The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics,public service,entertainment,and business. In 1884,35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford,Ireland,Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office,serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member served in federal elective office from 1947,when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts,until 2011,when Patrick J. Kennedy II retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.
Richard Edmund Neal is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district since 1989. The district,numbered as the 2nd district from 1989 to 2013,includes Springfield,West Springfield,Pittsfield,Holyoke,Agawam,Chicopee and Westfield,and is much more rural than the rest of the state. A member of the Democratic Party,Neal has been the dean of Massachusetts's delegation to the United States House of Representatives since 2013,and he is also the dean of the New England House delegations.
James Patrick McGovern is a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997,representing Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party,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. His district,numbered as the 3rd district from 1997 to 2013,stretches from Worcester to the Pioneer Valley.
Michael F. Flaherty is a politician who severely served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council for a cumulative ten terms. A member of the Democratic Party,he was first elected to the council in 1999,serving an initial five terms between 2000 until 2010. During this initial tenure,he served as vice president of the council in 2001 and as council president from 2002 to 2006. In 2009 he forwent reelection to a further term in order to run for mayor of Boston in that year's election,which he lost to incumbent mayor Thomas Menino. He ran unsuccessfully in 2011 to return to the council as an at-large member. In 2013,Flaherty again ran in the at-large city council race,and was returned to the council. He served five terms between 2014 and 2024. In 2023,he declined to seek reelection to an additional term.
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston,Massachusetts,United States. It is made up of 13 members:9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve. Boston uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch,the mayor. The council is responsible for approving the city budget;monitoring,creating,and abolishing city agencies;making land use decisions;and approving,amending,or rejecting other legislative proposals.
James Jackson Storrow II was an American investment banker,government official,and scouting leader. He gave up a legal career to become a partner of Lee,Higginson &Co.. He was also involved with automobile business,first as president of General Motors,then with Nash Motors. Active in public life,Storrow was a member of Boston's city council and school committee and lost a close race for Mayor in 1910. A leader in the Boy Scouts of America,he was the organization's second president.
William Sarsfield McNary was an American Democratic politician who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from Boston,Massachusetts,and exercised tremendous influence over the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Linda Dorcena Forry is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,who represented the 1st Suffolk district from June 2013 - January 2018. She previously represented the 12th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives after winning a special election in April 2005. Haitian-American,Dorcena Forry,is the former House Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.
Ayanna Soyini Pressley is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019. This district includes the northern three quarters of Boston,most of Cambridge,parts of Milton,as well as all of Chelsea,Everett,Randolph,and Somerville. Before serving in the United States House of Representatives,Pressley served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council from 2010 through 2019. She was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2018 after she defeated the ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary election for Massachusetts' 7th congressional district and ran unopposed in the general election. Pressley was the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Pressley is a member of "The Squad",a group of progressive Congress members.
James J. Lyons Jr. is an American politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 18th Essex district from 2011 to 2019,and as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 2019 to 2023.
Tito Jackson is an American politician who was a member of the Boston City Council. He represented council District 7,representing parts of the Roxbury neighborhood and parts of Dorchester,South End,and Fenway. In 2017,he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Boston. After leaving the Boston City Council,Jackson worked in the cannabis industry. In 2022,Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Jackson to the city's Commission on Black Men and Boys.
John Thomas Hailer is an American financial services executive,who retired in April 2017 as president and chief executive officer of Natixis Global Asset Management –The Americas &Asia,a subsidiary of French bank Natixis.
Nick Collins is an American politician who currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing First Suffolk District. Collins serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses. Additionally,he serves a member of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading,and a member on the Joint Committee's on Bonding,Capital Expenditures and State Assets;Mental Health,Substance Use and Recovery;and Public Service. He is a Boston resident and a Democrat. Elected into the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2010,he served four terms in the House representing the 4th Suffolk District.
Claire D. Cronin is an American attorney,politician,and diplomat who currently serves as the United States Ambassador to Ireland. She previously served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 11th Plymouth district from 2013 to 2022. Cronin was the first woman to serve as House Majority Leader.
Martin Joseph Walsh is an American politician and trade union official who served as the mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and as the 29th United States Secretary of Labor from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,Walsh resigned from his position as the US Secretary of Labor in March 2023 in order to accept a position as executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association. Before his mayoralty,he served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,representing the 13th Suffolk district from 1997 until 2014. As a trade union member,Walsh worked his way up to serve as the head of the Boston Building Trades Council from 2011 until 2013.
Joseph McGrath was an American politician who served as acting Mayor of Boston during the tenure of James Michael Curley,Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party,and Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston.
Frederica M. Williams,MBA,FCIS has served as the president and chief executive officer of Whittier Street Health Center in Boston,Massachusetts since 2002.
James Keith Motley is a former academic administrator who served as the eighth chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Annissa Essaibi George is an American politician who served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council. First elected in 2015,she served on the council from 2016 to 2022. She was a candidate in the 2021 Boston mayoral election. She placed second in the nonpartisan primary,but was defeated in the general election by fellow city councilor Michelle Wu. Since November 2022,Essaibi George has served as the president of the Board of Directors of the nonprofit organization Big Sister Boston.
Francis Xavier Joyce was an American politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and in the Boston City Council.
