About Mike

Biography


Congressman Mike Ferguson represents New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 7th District includes portions of Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties.

Congressman Ferguson was first elected to the Congress in 2000 and is currently serving his fourth term in the 110th Congress (2007-2008).

Congressman Ferguson is a strong advocate of reducing taxes for New Jersey families and securing homeland security funds for New Jersey’s first responders. He works hard every day to deliver for New Jersey communities, including critical funding for the Green Brook flood control initiative, expansion of Route 22 and fighting to remove the toxic mercury stored in a military depot in Somerset County.

As a former educator, Congressman Ferguson is a champion of strengthening education for New Jersey’s children and to make health care more affordable and accessible for New Jersey’s working families.

Congressman Ferguson successfully led the congressional effort to secure House and Senate passage of the Lifespan Respite Care Act – legislation he authored – which authorizes $289 million for states to train volunteers and provide other services to an estimated 50 million families caring at home for adults and children with special needs. President Bush signed Congressman Ferguson’s bill into law on December 21, 2006.

Congressman Ferguson is the recipient of the 2005 Outstanding Legislator of the Year award from the New Jersey Veterans of Foreign Wars, the 2006 Legislator of the Year Award from the National Visiting Nurses Association, and the 2007 Congressional Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Congressman Ferguson serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has wide jurisdiction over health care, telecommunications and energy, industries that employ hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents.

On the committee, Congressman Ferguson serves on the Subcommittee on Health, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Before being first elected to the House, Congressman Ferguson was an educator at Mount St. Michael Academy in the Bronx, New York. He also served as an adjunct instructor of political science at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey. His experiences as a teacher inspired him to institute his “Substitute Civics Teacher Program,” in which he regularly visits 7th District schools to discuss civics and public service with students ranging from kindergarten to high school.

A graduate of Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, Congressman Ferguson attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he received a bachelor’s degree in government. He earned a master’s degree in public policy with a specialization in education policy from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Born and raised in New Jersey – when he was young, his family lived in Lebanon Township in Hunterdon County, and he attended Valley View Elementary School and the Woodglen School – Congressman Ferguson and his wife, Maureen, have four young children, and their home is in New Providence in Union County. 

Congressman Ferguson was born on July 22, 1970.