Meet the Candidates

U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch was first sworn in to Congress in October 2001, following the sudden passing of U.S. Rep. John Joseph Moakley.

The son of an ironworker and  a postal clerk, Lynch was born and raised in the public housing projects of South Boston. Upon graduation from South Boston High School in 1973, Lynch joined his father as a member of Boston's Ironworkers Local 7. He worked as a structural ironworker for 18 years and was eventually elected to serve as youngest president of The Iron Workers Union.

Lynch continued his education at Wentworth Institute of Technology on nights and weekends, earning a bachelor's degree in Construction Management. He later received a law degree from Boston College Law School, was admitted to both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bar, and continued his advocacy for working people as a labor and employment attorney.

In 1994, Lynch was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. After just 14 months in office, he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate, where he served as the chair of the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor.

In 1999, he earned a mster's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In the 113th Congress, Lynch is a member of the Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he serves as Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census. Lynch is also a member of the Subcommittee on National Security.

Lynch is a co-founder of the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus. Lynch continues to serve as co-chair of the Task Force on Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.

He and his wife Margaret continue to live in South Boston where they are raising their daughter Victoria and niece Crystal.

U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey is the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee. He has served on the Committee since his election to the House of Representatives in 1976. 

From 2007 to 2010, at the direction of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Markey served as Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. During the 111th Congress, Markey also chaired the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

In addition to his work on energy and environmental issues, Markey served for 20 years as Chair or Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, where he was the principal author of many of the laws now governing our nation’s telephone, broadcasting, cable television, wireless, and broadband communications systems.

From 2003 to 2009, Markey served as a senior member of The House Homeland Security Committee. In that capacity, he focused on closing gaps in our homeland defenses, particularly in the areas of nuclear, aviation, rail, liquefied natural gas and chemical security. 

In addition, Markey is the co-chair of bipartisan Caucuses on Nonproliferation, on Privacy, on Alzheimer’s disease, and on Cystic Fibrosis. 

Markey was born in Malden and attended Boston College (B.A., 1968) and Boston College Law School (J.D., 1972). He served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was elected to the Massachusetts State House where he served two terms representing Malden and Melrose. He is married to Dr. Susan Blumenthal.