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Photograph of Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Pressley

U.S. House · MA-7 · Democrats · since 2025

also

Candidate for U.S. House · MA-7

Target Ayanna

Biography

Overview

Ayanna Pressley is a Democrat representing Massachusetts's 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving since 2019. She is the first Black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Before Congress, she served on the Boston City Council from 2010 to 2019, making her the first woman of color in the council's 100-year history. She is a member of "The Squad," an informal group of progressive House members.

Career

In Congress, Pressley has championed criminal justice reform, introducing the Ending Qualified Immunity Act and the People's Justice Guarantee. She authored the CREDIT Act, which passed the House in 2020 and restricted employers' use of credit scores in hiring while improving consumer protections. She co-authored the Freedom to Move Act with Senator Ed Markey to provide federal grants for fare-free public transit. On the Boston City Council, she led efforts on women's and children's issues, authored ordinances protecting transgender employees' healthcare coverage and promoting equity in city contracts, and worked on expanding liquor licenses to underserved neighborhoods. She has been an early advocate for maternal health access, co-introducing the HEALTH for MOM Act in 2025.

Prior political experience

Pressley was first elected to the U.S. House in 2018, defeating ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary by a margin of 59% to 41%—a notable upset given that the last pre-election poll showed Capuano leading 48% to 35%. She ran unopposed in the general election. In 2020, she was unopposed for the Democratic nomination and defeated a write-in Republican candidate. In 2022, she defeated Republican Donnie Palmer, who was the first Republican to run a non-write-in campaign since 1998. In 2024, she ran unopposed in both the Democratic primary and general election, securing her fourth term.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress-0.373

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
-0.928
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 343 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
4thU.S. House MA-72025–presentIn progressAyanna Pressley—
3rdU.S. House MA-72023–2025Term endedAyanna PressleyAyanna Pressley
2ndU.S. House MA-72021–2023Term endedAyanna PressleyAyanna Pressley
1stU.S. House MA-72019–2021Term endedEd MarkeyAyanna Pressley

Committee assignments

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
2024U.S. House MA-7Pending81.96%