Barbara A. L'Italien (born January 3, 1961) is an American politician from the state of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, serving from January 2015 to 2019 as the State Senator from the 2nd Essex and Middlesex District. She was previously the director of government affairs for the

Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts The treasurer and receiver-general of Massachusetts is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Originally appointed under authority of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, English Crown pursuan ...

, Steve Grossman. From 2003 to January 2011 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 (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

representing the 18th

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

District. In 2017, she announced her candidacy for Congress, representing

Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district is located in north- central and northeastern Massachusetts. The largest municipalities in the district are Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Methuen, Billerica (partial), Fitchburg, and Marlborough. ...

, held by

Niki Tsongas Nicola Dickson "Niki" Tsongas (; née Sauvage; born April 26, 1946) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 2007 to 2019. She held the seat formerly held by her husband, the late Paul Tsongas, for ...

, who announced August 9, 2017 that she would not be seeking another term in Congress in 2018. She lost the primary to

Lori Trahan Lori Ann Trahan ( ; Loureiro; born October 27, 1973) is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. The district covers Boston's northwestern suburbs, and includes Lowell, Lawrence, Concord, a ...

, who then won the general election.

Early life and career

L'Italien was born in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...

, and later graduated from Andover High School in 1978. She attended

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a Private university, private Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. It en ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

in 1984. Prior to her election to the House of Representatives, L'Italien worked for Elder Services of Merrimack Valley as a case manager and with the Greater Lawrence Psychological Center working the

elder abuse Elder abuse (also called elder mistreatment, senior abuse, abuse in later life, abuse of older adults, abuse of older women, and abuse of older men) is a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where ...

hotline for intakes and referrals. She also worked with West Suburban Elder Services with the title of Supervisor of Case Management and Elder Abuse.

State government

Massachusetts House of Representatives

L'Italien is the first State Representative to represent the 18th Essex district, which was created by

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

following the 2000 census. She held office from 2003 to 2011. In the district's first campaign in 2002, L'Italien defeated Republican Kathleen Sachs and unenrolled candidate Alfred DePietro, winning by less than 1,000 votes (47–41% over Sachs). In 2004, she defended the seat against Republican Maria Marasco, winning with 58% of the vote. In 2006 and 2008, Republican Lawrence Brennan ran against L'Italien, but she defeated him with 56% of the vote in 2006 and 55% in 2008. In 2010 she was defeated for re-election by Andover Republican Jim Lyons, who won with 53% of the vote. Representative L'Italien was the author of the landmark legislation on Autism insurance coverage, House Bill 4935 (formerly H. 3809), which requires insurance companies to provide coverage of evidence-based, medically necessary autism therapies, such as applied behavior analysis.

Treasury department

After her House term ended in January 2011, she became director of government affairs for the newly elected

, Steve Grossman until 2012.

Massachusetts Senate

L'Italien was elected to the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

in November 2014 to succeed

Barry Finegold Barry R. Finegold (March 3, 1971 in Norwood, Massachusetts) currently serves as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate representing the Second Essex and Middlesex district since 2019. He previously served from January 2011 to January ...

in the 2nd Essex and Middlesex seat. She defeated Andover Republican Alex Vispoli in the general election (winning 50% of the vote). She took office January 7, 2015. In the 2016 election, she defeated Lawrence Republican Susan LaPlante winning in all four towns with over 63% of the vote. She served as the Chair of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, as well as the Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading.

Appearance on ''Fox and Friends First''

On July 23, 2018, L'Italien appeared on ''

Fox & Friends First ''Fox & Friends First'' is a breakfast television show on Fox News. It airs every weekday from 5-6 a.m. EST. The hour-long program hosted by Carley Shimkus and Todd Piro serves as a pre-show to the network's flagship morning show ''Fox & Friends' ...

'' and criticized the

Trump administration family separation policy The family separation policy under the First presidency of Donald Trump, first Trump administration was a controversial immigration enforcement strategy implemented in the United States from 2017 to 2018, aimed at Immigration policy of the f ...

. Fox had intended to book

Ann Kirkpatrick Ann Leila Kirkpatrick (born March 24, 1950) is an American politician and retired attorney who served as the U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented from 2009 to 2011, and again from 2013 ...

, a Democrat running for Congress in Arizona's 2nd congressional district and booked L'Italien by mistake.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LItalien, Barbara 1961 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators Merrimack College alumni Politicians from Andover, Massachusetts Politicians from Passaic, New Jersey Women state legislators in Massachusetts 21st-century American women politicians Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections 21st-century members of the Massachusetts General Court