Mike Capuano - Congressional Career

Congressional Career

Capuano was elected to Congress in 1998, succeeding fellow Democrat Joseph Kennedy II. In the Democratic primary, he faced nine opponents, including former Boston mayor and U.S. Ambassador Raymond Flynn, who had been an early front-runner. Capuano benefited from strong voter turnout in Somerville (against a low district turnout overall) and an effective television campaign, and won the crowded primary with 23 percent of the vote. As the 8th has long been reckoned as the most Democratic district in New England, Capuano's general election victory was a foregone conclusion. He has since been reelected unopposed five times, most recently in 2010.

Capuano is a member of three congressional committees and three party committees. He has co-founded five congressional caucuses while serving in the House. After the United States general elections, 2006 that created a Democratic majority in the House, he was appointed Chairman of the Speaker's Task Force on Ethics Enforcement by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with whom he has a close relationship. Along with being a member of the House Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Committee of Financial Services, Capuano also serves on the House Democratic Leadership team as a member of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.