Jim McGovern (American politician)
James Patrick McGovern (born November 20, 1959) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A Democrat, he is the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, chaired the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and is the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.[1] His district, numbered as the 3rd district from 1997 to 2013, stretches from Worcester to the Pioneer Valley.
Jim McGovern
Born and raised in Worcester, McGovern attended Worcester Academy. While in college he worked as a congressional intern and then aide to U.S. Senator George McGovern (to whom he is not related), a two-time presidential candidate for whom he campaigned.[2] From 1981 to 1996 he was a senior staff member for U.S. Representative Joe Moakley. McGovern first ran for Congress in 1994, losing the Democratic primary. He ran again in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent Peter Blute. He has been reelected every two years since without serious difficulty.
As chairman of the board of the Congressional Hunger Center, McGovern is known as a leading voice on ending hunger and food insecurity both in the United States and globally.[3] He was a key architect of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.[4] For his work he has earned a 2016 James Beard Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation and a 2008 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award from the World Food Program USA.[5][6]
Another focus of McGovern's career has been international human rights, which he has advocated for in countries such as El Salvador, Sudan, Colombia, and the region of Tibet. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[7] and has been ranked as one of Congress's most liberal members.[8]
Early life, education, and career[edit]
James Patrick McGovern[9] was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1959. He grew up in Worcester, where his mother, Mindy, was a dance instructor and his father, Walter, owned a liquor store.[10][11] In junior high school, he first became involved in politics by campaigning for Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern (to whom he is not related) in his unsuccessful 1972 presidential bid. After graduating from Worcester Academy, he moved to Washington, D.C., where from 1977 to 1980 he worked as an aide to George McGovern.
Jim McGovern attended American University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1981 and a Master of Public Administration in 1984. He also served as director of the Kennedy Political Union, American University's student-run speakers bureau. George McGovern ran for president again in 1984, and Jim McGovern was the state coordinator of his Massachusetts campaign branch, and made his nominating speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention.[11]
In 1981, Jim McGovern joined the Capitol Hill staff of U.S. Representative Joe Moakley.[11] In 1990, Moakley appointed him to lead a House task force investigating the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador by the Atlácatl Battalion, working with Salvadoran activist Leonel Gómez Vides.[12] He later advocated cutting off U.S. funding for the U.S. Army School of the Americas, where several of the military members had been trained.[11]
U.S. House of Representatives[edit]
Elections[edit]
McGovern first ran for Congress in 1994, entering a crowded Democratic primary to represent the area then defined as Massachusetts's 3rd district.[11] The district, in central and southeastern Massachusetts, included parts of Bristol, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties–essentially, the heart of the MetroWest region.[13] During the campaign, McGovern said his record as "a Washington insider" would make him a more effective representative. Despite endorsements from Moakley, George McGovern, and presidential aide George Stephanopoulos, McGovern lost the primary to Massachusetts State Representative Kevin O'Sullivan,[11][14] who then lost to Republican incumbent Peter Blute.
McGovern left Moakley's office in 1996 and moved back to Worcester, again running for Congress. This time, he won the nomination unopposed and faced Blute in the general election. His campaign slogan focused on unseating House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "To dump Newt you have to dump Blute."[15] Blute was endorsed by The Boston Globe and five other local papers, but McGovern won the election with 53% of the vote.[10][16] He has never faced another contest nearly that close, and has been reelected 13 times. He ran unopposed in 2000 and 2002.[16]
In 2004, he was opposed by Republican Ronald A. Crews, an evangelical pastor, former Georgia state legislator, and president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. A national conservative activist, Crews challenged McGovern's positions on same-sex marriage and abortion. McGovern derided his opponent's focus on social issues, saying, "When Ron Crews gets up in the morning, the first thing he thinks about is gay marriage. I don't think that is the most important issue for most families. Jobs, health care, education, how to make the world a more peaceful place, those are the issues people care about."[17] McGovern defeated Crews with 71% of the vote, and ran unopposed in 2006 and 2008.[16]
In the 2010 election, McGovern faced Republican Marty Lamb, a real estate lawyer, and independent Patrick J. Barron, a Department of Mental Health administrator.[18][19] He was reelected with 57% of the vote.[20]
When Massachusetts lost a district in the 2010 census, McGovern's district was renumbered as the 2nd district and pushed west to Amherst and the Pioneer Valley. He ran unopposed in 2012, 2014, and 2016.