Stephen "Steve" Kerrigan is an American political executive who was the
Democratic nominee for
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...
in the
2014 election. From 2003 to 2007, Kerrigan served as
Chief of Staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
to
Massachusetts Attorney General
The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder ...
Thomas Reilly
Thomas Francis Reilly (born February 14, 1942) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents.
He was one of three candidates wh ...
, and from 2009 to 2012, CEO of the
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
. Kerrigan was also president of the 2013
Presidential Inaugural Committee
The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the pres ...
.
Early life and education
Kerrigan was born and raised in
Lancaster, Massachusetts
Lancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,441.
History
In 1643 Lancaster was first ...
. His father worked as a lineman for the Massachusetts Electrical Company, and his mother served as the Mary Rowlandson Elementary School secretary.
Kerrigan graduated in 1989 from
St. John's High School in
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
Shrewsbury (/ˈʃruzberi/ ''SHROOZ-bury'') is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Shrewsbury, unlike the surrounding towns of Grafton, Millbury, Westborough, Northborough, Boylston, and West Boylston did not become a ...
and went on to earn his bachelor's degree from the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
in 1993.
Political career
Aide
For more than 10 years, Kerrigan worked in the office of Senator
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
. Kerrigan began his work for Senator Kennedy as an intern. Once a member of the Senator's staff, Kerrigan fulfilled the roles of scheduler and constituent services director until becoming the senator's political director, a position he maintained from 1996 to 2003. After his departure, Kerrigan maintained his relationship with the Senator and his family. In 2009 he arranged the
Senator's funeral mass in Boston.
From 2003 to 2007, Kerrigan was
Massachusetts Attorney General
The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder ...
Thomas Reilly
Thomas Francis Reilly (born February 14, 1942) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents.
He was one of three candidates wh ...
's Chief of Staff.
He worked on Reilly's unsuccessful
2006 gubernatorial campaign.
Democratic Party
Kerrigan was chief of staff of Boston's host committee at the
2004 Democratic National Convention
The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North Car ...
.
Kerrigan served as the chief of staff for President Barack Obama's first Presidential Inaugural Committee in 2008. In his role, Kerrigan managed a staff of nearly 450, a $55 million budget and
an army of 17,500 volunteers to create the largest event in the history of the United States.
In 2012, Kerrigan was appointed president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). Immediately prior to joining the PIC, Kerrigan served as CEO of the
2012 Democratic National Convention
The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 3–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice Presid ...
. In his capacity of president and CEO, Kerrigan was responsible for supervising a National Day of Service, President Barack Obama's swearing-in, a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, and two official balls.
Elected office
At the age of 24, Kerrigan lost his first race for the Lancaster Board of Selectmen by 26 votes. He was later appointed to the town's finance committee, where he served for two years. Kerrigan then served on the Lancaster Board of Selectmen from 1998 to 2001.
In 2008, Kerrigan challenged incumbent
Harold Naughton, Jr. for the 12th Worcester District
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
seat. He lost 3,990 (72%) votes to 1,551 (28%).
In 2017, Kerrigan announced that he would be running for the
Massachusetts 3rd Congressional District seat vacated by
Niki Tsongas
Nicola Dickson "Niki" Sauvage Tsongas (; born April 26, 1946) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 2007 to 2019. She held the seat formerly held by her husband, the late Paul Tsongas, for the dis ...
's retirement. He dropped out of the race in February 2018 following the death of his mother.
Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund
Kerrigan is the president and co-founder of the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support to the families of military service personnel from
who lost their lives in service to the United States of America since
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
.
Current positions and personal life
Kerrigan is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
. He currently lives in his hometown of Lancaster with his husband, Jacob Watts.
See also
*
Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2014
The 2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Massachusetts, concurrently with the election of Massachusetts' Class II U.S. Senate seat, and other elections to the United States Senate i ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerrigan, Steve
American nonprofit executives
American LGBT politicians
LGBT people from Massachusetts
Gay politicians
Living people
Massachusetts Democrats
People from Lancaster, Massachusetts
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
1971 births