Mike Capuano

Michael Everett Capuano (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.

Capuano was born January 9, 1952, in the Spring Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, the son of Rita Marie (née Garvey) and Andrew Capuano.

His father left to serve in World War II shortly after getting married, and after returning ran for the Somerville Board of Aldermen, and became the first Italian American elected to the board.

His mother was of Irish descent.

Capuano graduated from Somerville High School in 1969, and later attended Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973.

In 1976, Capuano was elected to the Somerville Board of Aldermen representing Ward 5, once served in by his father.

Capuano later went on to earn his Juris Doctor in 1977 from Boston College Law School, specializing in tax law.

From 1978 to 1984 Capuano served as chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts General Court's Joint Committee on Taxation.

After losing two mayoral elections in 1979 and 1981, he worked as legal counsel for the Massachusetts General Court.

Capuano served one term, stepping down in 1979 to run for Mayor of Somerville.

In the 1979 mayoral election he faced Eugene Brune, Paul Haley, and incumbent, Thomas August.

He lost the nomination to Brune, who went on to defeat August.

Capuano ran again in 1981 to challenge Brune, placing second in a three-person runoff election.

Capuano promoted his opposition to the state ballot question Proposition 2½ and criticized Brune for expanding the mayoral staff in the face of tight city budgets, while Brune touted his prevention of service cuts after the proposition passed.

Capuano lost in the general election with 40% of the vote.

Capuano left the committee in 1984 to join the Beacon Hill law firm and lobbying group Joyce & Joyce.

In 1985 he returned to the Somerville Board of Aldermen as an at-large member.

In 1989 Capuano ran for mayor a third time and won, serving from 1990 to 1999.

In 1989 Capuano ran for mayor a third time and won.

Capuano served as mayor from 1990 to 1999, where he earned a reputation as a hands-on administrator.

One of his priorities was to lower the city's population density, which at the time was the highest of any New England municipality, by using state grants to demolish several buildings and replace them with playgrounds and parking spaces.

As mayor, Capuano oversaw the reduction of school class sizes to a maximum of 19 students.

In 1998 Capuano won a crowded Democratic primary to replace Joseph Kennedy II in Congress and was re-elected nine times.

In 1998, Joseph Kennedy II announced his retirement after six terms in what was then the 8th District.

Capuano entered a crowded 10-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district, which was once represented by John F. Kennedy and Tip O'Neill.

The early front-runner was former Boston Mayor and US Vatican Ambassador Raymond Flynn.

However, Capuano won the primary with 23%, largely due to large turnout in Somerville, all but assuring him of election in November.

He easily won the general election in November, taking 81 percent of the vote.

He was reelected nine times, never dropping below 80% of the vote in what has long been the most Democratic district in New England.

Since his initial run for the seat, Capuano was unopposed in all but two reelection bids; he faced a minor-party candidate in 2006 and an independent in 2012.

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.

He represented the state's 8th district until it was redrawn in 2013 into the MA's 7th congressional district.

In Congress he was a staunch liberal and member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

In 2018, he was defeated by Ayanna Pressley in a House Democratic primary.

In March 2019, Capuano joined the law firm Foley & Lardner, to serve as public affairs director.

The same month, he also joined Boston University to teach at the university's Initiative on Cities and help organize the program.