Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago by a mother who organized for tenants' rights.¹ She lives in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood with her husband, Conan Harris, and a cat named Sojourner Truth, and is a stepmother.¹

She moved to Boston in 1992 to attend Boston University and later worked as an aide to Congressman Joseph Kennedy II and Senator John Kerry.¹ In 2009, she won a Boston City Council seat, becoming the first woman of color elected to the council.¹ She worked there with residents and community advocates on inequities affecting the city.¹

Pressley's 2018 House victory made her the first woman of color elected to Congress from Massachusetts.¹ Her congressional work has included introducing legislation on pay for lower wage workers and support for sexual assault survivors.¹ She also helped establish the Future of Transportation Caucus and has advocated for reproductive rights and immigrant communities.¹

In 2025, she reintroduced the Ending PUSHOUT Act and Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act.² The proposals would support counselors, nurses and social workers, limit federal support for school policing and seek to reduce exclusionary discipline affecting girls of color and students with disabilities.² She is unopposed on November's printed ballot.³