19 Facts About Karen Spilka

Karen Eileen Spilka was born on January 11,1953 and is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate.

Karen Spilka represents the towns of Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Medway and Natick in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts.

Karen Spilka has served as the 95th President of the Massachusetts Senate since July 2018.

Karen Spilka was born in New York City on January 11,1953, to Sydney Spilka, a World War II veteran of the US Army, and Dorothy "Dottie" Spilka, a social worker.

Karen Spilka grew up in Yonkers, New York, where she was sophomore class president at Lincoln High School and editor-in-chief of the yearbook, The Lincoln Log.

Karen Spilka moved to Boston in 1975 after earning her degree in social work from Cornell University, where she became a family counselor and waited tables part time.

Karen Spilka then received her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law.

Karen Spilka was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the fall of 2001, where she served three years before her election to the Massachusetts State Senate in January 2005.

Karen Spilka acted as leader on An Act relative to criminal justice reform which was signed into law in 2018.

Karen Spilka describes herself as an "early and ardent supporter of equal marriage and transgender protections".

Karen Spilka is a founder and former Chair of the Tech Hub Caucus.

Karen Spilka was a candidate in the 2013 special election to succeed US Representative Ed Markey of, who resigned in June 2013 to take a seat in the US Senate.

On July 26,2018, Karen Spilka was unanimously elected by the members of the Massachusetts Senate to serve as the President of the Senate, making her the third woman to hold this office.

In recognition of these and other actions to advance equity and racial justice in Massachusetts, Karen Spilka was awarded the Chaney Goodman Schwerner Advocacy Award by the New England Area Conference of the NAACP in 2020.

In 2022, Karen Spilka released a statement saying that the Massachusetts Senate did not "see a path forward" for efforts by Senate staffers to unionize.

Karen Spilka has pushed for the Senate's business to be more available to the public.

Karen Spilka changed Senate committee hearings from in-person only, to being broadcast live online, made Senate committee votes public, and made all testimony to committees public.

Karen Spilka is married to Joel Loitherstein, an environmental engineer.

For many years, Karen Spilka was the legal guardian of her youngest sister, Susie, who had Down syndrome.