Long Bio

Niki Tsongas represents the Fifth Congressional District of Massachusetts which is made up of twenty-nine cities and towns including the old industrial cities of Haverhill, Methuen, Lawrence and Lowell in the Merrimack Valley, as well as the Boston suburbs of Concord, Acton, Wayland and Sudbury.  A resident of Lowell now serving her second term, Congresswoman Tsongas was elected to Congress in a Special Election in 2007.

The first woman from Massachusetts elected to the U.S. Congress in twenty-five years, Tsongas has dedicated herself to strengthening the health of our cities and has made accessibility a hallmark of her Congressional office.  With three offices in Lowell, Lawrence, and Acton, she has worked to make it as easy as possible for residents to connect with her about any issue of concern to them or to get assistance with problems they may have when dealing with federal agencies. 

Congresswoman Tsongas serves on the House Armed Services Committee where she is working to ensure our servicemen and women have the equipment and protection they need.  She serves on the Military Personnel and Air and Land Subcommittees.  She also serves on the Budget Committee where she is focused on addressing the devastating deficits and debt created over the last eight years, while simultaneously shaping a national budget that will strengthen our economy and create jobs. 

In 2009, Congresswoman Tsongas joined the Natural Resources Committee which oversees legislation related to domestic energy production, National Parks, rivers, forests, oceans and wilderness areas.  Tsongas serves on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee which works to expand and diversify our nation's energy portfolio.  She will also serve on the National Parks Subcommittee where she will work to support the success of the first urban national park in Lowell and expand this pioneering concept to other urban communities. 

Niki Tsongas is known for her roots in the Fifth District and her years of public service to the region. The Lowell Sun described Niki Tsongas as having “experience, dedication and deep understanding of the 5th District as a whole.” 

And, the chairman of Lowell Publishing Co. - who has been with the Sun since 1959 - wrote only a few weeks into her tenure, "she clearly recognizes the role she needs to play in stimulating the economy of the region and is focused on job development."

Tsongas grew up the eldest of four sisters in a military family, an experience that would shape much of her approach to life—teaching her the purpose of service and sacrifice, the importance of working for your community, and the value of family.

She was born April 26, 1946 in Chico, California. Niki's mother, Marian Susan Wyman, was an artist and copywriter. Her father, Colonel Russell Elmer Sauvage, served as a civil engineer in the United States Air Force and was a survivor of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor.

By the time Niki was 14, her family had been stationed at air bases all across the US and Europe, including California, Texas, Virginia, and Germany, where her father was part of the team that oversaw the build out of Ramstein Air Force Base—the very air base currently used to bring US soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Niki attended an American high school in Japan while her father was stationed at Fuchu Air Force Base and then spent one year at Michigan State before attending Smith College in Northampton, MA.

“I was in high school in Japan when President Kennedy was assassinated, and I remember how that country mourned just as much as I did. Even across cultures, I think we all knew just how much we lost that day.”

In 1967, with her father now stationed at the Pentagon, Niki spent the summer between her junior and senior years in Alexandria, Virginia.  It was then that she met Paul Tsongas who was working as an intern for then Fifth District Congressman Brad Morse.

“We knew we were going to get married within a month of meeting one another. But I had to finish college, and Paul had another tour in the Peace Corps to complete, and so I returned to Smith and Paul to St. Thomas to train volunteers.”

In 1968, inspired by the late John F. Kennedy’s vision for a new and better world, Niki found herself participating in American politics for the first time—as a volunteer for Eugene McCarthy’s campaign for president. She spent the winter months traveling throughout New Hampshire with the anti-Vietnam war candidate and fell in love with the positive approach of his campaign.

“I just remember how great it was to see all of these people engaging in politics—the way everyone would gather in those New Hampshire homes to meet McCarthy and ask him their questions. It was a very personal and intimate approach to government.”

After graduating from Smith, Niki moved to New York City where she took a job as a social worker for the Department of Welfare. Paul meanwhile returned to Lowell where he started to work on his race for city council. However, the two could only take a year of the buses, trains, and planes between Massachusetts and New York to see each other, before they married in 1969 and took up permanent residence in Lowell.

Her introduction to the Merrimack Valley was described in the Boston Globe:  “Tsongas was an Air Force brat, a woman who grew up on three continents and had never seen an old mill town until [her husband Paul] took her to the Merrimack Valley to meet the family. She, too, would come to embrace Lowell, a city that embraced her as well. ‘To me, it was all new,’ she said. ‘But it's the only hometown I've ever had. It's a real community,’” 

Niki took a job with the Catholic Charitable Bureau and helped Paul with his campaign for city council, which he went on to win and where he served until 1972. That year, Paul was elected Middlesex County Commissioner.

1974 would turn out to be a landmark year for Paul and Niki: they gave birth to their first daughter, Ashley, and Paul would run (and win) his race for Congress.

In 1978 Paul launched his run for the US Senate. With another 1-year-old in tow, their second daughter Katina, Paul and Niki won yet another improbable race. Paul thrived as a Senator, but in September of 1983 the Tsongas family was forced to rethink all their aspirations and face their toughest challenge when Paul was diagnosed with cancer.

Paul chose not to seek reelection in order to focus on treatment for his illness and spend more time with his young family. Leaving Washington, Niki attended law school and held the family together while pushing Paul to fight the disease. He wrote at the time, “Niki could be a tough battler in ways that her gentleness did not suggest.”

After a bone marrow transplant, Paul beat back the cancer. Five years later, in 1991, filled with new vigor, audacity, and inspiration, he announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Niki once again found herself back in those small gatherings in New Hampshire as she helped her husband run an inspired campaign that many observers say defined the national debate that year. Paul won primaries and caucuses in New Hampshire and nine other states before eventually losing the Democratic nomination to Bill Clinton.

Sadly, in 1996, Paul faced a second well-known fight this time with complications from cancer treatments, which he lost in 1997.

Inspired by their life together, Niki continued her dedication to public service, building on what she and Paul had accomplished. As a committed community leader in Lowell, actively serving on the Lowell Civic Stadium and Arena Commission which oversees the Tsongas Arena
and the LeLacheur Ballpark, the Lowell Plan and the Merrimack Repertory Theater, Niki continued to work for the revitalization of the city she has called home for 40 years.

Niki has a law degree from Boston University and started Lowell’s first all-female law practice. Prior to being elected to Congress, she was the Dean of External Affairs at Middlesex Community College, the largest community college in the Commonwealth.

In 2001, Niki was appointed by Congressman Marty Meehan to head up a foundation to provide educational funding for the children of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. And she's been the member of numerous corporate and non-profit boards because of her strong belief that business must be constructively engaged in the fight for social and environmental justice.

But of all her accomplishments, Niki is most proud of her three daughters, Ashley, Katina and Molly, who like their parents, have also met the call of public service.