Stephen F. Lynch
Stephen Francis Lynch (born March 31, 1955) is an American politician who has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts since 2001. He is a Democrat representing the state's 8th district, which includes the southern fourth of Boston and many of its southern suburbs. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court. Born and raised in South Boston, Lynch is the son of an ironworker. He went into the trade after high school, working in an apprenticeship and later joining his father's union. He became the union's youngest president at age 30 while attending the Wentworth Institute of Technology. He received his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1991. For several years he worked as a lawyer, primarily representing housing project residents and labor unions. Lynch was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, unseating an incumbent Democratic lawmaker, in 1994. His social views and advocacy for the South Boston neighborhood led him to the Massachusetts Senate in 1995, when he won a special election to succeed state Senator William M. Bulger. He won a special election to represent the state's 9th district in the United States House of Representatives in 2001, and has been re-elected ever since. His district was redrawn into the 8th district in 2013. Lynch has a reputation of being the most socially conservative member of Massachusetts's House delegation, and often votes independently of his party leadership. He currently sits on the Financial Services Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Lynch ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2013 special election for the U.S. Senate but lost to Edward Markey.