Before her election to the House, Tsongas worked as the dean of external affairs at Middlesex Community College,[5] as a board member of Fallon Health[11] and on the Lowell Civic Stadium and Arena Commission, which oversees several sites, including the Tsongas Arena.[5] In 2001, Representative Marty Meehan appointed Tsongas to head a foundation to provide education funding for children of the victims of the September 11 attacks.[12]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
After Marty Meehan resigned in 2007 to serve as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Tsongas ran in the special election. She defeated four other candidates to win the Democratic primary with 36% of the vote.[13] During her initial campaign Tsongas received endorsements from The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and the Lowell Sun.[14][15] During the general election, former PresidentBill Clinton, who defeated her husband for the Democratic nomination in 1992, campaigned for her. At an event in Lowell Massachusetts, Clinton remarked: "Congress will be a better place because she is there."[16] Tsongas won the special election against Republican Jim Ogonowski with 51% of the vote on October 17;[17] she became the only female representative from Massachusetts, and the first from that state since the 1983 retirement of Margaret Heckler, who became Secretary of Health and Human Services under Ronald Reagan.
After running unopposed in 2008, in 2010 Tsongas faced Republican Jon Golnik, a small businessman and former Wall Street currency trader. During the campaign Tsongas attacked Golnik's history as a Vice President of AIG,[18] which Golnik called hypocritical as she owned stock in AIG and other large corporations.[19] Tsongas defeated Golnik with 52% of the vote.[20] Following redistricting after the 2010 census, Tsongas ran for reelection in the reconfigured Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district in 2012. In a rematch, she again defeated Golnik.[21]
A major issue in her initial election was whether the two candidates would vote to override President George W. Bush's veto of an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Tsongas said she would, and it was reported that Ogonowski would not.[23] Hours after being sworn into office on October 18, Tsongas voted to override, but the vote failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority.[24]
As a candidate in 2007, Tsongas promised to withdraw troops and end the Iraq War.[25] The first bill she introduced aimed to do this by implementing a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.[26] In 2010, along with other women in Congress, including House SpeakerNancy Pelosi, Tsongas visited Afghanistan to oversee the war effort. Upon returning, she spoke of the need for the involvement of women in rebuilding of government.[27]
Following Anthony Weiner's first sexting scandal, Tsongas was the only Representative from Massachusetts to call for his resignation, saying, "it would be appropriate for [him] to step down."[34] In the 2012 Massachusetts Senate election Tsongas was the first major Democratic politician to endorse Elizabeth Warren, whom she called "a fighter for middle-class families".[35] After President Barack Obama appointed John Kerry as United States Secretary of State, there was much speculation that Tsongas would run in the special election for his seat, which her husband had also previously held.[36] She briefly considered a run, but decided she would best be able to serve the people of Massachusetts by staying in the House, and endorsed fellow Representative Ed Markey.[37][38]
^ abc"Long Bio". Congresswoman Niki Tsongas. United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
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