American politician

Madeleine Dean Cunnane (born June 6, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district. The district includes almost all of Montgomery County, a suburban county north of Philadelphia. Before being elected to Congress, Dean was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania General *embly, representing the 153rd district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Professional career
• 3 Earlier political career
• 4 Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• 5 U.S. House of Representatives
  • 5.1 Elections
  • 5.2 Tenure
  • 5.3 Committee *ignments
  • 5.4 Caucus memberships
• 6 Electoral history
• 7 Other political campaigns
  • 7.1 Lieutenant governor
• 8 Personal life
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 External links

Early life and education

The youngest of seven children—five brothers and one sister—Madeleine Dean was born to Bob and Mary Dean in Glenside, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Abington Senior High School. She graduated magna * laude from La Salle University, and earned her J.D. degree at Widener University. She also studied politics and public service at the Fels Ins*ute of Government of the University of Pennsylvania.

Professional career

After law school, Dean returned to the Philadelphia area and practiced law with the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers, going on to serve as executive director. She then opened a small, three-woman law practice in Glenside, and served as in-house counsel for her husband's growing bicycle business.

While raising three young sons, Dean changed career paths and turned to teaching. She served 10 years as an *istant professor of English at her alma mater, La Salle University, in Philadelphia, where she taught writing and ethics.

Earlier political career

Dean got her start in politics soon after graduating from high school when at 18 she was elected to an Abington Township committee seat.

She volunteered on her first campaign for Joe Hoeffel's reelection to the state legislature, for the same district seat she later held. It was on that campaign that she met her future husband, PJ Cunnane, himself a 19-year-old elected committee-person.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Having worked and volunteered in the political world for decades, and her children grown, Dean was asked to become a public servant herself, serving as Abington Township commissioner, and ran for state representative in 2012. In the State House, she prioritized social issues such as addiction, equal rights, access to healthcare, ethics, criminal justice reform, and gun violence.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook, Dean and Dan Frankel co-founded the gun violence prevention caucus, PA SAFE Caucus. The caucus is a self-described coalition of legislators and advocates dedicated to curbing the sale of illegal guns.

In 2015, Dean was appointed to the Governor's Commission for Women, a commission designed to advise the governor on policies and legislation that promote equality issues ranging from sexual *ault to business initiatives. In 2017, she was elected chair of the Southeast Delegation of the Pennsylvania House Democrats, composed of 22 House Democrats representing nine counties.

She served on several committees, including Appropriations, Judiciary, Policy, Urban Affairs, State Government, and Finance, of which she was vice-chair.

Dean stated in 2014: "We know that the number one issue with voters is education and how we fund our public schools". Regarding the Pennsylvania education budget for 2013, the then-state Representative said: "How we educate our kids tells us how our economy will be." In that same instance, she highlighted the issue of public school funding.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018See also: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania §:District 4

In February 2018, after a significant change in Pennsylvania's congressional districts mandated by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Dean announced she would end her campaign for lieutenant governor and instead run for Congress in the 4th district. The district had previously been the 13th, represented by two-term fellow Democrat Brendan Boyle. But Boyle lives in Philadelphia, along with all of the 13th's share of the city, drawn into the 2nd district, and opted to run for reelection there.

On May 15, Dean defeated two challengers, Shira Goodman and former Congressman Joe Hoeffel, in the Democratic primary. In the general election she defeated Republican Dan David with 63.45% of the vote to his 36.55%. She was one of four Democratic women elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in 2018. The others were Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlahan and Susan Wild. The state's delegation had previously been all male.

2020See also: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania §:District 4

Dean ran for reelection and defeated the Republican nominee, military veteran and political commentator Kathy Barnette, with 59.5% of the vote to Barnette's 40.5%.

Tenure

On January 12, 2021, Dean was named a manager for the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

Committee *ignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion
  • Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Judiciary Subcommittee on An*rust, Commercial, and Administrative Law
  • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Progressive Caucus
• Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
• New Democrat Coalition

Electoral history

Other political campaigns

Lieutenant governor

Main article: Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 2018 §:Lieutenant Governor

In November 2017, Dean announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, facing, among others, in*bent Mike Stack in the Democratic primary. She dropped out to run for Congress.

Personal life

Dean lives in Abington Township (with a Jenkintown address), with her husband P.J. Cunnane. Cunnane is an entrepreneur in the bicycle industry and managed Advanced Sports International. They have three grown sons and three grandchildren. Her son, Pat, was senior writer and deputy director of messaging in the Obama administration.

See also

• List of La Salle University people
• Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

External links

• Congresswoman Madeleine Dean official U.S. House website
• Madeleine Dean for Congress

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Madeleine Dean (D) state legislature profile
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Minority

• 117th United States Congress
• List of acts of the 117th United States Congress