About

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (DE-SOWN-YAY) was elected to Congress in 2014 and proudly represents California’s 11th Congressional District, which includes the majority of Contra Costa County. For more than 20 years, Mark has been a leader on issues of importance to working families including guaranteeing a livable wage, ensuring education is affordable and accessible, making investments in job training, and keeping good paying jobs here at home.

As a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, Congressman DeSaulnier serves on the Workforce Protections Subcommittee and the Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee. During his first term in Congress, Congressman DeSaulnier fought to pass legislation to support our students by expanding early learning opportunities through Head Start programs, protecting student athletes from concussions, and establishing after school centers for families, students, and community members to help students succeed. He also launched and completed his Education Listening Tour, visiting every school district and college in California’s 11th Congressional District.

As a longtime advocate for worker protections and strong employment policies, Mark created the “Future of Work, Wages, and Labor” initiative in 2016. Together with several of his Democratic colleagues, Mark is hearing from the world’s leading experts on these topics to help American workers anticipate and navigate workplace obstacles.

Congressman DeSaulnier has been a strong voice for reform and has developed a reputation for taking on tough issues while seeking to make government more accessible and transparent to all Californians. Mark continues to serve on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where as a member of the National Security and Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittees, he works to ensure our government works in the best interest of the American people.

Mark has a proven record of fighting for needed investments in our infrastructure systems to improve safety, reduce congestion, and create good paying jobs. Now in his second term, he was appointed to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he sits on the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was Chair of the California State Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, and has been an instrumental leader in advocating for safe and efficient transportation systems. Additionally, Congressman DeSaulnier championed several local transportation issues including the expansion of the Highway 4, BART to eastern Contra Costa County, and the development of a fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel.

Congressman DeSaulnier has fought for greater accountability of the state’s transportation infrastructure projects including the Bay Bridge. He founded the Select Committee on Excellence, Innovation, and Accountability in State Government as a means to examine the ways to improve state government to more efficiently and effectively deliver services to California citizens. Mark also served in the State Assembly and received the distinction of being the first freshman in history to chair the Assembly Transportation Committee.

On the state level, Mark fought to safeguard against corporate tax giveaways, end prescription drug abuse, protect homeowners against foreclosure, and create the first in the country menu labeling standards. He was a proponent of more stringent guidelines to prevent the use of harmful, toxic pesticides in schools. During his time in the state legislature, 61 of Mark’s bills were passed and became California state law.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Mark earned his BA in History from the College of the Holy Cross. As a young man in Massachusetts, Congressman DeSaulnier worked for the Boston juvenile court, as a warehouse worker, and as a hotel services employee. Mark was a member of both the Teamsters International Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. In the early 1970s, Mark moved to California and over the next 35 years, he owned and managed several successful Bay Area restaurants. He has been a small business owner most of his career.

Congressman DeSaulnier lives in Concord where he raised his two sons, Tristan and Tucker. He is an avid runner and has completed twenty-one marathons.