41 Facts About Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Soyini Pressley was born on February 3,1974 and is an American politician who has served as the US representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019.

Ayanna Pressley was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2018 after she defeated the ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary election for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district and ran unopposed in the general election.

Ayanna Pressley was the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

Ayanna Pressley is a member of "The Squad", a group of progressive Congress members.

Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Chicago, Illinois.

From 1992 to 1994, Ayanna Pressley attended the College of General Studies at Boston University, before leaving school to take a full-time job at the Boston Marriott Copley Place to support her mother, who had lost her job.

Ayanna Pressley took further courses at Boston University Metropolitan College.

Ayanna Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2009.

Ayanna Pressley placed a strong focus to women's and children's issues.

Ayanna Pressley founded the Committee on Healthy Women, Families, and Communities, which addresses issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking.

Ayanna Pressley worked on the issue of liquor licenses in the city.

The ultimate product of Ayanna Pressley's push was the passage of state legislation in 2014 granting Boston the authority to distribute 75 additional liquor licenses over a three year period, with the aim of distributing them to less advantaged neighborhoods in order to increase economic activity in those neighborhoods.

Ayanna Pressley led in 13 of the city's 22 wards and finished second in three others.

Ayanna Pressley won Boston's communities of color and many progressive neighborhoods.

Ayanna Pressley placed first ticket again in November 2013 and November 2015, and placed second in November 2017 behind only Michelle Wu.

In January 2018, Ayanna Pressley announced her challenge to incumbent United States Representative Michael Capuano in the 2018 Democratic primary nomination for the Massachusetts's 7th congressional district.

For years before she challenged him, Ayanna Pressley had been speculated as a likely top-contender to succeed Capuano if he were to retire.

Ayanna Pressley was endorsed by the editorial boards of both The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald as well as a local chapter of the hotel and electrical worker union.

Ayanna Pressley claimed that the district needed to be represented by someone who would take a more aggressive role in opposing the presidency of Donald Trump.

Ayanna Pressley campaigned with the slogan "change can't wait", and promised that she would bring "activist leadership".

Ayanna Pressley ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and the general election, securing a fourth term representing District 7.

Ayanna Pressley is the first black woman elected to represent Massachusetts in Congress.

Ayanna Pressley is a member of the informal group known as "The Squad", whose members form a unified front to push for progressive changes such as the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all.

In May 2019, Ayanna Pressley gave the commencement address to the graduates of University of Massachusetts Boston, saying they are "President Trump's worst nightmare".

On September 17,2019, Ayanna Pressley filed a resolution that called for the House Judiciary Committee to launch impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In July, 2021, Ayanna Pressley joined Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar in sleeping on the steps of the US Capitol to protest the expiration of the eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

On November 5,2021, Ayanna Pressley was one of six House Democrats who broke with their party and voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as it was decoupled from the social safety net provisions in the Build Back Better Act.

Ayanna Pressley has supported the US national anthem protests, which have been used to bring attention to the disproportionate rate of which police brutality affects black people.

On March 5,2019, Ayanna Pressley proposed lowering the voting age from 18 years old to 16 in an amendment she introduced in Congress.

In June 2018, Ayanna Pressley called for the defunding of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the law enforcement agency poses an "existential threat" to immigrant communities.

On July 23,2019, Pressley voted in favor of H Res.

In February 2021, Ayanna Pressley supported a plan to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for approximately 44 million Americans.

Ayanna Pressley urged President Biden to forgive the debt through executive order rather than the legislative process, which she argued would be stalled by partisan gridlock.

In November 2019, Ayanna Pressley endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president ahead of the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

Ayanna Pressley, who was named one of Warren's three national co-chairs, became a prominent surrogate on the campaign circuit.

On November 5,2021, Ayanna Pressley was one of six House Democrats who broke with their party and voted with a majority of Republicans against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2trillion infrastructure spending bill.

In January 2023, Ayanna Pressley was one of 13 cosponsors of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens sixteen years of age or older.

Ayanna Pressley was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.

On February 12,2025, Ayanna Pressley reintroduced a bill to establish a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.

Ayanna Pressley has stated that she is a "woman of faith" who "grew up in the church" and she is the granddaughter of a Baptist preacher.

Ayanna Pressley is a member of the nonprofit social and service organization The Links.