Patricia Deats Jehlen is a former teacher and current

Massachusetts State Senator The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

of the

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. She represents the Second Middlesex District. That includes the cities of

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, wards 9 to 11, inclusive, Medford and Somerville, and the town of Winchester, precincts 4 to 7, inclusive, in the

County of Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouring ...

. She has served the Massachusetts State Senate since 2005. She also served the

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 ...

from 1991–2003. She resides in Somerville, MA.

Early life and education

Deats was born October 14, 1943 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, the first child of Paul Deats, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister, and Ruth, a community activist and

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leader. She has two younger sisters, Carolyn and Fran, and a younger brother, Randy. The family moved to

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in 1950, when Paul took a job at the

Boston University School of Theology Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological school ...

. Jehlen later attended Swarthmore College, receiving a B.A. in history, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, completing a master's degree in teaching. She later received a second master's degree from the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...

, in history. She currently taught a course in Health Politics and Public Policy at the

Boston University School of Public Health Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1976, the School offers master's- and doctoral-level programs in public health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Me ...

. Jehlen began her career as a secondary school history teacher.

Somerville School Committee

In 1976, Jehlen ran and was elected to the Somerville School Committee. She served on the school committee until 1991, acting as its chair in 1980 and 1988. During this time, she was among the founders of the CHOICE program, a public school alternative elementary program and helped found the Council for Fair School Finance, which brought a successful lawsuit leading to the Massachusetts education reform of 1993.

Massachusetts House of Representatives

Jehlen served from 1991 to 2005 in the

, where she served as Co-Chairman of the Progressive Legislator's Group (PLG), Co-Chairman of the Elder Caucus, and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Elder Affairs. Among her successful legislation were bills to increase literacy for blind people, ensure the rights of people living with mental illness, and provide compensation for the wrongfully convicted. As chair of the Progressive Legislators Group and member of the Working Families Agenda in the House, Jehlen helped raise the minimum wage and won tax cuts for working families like increasing the earned income tax credit and adopting the senior circuit breaker

2005 Special Senate Election

The Massachusetts Senate seat for the 2nd Middlesex district became open on April 5, 2004, following the death of Senator Charlie Shannon. A special election was soon declared to fill his seat. Jehlen, whose state house district lay within the senate district vacated by Shannon, entered the race. She faced three other candidates in the Democratic primary: State Representative Paul Casey of Winchester, Governor's Councilor Michael Callahan of Medford, and former State Representative Joseph Mackey, whom Jehlen had succeeded as State Representative. Jehlen staked out her position early as "the progressive", with the support of a plethora of unions and statewide and national progressive organizations, including MassEquality,

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, and

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. Although the race was considered wide open, with expectations that any of the four candidates could win, Jehlen won a substantial victory in the August 30th primary: * 38% Pat Jehlen * 27% Joe Mackey * 22% Michael Callahan * 13% Paul Casey She went on to defeat

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate William White, Somerville alderman-at-large, in the general election on September 27, 2005, and was sworn in by Governor Mitt Romney on October 12.

Senate career

Jehlen serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs and the Senate Chair of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. She also serves as Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy. Jehlen, as chair of Elder Affairs, increased the Personal Needs Allowance for people in rest homes and nursing homes for the first time since it was cut i
1990
She also got $6.2 million in additional funding for homecare, allowing 260 nursing home-eligible seniors to stay in their communities. Jehlen also succeeded in bringing overdue adjustments to the needs of senior citizens, including an increase in their personal needs allowance, and to increase homemaker wages and the salary reserve for those who provide for the care of elders. Jehlen top legislative priorities are education, universal and affordable health care, jobs with decent wages and benefits, and paid family leave. In the

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 ...

, Jehlen endorsed

Don Berwick Donald M. Berwick (born September 9, 1946) is a former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Prior to his work in the administration, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Healthcare Im ...

for

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

In the

Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016 Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for president in the 2016 United States presidential ...

, Jehlen endorsed Bernie Sanders. In the 2016 democratic primary, Jehlen won against Leland Cheung, 80% to 20% The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus endorsed Jehlen as an incumbent candidate in the

2020 Massachusetts general election The 2020 Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 2020, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections were held on September 1, 2020. At the federal level, all nine seats in the United States House of Representatives were conteste ...

Committee assignments

191st General Court * Chairperson, Joint Committee on Elder Affairs * Chairperson, Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development * Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy * Senate Committee on Ways and Means * Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses * Joint Committee on Revenue * Joint Committee on Ways and Means 190th General Court * Chairperson, Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy * Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Education * Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development * Assistant Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Ways and Means * Assistant Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Ways and Means * Joint Committee on Elder Affairs * Joint Committee on Election Laws * Joint Committee on the Judiciary

External links

PatJehlen.org

A Senator-with-Heart- A Senator With Heart

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jehlen, Patricia D. 1943 births Living people Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Swarthmore College alumni Women state legislators in Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Politicians from Somerville, Massachusetts Boston University School of Public Health faculty School board members in Massachusetts 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American women academics