Denise Andrews (born July 14, 1959) is an American politician from

Western Massachusetts Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as “Western Mass,” is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and u ...

. A Democrat, she was a member of 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 ...

representing the 2nd Franklin district from 2011 to 2015. The 2nd Franklin district comprises twelve communities, Athol, Belchertown precinct A, Erving, Gill, New Salem, Orange, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, Warwick, and Wendell. Andrews, who is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, was born in Orange and still lives there with her partner Candi Fetzer. Andrews earned a bachelor's degree from

UMass Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

before embarking on a 25-year career with

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

(P&G). Her first P&G positions were in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

, and she later moved to the company's headquarters in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

. She left P&G in 2006 after four years as the company's global diversity & inclusion manager. She then established her own consulting business, Legacy Unlimited. Following incumbent state representative Chris Donelan's announcement that he would run for Franklin County sheriff rather than seek re-election in 2010, Andrews launched a bid to succeed him in the state house. In the Democratic primary election held on September 14, 2010, Andrews polled 37% in a five candidate race, finishing 519 votes ahead of the second-place finisher, who took 24%. In the general election held on November 2, she polled 6,885 (53%), finishing over 1,300 votes ahead of the Republican nominee (who took 42%) and an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

(on 5%). She first took office on January 5, 2011. She was defeated for re-election by Republican Susannah Whipps Lee in November 2014; her term ended January 7, 2015.

References

External links

Legislative profile

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Denise 1959 births Living people People from Orange, Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Lesbian politicians American lesbians University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Xavier University alumni LGBT state legislators in Massachusetts Women state legislators in Massachusetts 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American LGBT people