Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Pressley (born February 3, 1974, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) is an American politician who has represented the 7th congressional district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress. She is considered one of the original members of “the Squad,” an informal grouping of representatives who, in addition to typically being female and people of color, are generally more progressive and younger than the mainstream of the elected Democratic Party. She previously served on the Boston City Council (2010–19), where she broke ground as the first Black woman to serve on the council. Pressley ran unopposed in 2024 and was reelected to a third term.

Early life and education

Ayanna Pressley was born to Sandra Pressley and Martin Terrell in Ohio and was raised in Chicago by her mother, a tenants’ rights organizer who, despite financial insecurity, ensured her daughter’s enrollment in Francis W. Parker School, one of the city’s finest private schools. Pressley’s father struggled with addiction and was sporadically incarcerated throughout her adolescence, but eventually he earned multiple college degrees and had a successful career in fundraising and development at nonprofits and universities. In high school Pressley was voted “most likely to be mayor of Chicago” and was class salutatorian. She graduated from Parker in 1992 and enrolled in Boston University later that year. Pressley, who is a strong supporter of survivors of sexual assault, has spoken publicly about personally experiencing childhood sexual abuse as well as sexual assault during her time at Boston University. In 1994 Pressley withdrew from that school so that she could work full-time to support her mother, who had been laid off.

Entry into politics, election to the Boston City Council, and marriage

Pressley worked in the office of U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II and later became political director for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a role she continued in until running for a seat on the Boston City Council in 2009. She won the election and was sworn into office in January 2010, making her the first Black woman elected to serve on the council. She would go on to win again in the next four elections. During her time on the city council, Pressley focused on women’s and children’s issues. She also worked to increase the number of liquor licenses distributed in lower-income communities to increase their economic opportunities.

In 2014 Pressley married Conan Harris and became a stepmother to his daughter.

2018 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives

Pressley was extremely popular during her councillorship, and it was thought by some that she would be a strong candidate to succeed longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano when he retired. However, Pressley did not wait for him to step down: in 2018 she challenged him in the 7th district’s Democratic primary, using the campaign motto “Change can’t wait.” She campaigned on the need to take a more aggressive stance against the administration of Pres. Donald J. Trump and on the importance of representing the changing identity of the district, which now was largely non-white and foreign-born. Pressley was endorsed by The Boston Globe and Boston Herald and won the September primary with 59 percent of the vote. She ran unopposed in the general election and was sworn into Congress on January 3, 2019.

Congressional terms

Early in her first congressional term Pressley became associated with “the Squad,” which initially was a group of freshman congresswomen that comprised herself, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. When President Trump verbally attacked the congresswomen, suggesting that they were not Americans and should “go back and help fix” their countries of origin—though all but Omar were born in the United States—the group elected Pressley, the most politically experienced of the four, to speak first and set the tone of the press conference they held in response to his comments. While Pressley has stayed near the progressive fore of the Democratic Party, she has herself said that the Squad is not a “monolith,” and some have suggested that she is a moderating influence in the group. Pressley was a prominent surrogate for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who sought the Democratic Party nomination for president in 2020. Pressley herself won reelection to the House in 2020 and 2022.

In January 2020 Pressley revealed that she had been diagnosed with alopecia and was now bald. She has stated her intent to help fight the stigma and shame around the condition.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Some of Pressley’s notable stances and actions during her time in Congress include cosponsoring the Ending Qualified Immunity Act with Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash and sponsoring the People’s Justice Guarantee, a radical criminal justice reform bill that sought to massively shrink the U.S. prison system through decriminalization of various nonviolent offenses. In July 2021 Pressley joined Representatives Omar and Cori Bush in camping overnight on the steps of the Capitol to protest against the expiration of the eviction moratorium that had been enacted in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Pressley condemned Hamas and demanded the release of the Israeli hostages taken by the group while also condemning Israel’s military response, which, about a month after the attack, had reportedly killed more than 11,000 Palestinians—including many children—and calling for a ceasefire. She also condemned the Republican-led censure of fellow Squad member and Palestinian American Representative Tlaib.