Who is Stephen F. Lynch? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Stephen Lynch , Stephen Francis Lynch

Age: 69 Years, 69 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Margaret Shaughnessy Lynch (m. 1992)

father: Francis Lynch

mother: Anne Havlin

children: Victoria Bailey Lynch

Political Leaders American Men

Height: 5'11" (180 cm), 5'11" Males

City: Boston

U.S. State: Massachusetts

More Facts

education: Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Boston College Law School, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston College

Recommended For You

Recommended Lists:

Childhood & Early Life

He was one of the six children of Francis and Anne Lynch. The only son of his parents, he was raised with five sisters. His father was an ironworker while his mother worked at the post-office.

A hard worker from childhood, he began working in construction alongside his father from high school. He graduated from high school in 1973 and became an apprentice ironworker.

Continue Reading Below

Recommended Lists:

American Leaders

American Political Leaders

Aries Men

Career

As an ironworker he worked at various structural ironwork projects throughout the United States for several companies including General Motors and U.S. Steel.

He was an active participant in the Iron Workers Union from the early 1980s. He was elected president of the union at the age of 30 - the youngest in the union's history.

He worked during the daytime and spent his nights and weekends attending classes at the Wentworth Institute of Technology from where he graduated in 1988 with a bachelors degree in construction management.

He enrolled at the Boston College Law School to study law and graduated with a J.D. in 1991 and was admitted to both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bar. He worked with Gabriel O. Dumont, Jr. in representing labor unions and unemployed workers.

As a lawyer he also worked at the Boston Housing Authority representing housing project residents. He had political aspirations and was encouraged by his friends to run for office.

He successfully ran for an office in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives against Paul J. Gannon, the Democratic state representative, in 1994.

After 14 months, he ran for office of the President of the Massachusetts Senate in a special election in 1996. He successfully defeated the other candidates William M. Bulger, Jr. and Patrick Loftus.

He was made the Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor in 1997. At the same time he enrolled in Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and graduated with an MPA, Public Administration in 1999.

In 2001, the longtime incumbent U.S. Representative Joe Moakley died before his term ended. Lynch ran for the special election to succeed him. He had strong local support and won the Democratic primary with 39% of the vote.

He was sworn into the 107th Congress on 23rd October, 2001. He won re-election unopposed in 2002, 2004, and 2008, while in 2006 Republican candidate Jack E. Robinson III challenged him but was badly defeated.

He is a member of the Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In order to protect the rights of workers, he co-founded the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus.

From 2009 to 2010 he chaired the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia. He was also a member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises.

He has a past record of brushes with law which threatened his political career at one point of time. He had been arrested twice, including once for smoking marijuana. He had defaulted on student loans and had a history of tax evasion. In spite of these misdemeanors, he remains a popular politician.

He decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2013 seeking to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John Kerry. He faced a tough competition against Democratic Representative Ed Markey to whom he ultimately lost.

Major Works

He has been serving as a Representative in United States House of Representatives since 2001. Due to his experience as an ironworker and a lawyer he is very understanding towards the issues faced by the American working class and has undertaken several steps to improve the quality of life of the common people.

Personal Life & Legacy

He married Margaret Shaughnessy in 1992. They raise two girls, their daughter Victoria and a niece, Crystal.

Stephen F. Lynch Biography