Mike Capuano

Mike Capuano
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts
In office
January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2019
Preceded byJoseph P. Kennedy II
Succeeded byAyanna Pressley
Constituency8th district (1999–2013)
7th district (2013–2019)
33rd Mayor of Somerville
In office
January 1, 1990 – January 3, 1999
Preceded byEugene Brune
Succeeded byDorothy Kelly Gay
Member of the Somerville Board of Aldermen
In office
1985–1989
In office
1977–1979
ConstituencyAt-Large Ward
Personal details
Born
Michael Everett Capuano

(1952-01-09) January 9, 1952 (age 72)
Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Barbara Teebagy
(m. 1974)
Children2
RelativesChris Evans (nephew)
Scott Evans (nephew)
Residence(s)Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationDartmouth College (BA)
Boston College (JD)
Signature
WebsitePersonal website

Michael Everett Capuano (/ˌkæpjuˈɑːn/ KAP-ew-AH-noh; born January 9, 1952) is an American politician and attorney who served as a U.S. Representative of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2019. A Democrat, his district included the northern three-fourths of Boston, as well as parts of Cambridge, his hometown of Somerville, and other communities immediately north and south of Boston. Prior to being elected to Congress, he served as an Alderman and Mayor of Somerville.

Capuano was born and raised in Somerville. After graduating from Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, he worked as an attorney and Somerville alderman. After losing two mayoral elections in 1979 and 1981, he worked as legal counsel for the Massachusetts General Court. In 1989 Capuano ran for mayor a third time and won, serving from 1990 to 1999.

In 1998 Capuano won a crowded Democratic primary to replace Joseph Kennedy II in Congress and was re-elected nine times. He represented the state's 8th district until it was redrawn in 2013 into the 7th district. In Congress he was a staunch liberal and member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[1] He ran in the 2010 special election to fill the seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy, his Congressional predecessor's uncle, but lost the primary to Martha Coakley, who in turn lost the general election to Republican Scott Brown. In 2018, he was defeated by Ayanna Pressley in a House Democratic primary.[2]

In March 2019, Capuano joined the law firm Foley & Lardner, to serve as public affairs director.[3] The same month, he also joined Boston University to teach at the university's Initiative on Cities and help organize the program.[4]

  1. ^ "Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  2. ^ "Capuano concedes to Pressley in congressional race - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "Michael Capuano has a new job". Boston.com. March 1, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  4. ^ Barlow, Rich (March 4, 2019). "Former Congressman Michael Capuano (Hon.'09) to Join BU". BU Today. Retrieved March 15, 2019.