The congressman from the 3rd District is Jim McGovern, a Democrat first elected in 1996. McGovern grew up in Worcester, where his parents owned a liquor store. He attended American University in Washington, and, while in graduate school, he worked in the office of then-Sen. George McGovern (no relation), a South Dakota Democrat. He ran McGovern’s 1984 campaign in the Massachusetts presidential primary, where the senator finished third with 21% of the vote. He went to work as an aide to Boston-area Rep. Joe Moakley’s office and became chief of staff just as Moakley ascended to chairman of the Rules Committee. McGovern got into the spotlight himself, leading a 1989 investigation of the murders of six Jesuits and two lay women in El Salvador, which led to a cutoff of U.S. aid to the country. In 1994, he ran for the House and lost in the Democratic primary, 38%-30%. In 1996, he ran again, this time with no primary opposition. In the general election, two-term Republican Rep. Peter Blute stressed his independence from then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the conservative Republican leadership in the House and attacked McGovern for liberal stands on abortion rights and Cuba. McGovern ran a humorous spot that asked, ‘‘If you wouldn’t vote for Newt, why would you ever vote for Blute?’’ At age 36, McGovern won, 53%-45%. Read More

The congressman from the 3rd District is Jim McGovern, a Democrat first elected in 1996. McGovern grew up in Worcester, where his parents owned a liquor store. He attended American University in Washington, and, while in graduate school, he worked in the office of then-Sen. George McGovern (no relation), a South Dakota Democrat. He ran McGovern’s 1984 campaign in the Massachusetts presidential primary, where the senator finished third with 21% of the vote. He went to work as an aide to Boston-area Rep. Joe Moakley’s office and became chief of staff just as Moakley ascended to chairman of the Rules Committee. McGovern got into the spotlight himself, leading a 1989 investigation of the murders of six Jesuits and two lay women in El Salvador, which led to a cutoff of U.S. aid to the country. In 1994, he ran for the House and lost in the Democratic primary, 38%-30%. In 1996, he ran again, this time with no primary opposition. In the general election, two-term Republican Rep. Peter Blute stressed his independence from then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the conservative Republican leadership in the House and attacked McGovern for liberal stands on abortion rights and Cuba. McGovern ran a humorous spot that asked, ‘‘If you wouldn’t vote for Newt, why would you ever vote for Blute?’’ At age 36, McGovern won, 53%-45%.

With deft maneuvers reflecting his Capitol Hill experience, McGovern positioned himself to become a power broker in the Democratic caucus. In 2001, the dying Moakley personally asked Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt to help McGovern get a seat on Rules, which schedules most legislation for the House floor. As it turned out, the next seat went to Florida’s Alcee Hastings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, but McGovern got a commitment for the next available Democratic seat, with seniority over Hastings. He also has a senior job on Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s whip organization.

On Rules, McGovern started with the advantage of already being versed in House procedures. With GOP lawmakers dominating the panel, he showed a sharp partisan edge as he embraced parliamentary maneuvers that led to cries of outrage from House Republicans. When Louise Slaughter of New York—now her 80s—retires, McGovern is in position to assume the top Democratic spot on Rules. With his considerable leverage, he became a party leader on Iraq war policy, sponsoring a 2007 bill to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in six months that was defeated on a 255-171 vote. Later that year, he proposed a war surtax, but Democratic leaders rejected it. In 2008, McGovern called for the United Nations to replace U.S. forces in Iraq.

McGovern has a solidly liberal voting record and has urged President Obama to embrace a more progressive agenda. He was among the lawmakers arrested at an April 2009 Darfur protest at the Sudanese embassy and later recalled, “It was really a privilege to be in the same cell as John Lewis,” the Georgia lawmaker and civil rights icon. McGovern was among those who pushed for a government-run public option in the health care overhaul bill, but he backed it anyway when the public option was dropped under pressure from Democratic moderates. He is a member of the Cuba Working Group, which has called for easing sanctions against the Castro regime. He contends that the U.S. embargo has not achieved its goal of improving human rights and the economic situation in Cuba, and that only a change in policy, not continued sanctions, will improve living conditions and foment democratic reforms there. Citing human rights violations, he was a leading opponent of the U.S. free-trade deal with Colombia.

McGovern chairs the Congressional Hunger Center, and in 2007 he participated in a one-week “food stamp challenge” in which he spent no more than $21 on food. He has pushed for more spending on international nutrition and for less support of biofuels, which he says have driven up food costs. He agreed to support a $4.5 billion child nutrition bill in late 2010 after getting assurances from the White House that it would try to restore $2.2 billion taken from future funding for food stamp programs.

On issues affecting his district, McGovern led opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas plant on the Taunton River. The Coast Guard ruled that the river was not safe for LNG tankers and blocked construction. Although Republicans held this seat not long ago, they have all but given up on it. McGovern was unopposed in four of the past five congressional elections, and won easily with 57% in the anti-incumbent environment of 2010. Less than a week later, he was treated for thyroid cancer and given a promising prognosis.