Meet Jim
Jim McGovern has earned a national reputation as a tireless advocate for his district and as a champion for food security, human rights, campaign finance reform, social justice and peace. Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Jim is the son of two successful small business owners, Walter and Mindy. Both his sisters are teachers in the Worcester Public Schools. Jim is married to Lisa Murray McGovern and they have a son, Patrick and a daughter, Molly.
Since his first election to Congress in 1996, Jim has consistently delivered millions of dollars for jobs, vital local and regional projects, small businesses, public safety, regional and mass transportation projects, and affordable housing throughout his district and Massachusetts. Currently, Jim serves as the Chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, and a member of the House Agriculture Committee. In those roles, Jim has secured millions of dollars in federal grants and assistance for Massachusetts. Jim is also co-chair of both the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the House Hunger Caucus.
Before his election to Congress, Jim spent 14 years working as a senior aide for the late U.S. Representative John Joseph Moakley (D-South Boston). In 1989, Moakley tapped Jim to lead the investigation into the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. The investigation ultimately led to a seminal change in U.S. foreign policy towards El Salvador when it determined that the Salvadoran military was implicated in the murders. That landmark determination led to future military aid from the U.S. being conditioned on an improved human rights record. Jim’s time in El Salvador strengthened his personal and political beliefs.
In Congress, Jim has authored important legislation to increase Pell Grant funding to allow more students access to higher education; to provide funds to preserve open space in urban and suburban communities; and to give tax credits to employers who pay the salaries of their employees who are called up to active duty in the Guard and Reserves.
A strong proponent of healthcare reform, his legislative efforts included reducing the cost of home health care, giving patients the dignity to be cared for in their own homes with the help of medical professionals.
Jim voted against the initial authorization of force in Iraq in 2002 and has been among the most prominent Congressional voices on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jim introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill calling for a flexible timetable for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as a matter of national security and fiscal responsibility.
Jim has also taken a leadership role in the fight against hunger at home and abroad, successfully expanding the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, which helps alleviate child hunger and poverty by providing nutritious meals to children in schools in the world’s poorest countries. Every year, Jim walks 43 miles throughout the Pioneer Valley to raise awareness of hunger in our community and to raise funds for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
Jim is one of the leading voices in Congress fighting to overturn Citizens United, and has become one of the main advocates in the fight against corporate personhood.
Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts (‘81) and Masters of Public Administration (‘84) degrees from The American University, working his way through college by serving as an aide in the office of U.S. Senator George McGovern (D-SD). He went on to manage Senator McGovern’s 1984 Presidential campaign in Massachusetts, and delivered his nomination speech during the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
