Lori Trahan | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2018 | |
| Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee | |
| Assumed office November 29, 2023 | |
| Leader | Hakeem Jeffries |
| Preceded by | Dean Phillips |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's3rd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Niki Tsongas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lori Ann Loureiro (1973-10-27)October 27, 1973 (age 52) Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | David Trahan |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Georgetown University (BS) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Lori Ann Trahan (/trəˈhæn/trə-HANN;néeLoureiro; born October 27, 1973) is an American businesswoman and politician serving as theU.S. representative forMassachusetts's 3rd congressional district since 2019.[1] The district coversBoston's northwestern suburbs, and includesLowell,Lawrence,Concord, and Trahan's hometown,Westford. ADemocrat, she formerly served aschief of staff to RepresentativeMarty Meehan inMassachusetts's 5th congressional district.
Trahan was born on October 27, 1973, and raised inLowell, Massachusetts.[2] She grew up with three sisters. Trahan attendedLowell High School, into whose Sports Hall of Fame she was later inducted. Trahan has said her family lived "paycheck to paycheck".[3] Her father, Tony Loureiro, hadPortuguese parents. His father was fromPorto, and his mother was born in Brazil to Portuguese parents and moved to theAzores to live with relatives as a child after her mother's death. Trahan's mother is also of partialPortuguese ancestry (from the Azores).[4]
At Lowell High, Trahan earned anathletic scholarship involleyball toGeorgetown University.[5] She graduated from Georgetown'sWalsh School of Foreign Service with abachelor's degree in comparative and regional studies in international relations.[6][7]
After college, Trahan worked forMarty Meehan, the U.S. Representative forMassachusetts's 5th congressional district, eventually becoming hischief of staff. In 2005, she left the public sector to work for ChoiceStream, aCambridge, Massachusetts–based marketing software company. She became the CEO of the Concire Leadership Institute, a small, woman-owned consulting firm.[6]
In October 2017, Trahan announced her candidacy for the 2018 election to succeed retiring U.S. representativeNiki Tsongas.[8] Tsongas had succeeded Trahan's former boss, Meehan, in a 2007 special election (the district was renumbered as the 3rd district after the 2010 census).
In September 2018, Trahan won the Democraticprimary election, the real contest in this heavily Democratic district, narrowly defeatingDaniel Koh, the former chief of staff toBoston mayorMarty Walsh, in a field of 10 candidates.[9] The victory was upheld after arecount.[10] In the Novembergeneral election, Trahan defeated the Republican nominee, Rick Green, with 62% of the vote.[11]
Trahan was reelected with 97% of the vote in 2020, running unopposed.[12]
In 2022, Trahan was reelected with 63.6% of the vote, defeating Republican challengerDean Tran.
In 2024, Trahan was reelected unopposed with 97.5% of the vote.
On March 4, 2019,The Boston Globe published an analysis of contributions to Trahan's campaign in the weeks before the 3rd congressional district's 2018 Democratic primary. In the last days before the primary, Trahan put hundreds of thousands of dollars into TV advertising, and theGlobe investigated the source of the money. Trahan told theGlobe she used $371,000 in personal funds, but federal financial disclosures she filed in the late summer of 2018 appeared to show that she did not have the funds to cover such a loan.[13]
On December 17, 2019, theUnited States House Committee on Ethics launched a continuing investigation of Trahan after congressional investigators found "substantial reason to believe" that she violatedcampaign finance laws in her 2018 campaign.[14] The Ethics Committee voted unanimously to dismiss the inquiry on July 15, 2020, saying in its final report that it "did not find that Representative Trahan acted in violation of House Rules, laws, regulations, or other standards of conduct."[15]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lori Trahan | 18,527 | 21.6 | |
| Democratic | Daniel Koh | 18,405 | 21.5 | |
| Democratic | Barbara L'Italien | 13,029 | 15.2 | |
| Democratic | Juana Matias | 12,982 | 15.1 | |
| Democratic | Rufus Gifford | 12,856 | 15.1 | |
| Democratic | Alexandra Chandler | 4,848 | 5.7 | |
| Democratic | Beej Das | 1,496 | 1.7 | |
| Democratic | Jeffrey Ballinger | 1,388 | 1.6 | |
| Democratic | Bopha Malone | 1,344 | 1.6 | |
| Democratic | Leonard Golder | 585 | 0.7 | |
| Democratic | write-ins | 131 | 0.2 | |
| Democratic | Blanks | 3,227 | ||
| Total votes | 88,818 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lori Trahan | 173,175 | 62.0 | |
| Republican | Rick Green | 93,445 | 33.4 | |
| Independent | Mike Mullen | 12,572 | 4.5 | |
| n/a | Write-ins | 135 | 0.1 | |
| Total votes | 279,327 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lori Trahan | 286,896 | 97.7 | |
| n/a | Write-ins | 6,643 | 2.7 | |
| Total votes | 293,539 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lori Trahan (incumbent) | 154,496 | 63.5 | |
| Republican | Dean Tran | 88,585 | 36.4 | |
| Write-in | 220 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 243,301 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Lori Trahan | 264,968 | 97.5 | |
| n/a | Write-ins | 6,861 | 2.5 | |
| Total votes | 271,559 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
In April 2019, Trahan supported the presidentialcandidacy of SenatorElizabeth Warren.[25] She voted with PresidentJoe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the117th Congress, according to aFiveThirtyEight analysis.[26]
In an April 2019 interview, Trahan said she did not support theimpeachment of President Trump, but that Congress should continue investigating Trump.[25] In December 2019, afterthe revelation that Trump had spoken to Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelensky about investigating his rivalJoe Biden, Trahan toldThe Salem News that she supported impeaching the president, calling Trump's abuses in office a "clear and present danger" that required action.[27] On December 19, 2019, Trahan voted for both articles of impeachment against Trump.[28]
On October 1, 2020, Trahan co-signed a letter to Secretary of StateMike Pompeo condemningAzerbaijan’s offensive operations against theArmenian-populated enclave ofNagorno-Karabakh and denouncedTurkey’s role in theNagorno-Karabakh conflict, and criticized "false equivalence between Armenia and Azerbaijan, even as the latter threatens war and refuses to agree to monitoring along the line of contact."[29]
On March 28, 2019, Trahan voted to protecttransgender troops from the Trump Administration's ban on transgender people serving in the military.[30]
On February 7, 2019, Trahan became an original cosponsor of theGreen New Deal.[31]
In October 2022, Trahan introduced the Stop Online Suicide Assistance Forums Act, a bill that would make it a crime to use "the mail or interstate communication to intentionally assist another individual in taking that individual's own life".[32] The bill was abipartisan effort that included representativesChris Stewart,Mike Carey andKatie Porter.
In January 2023, Trahan was one of 13 cosponsors of an amendment to theConstitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens sixteen years of age or older.[33]
In 2023, Trahan was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[34][35]
In 2023, Trahan was among 49 Democrats to break with PresidentJoe Biden, by voting for a ban oncluster munitions toUkraine.[36][37]
Trahan lives inWestford, Massachusetts, with her two daughters,[38] three stepsons,[38] and husband Dave.[8] Trahan isRoman Catholic.[39]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 3rd congressional district 2019–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 236th | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
