James Patrick McGovern (born November 20, 1959) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing since 2013. A Democrat, he is the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, chaired the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and is the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. His district, numbered as the 3rd district from 1997 to 2013, stretches from Worcester to the Pioneer Valley.
Born and raised in Worcester, McGovern attended Worcester Academy. While in college he worked as a congressional intern and then as an aide to U.S. Senator George McGovern (no relation), a two-time presidential candidate for whom he campaigned. From 1981 to 1996 he was a senior staff member for U.S. Representative Joe Moakley. McGovern first ran for Congress in 1994, losing the Democratic primary. He ran again in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent Peter Blute.
As chairman of the board of the Congressional Hunger Center, McGovern is known as a leading voice on ending hunger and food insecurity both in the United States and globally. He was a key architect of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. For his work he has earned a 2016 James Beard Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation and a 2008 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award from the World Food Program USA.
Another focus of McGovern's career has been international human rights, which he has advocated for in countries such as El Salvador, Sudan, Colombia, and the region of Tibet. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has been ranked as one of Congress's most liberal members.
Early life, education, and early career James Patrick McGovern was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1959. He grew up in Worcester, where his mother, Mindy, was a dance instructor and his father, Walter, owned a liquor store. In junior high school, he first became involved in politics by campaigning for Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern (to whom he is not related) in his unsuccessful 1972 presidential bid. After graduation from Worcester Academy, he moved to Washington, D.C., where from 1977 to 1980 he worked as an aide to George McGovern.
Jim McGovern attended American University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1981 and a Master of Public Administration in 1984. He also served as director of the Kennedy Political Union, American University's student-run speakers bureau. George McGovern ran for president again in 1984 and Jim McGovern was the state coordinator of his Massachusetts campaign branch. He made the nominating speech for McGovern at the 1984 Democratic National Convention..
In 1981, Jim McGovern joined the Capitol Hill staff of U.S. Representative Joe Moakley. In 1990, Moakley appointed him to lead a House task force investigating the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador by the Atlácatl Battalion, working with Salvadoran activist Leonel Gómez Vides. He later advocated cutting off U.S. funding for the U.S. Army School of the Americas, where several of the military members had been trained.
U.S. House of Representatives Elections McGovern first ran for Congress in 1994, entering a crowded Democratic primary to represent the area then defined as Massachusetts's 3rd district. The district, in central and southeastern Massachusetts, included parts of Bristol, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties–essentially, the heart of the MetroWest region.National Atlas During the campaign, McGovern said his record as "a Washington insider" would make him a more effective representative. Despite endorsements from Moakley, George McGovern, and presidential aide George Stephanopoulos, McGovern lost the primary to Massachusetts State Representative Kevin O'Sullivan, who then lost to Republican incumbent Peter Blute.
McGovern left Moakley's office in 1996 and moved back to Worcester, again running for Congress. This time, he won the nomination unopposed and faced Blute in the general election. His campaign slogan focused on unseating House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "To dump Newt you have to dump Blute." Blute was endorsed by The Boston Globe and five other local papers, but McGovern won the election with 53% of the vote. He has never faced another contest nearly that close, and has been reelected 13 times. He ran unopposed in 2000 and 2002.
In 2004, he was opposed by Republican Ronald A. Crews, an evangelical pastor, former Georgia state legislator, and president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. A national conservative activist, Crews challenged McGovern's positions on same-sex marriage and abortion. McGovern derided his opponent's focus on social issues, saying, "When Ron Crews gets up in the morning, the first thing he thinks about is gay marriage. I don't think that is the most important issue for most families. Jobs, health care, education, how to make the world a more peaceful place, those are the issues people care about." McGovern defeated Crews with 71% of the vote, and ran unopposed in 2006 and 2008.
In the 2010 election, McGovern faced Republican Marty Lamb, a real estate lawyer, and independent Patrick J. Barron, a Department of Mental Health administrator. He was reelected with 57% of the vote.
When Massachusetts lost a district in the 2010 census, McGovern's district was renumbered as the and pushed west to Amherst and the Pioneer Valley. He ran unopposed in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
Tenure McGovern took over the top Democratic position on the House Rules Committee when Louise Slaughter died. After the 2018 midterm elections in which Democrats won the House majority, McGovern became chair.
