James Patrick McGovern (born November 20, 1959) is a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district. He is the Chair of the House Rules Committee and of the Congressional Executive Commission on China as well as the Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, much of it numbered as the 3rd district from 1997 to 2013, stretches from Worcester to the Pioneer Valley.
Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, McGovern attended Worcester Academy, and has since become known as the Lion of Worcester.[1] While in college he worked as a congressional intern and then aide to U.S. Senator George McGovern (to whom he had no relation), a two-time presidential candidate for whom he campaigned.[2] From 1981 to 1996 he was a senior staff member for U.S. Representative Joe Moakley. McGovern first ran for Congress in 1994, where he lost in the Democratic primary. He ran again in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent Peter Blute. He has been reelected every two years since then without serious difficulty.
As Chairman of the Board of the Congressional Hunger Center, McGovern is known as a leading voice on ending hunger and food insecurity both in the United States and globally.[3] He was a key architect of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. [4] For his work he has earned a 2016 James Beard Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation, as well as a 2008 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award from the World Food Program USA.[5][6]
Another key focus of his career has been international human rights, which he has advocated for in countries such as El Salvador, Sudan, Colombia, and Chinese occupied Tibet. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[7] and has been ranked as one of the most liberal members of Congress.[8]
