi took lead on fundraising for HCDP by coordinating 12 events virtually helping raise approximately $400,000 for direct voter outreach in the 2020 Presidential Election.
Rufi Natarajan continues to serve as the Special Projects Director, AAPI Committee Chair, Democratic Precinct 0070 Chair, along with focusing on increasing the Sustaining Membership program for the Harris County Democratic Party in hopes of turning Texas blue!