Pressley, Ayanna

Ayanna Pressley has represented Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District since 2019. Born February 3, 1974, in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago, she moved to Boston in 1992 to attend Boston University. Before her election to Congress, she worked for over a decade in various roles for Senator John Kerry and served on the Boston City Council from 2010 to 2019, becoming the first woman of color elected to that body in its 100-year history. In 2018, she defeated 10-term incumbent Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary with 59 percent of the vote and ran unopposed in the general election, making her the first Black woman elected to represent Massachusetts in Congress.

Pressley serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, with subcommittee assignments in Housing and Insurance, Digital Assets and Financial Technology, and Federal Law Enforcement. Her legislative focus spans reproductive justice, workers' rights, consumer protection, immigrant justice, and criminal justice reform. She has introduced bills addressing fair compensation for low-wage workers, support for survivors of sexual assault, and fundamental reform of the criminal legal system.

Pressley is a founding member of "The Squad," an informal group of progressive representatives that includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. As the oldest and most politically experienced member, she served as the group's spokesperson when attacked by former President Trump. In 2020, she publicly revealed her diagnosis with alopecia, an autoimmune disease causing hair loss, and has since become a leading advocate for the alopecia community. She believes that those closest to the pain should be closest to the power in policymaking.