Called the "Speaker's Committee" because it is the mechanism that the Speaker of the House uses to maintain order and control of the House Floor, the Rules Committee is often considered the most powerful committee in Congress. As chair, McGovern can influence the introduction and consideration of almost every piece of legislation that comes to a vote.
One of McGovern's first actions as chair was to pass a sweeping set of reforms to the House Rules. He wrote at the time that his changes were designed to "usher in a new era of clean government". McGovern also said the rules changes were "the result of unprecedented bipartisan outreach" and that he had met with "both Democrats and Republicans to seek their input on potential changes".
The National Journal reported that McGovern had used his Capitol Hill experience to help position himself as "a power broker in the Democratic caucus". In 2001, McGovern's mentor, Joe Moakley, at the time dying of cancer, asked Dick Gephardt to help McGovern attain a seat on the Rules Committee. He was given a commitment for the next available Democratic seat.
On the Rules Committee, McGovern has been able to use his experience with House procedures to his advantage. With Republicans comprising the majority of the panel, he "showed a sharp partisan edge as he embraced parliamentary maneuvers that led to cries of outrage" from Republican members.
Impeachments of Donald Trump As chair, McGovern played a central role in devising procedures the House adopted for the first impeachment of Donald Trump. At the time, McGovern wrote in The Boston Globe that "[t]he House will ensure the public-facing phase of this inquiry is transparent and will stand the test of time." He later explained his decision to vote for impeachment by saying, "I often think about kids today getting involved in the political process just like I did back in 1972. What will they think if we say that the president’s actions don’t matter?"
He supported impeaching Trump again for inciting the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.
Visit to Ukraine On April 30, 2022, McGovern accompanied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three other U.S. representatives on a secret trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The delegation pledged billions of dollars in military aid.
Domestic policy Transportation For his first three terms, McGovern served on the House Transportation Committee. He and Representative John Olver, who served on the House Appropriations Committee, coordinated to bring extensive transportation funding to their districts. When criticized for his heavy use of earmarks, McGovern responded, "It's not pork. It's nourishment."
Fiscal policy McGovern supported economic stimulus efforts during the late-2000s recession, including the Economic Stimulus Act in February 2008 and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (which established the Troubled Asset Relief Program) in October 2008. He supported the Obama administration's 2009 stimulus package. Responding to Republican criticism of Democratic budgetary priorities, he chided the GOP for running up the national debt under George W. Bush, saying: "It is somewhat ironic that the very people who drove this economy into a ditch are now complaining about the size of the tow truck." He voted to instate the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act in February 2010.
McGovern was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.
Education The Higher Education Act of 1998 included an amendment by McGovern that doubled Pell Grant funding for two years for students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.
Food and agriculture
As co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, McGovern is an advocate for expanding child nutrition programs both domestically and internationally. In 2007, he obtained $840 million in required funding for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program in the House version of the farm bill. The House–Senate conference committee stripped most of the funding from the final bill.
As the co-chair of the Congressional Hunger Center, McGovern has pushed for changes to foreign aid and hunger relief programs. He proposed establishing a "hunger czar position" to take on food issues. McGovern also took part in the food stamp challenge, which entailed living on the average $21 in food stamps for a week.
McGovern supports federal funding for alternative proteins, including plant-based foods. In 2021, McGovern and Representative Julia Brownley led a letter by 46 members of Congress requesting $200 million in alternative proteins research funding for the USDA's Agricultural Research Service. In July 2023, McGovern authored the Peas, Legumes, and Nuts Today (PLANT) Act, which would have extended agricultural subsidies to producers of common plant-based proteins and established an agricultural marketing program for plant-based foods.
McGovern has expressed support for the California farm animal welfare law Proposition 12, which prohibits the sale of products from animals confined in battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates. He criticized a July 2025 House Agriculture Committee hearing that he characterized as being dominated by opponents of the law, calling it a "misrepresentation of reality" and stating that many producers benefit from higher animal welfare standards.
Immigration McGovern has voted against major efforts to restrict illegal immigration, including the REAL ID Act of 2005,, incorporated into the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, and the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
Health care McGovern believes health care is a human right. He voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, ultimately pushing for a robust public option that was not included in the final measure. He supports Medicare for All.
Voting age In January 2023, McGovern was one of 13 cosponsors of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens 16 years of age or older.
Corporate personhood