Carolyn Jordan Bourdeaux (born June 3, 1970) is an American politician and educator who served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Georgia's 7th congressional district Georgia's 7th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is currently represented by Republican Rich McCormick. The district includes portions of the north Atlanta metropolitan area, including the c ...

from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

from 2003 to 2021. In

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, Bourdeaux ran for Georgia's 7th congressional district, coming within 433 votes of defeating the incumbent Republican,

Rob Woodall William Robert Woodall III ( ; born February 11, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2021. The district included most of Gwinnett County, a suburban county northeast of Atlanta. A Republ ...

, in the closest congressional race in that cycle. On February 7, 2019, Woodall announced he would retire at the end of his current term. That same day, Bourdeaux announced her intention to once again seek the seat. She won the 2020 election, defeating Republican

Rich McCormick Richard Dean McCormick (born October 7, 1968) is an American physician and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he has represented Georgia in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. Until 2025, he represented the 6th co ...

. On May 24, 2022, Bordeaux lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent

Lucy McBath Lucia Kay McBath (née Holman; born June 1, 1960) is an American politician who has served in the United States House of Representatives from a district in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, since 2019. She represented from 2019 to 2023 and since ...

Early life and education

Bourdeaux is from

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

and is the daughter of Robert "Bob" Montgomery Bourdeaux, IV, and Jerry Jordan (nee Ellis) Bourdeaux. In Roanoke, she attended Northside High School. She graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in history and economics. She earned a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and a

Doctor of Public Administration The Doctor of Public Administration (D.P.A.) is a terminal applied-research doctoral degree in the field of public administration (a part of public service). The D.P.A. requires significant coursework beyond the masters level and a dissertatio ...

from the

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

in 2003.

Early career

Bourdeaux worked as a political aide to

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden ( ; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United States Senate special el ...

for four years, when he served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and then in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. In 2003, she became an assistant professor at

. From 2007 to 2010, she served as director of Georgia's Senate Budget and Evaluation Office. After her time there, she returned to the Andrew Young School and founded the Center for State and Local Finance. In 2021, Bourdeaux was selected to become a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

In 2018, Bourdeaux ran for the

in . The district was based in

Gwinnett County Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the ...

, a suburban county northeast of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. She faced a six-way primary for the Democratic nomination. She came in first place in the May primary and earned a spot in the July 24 runoff. She won the runoff and the Democratic nomination. She faced Republican

in the November 6 general election. Bourdeaux was endorsed by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. The race was considered a sleeper, but it received more attention later in the campaign as Bourdeaux continued to outraise Woodall and as Democrats picked up momentum nationwide. In the third quarter of 2018, Bourdeaux outraised Woodall by a margin of more than 3-1, raising over $1 million. On election night, the race was too close to call. Just a few hours after it was filed on November 15, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May denied an emergency motion to force

to count previously rejected absentee ballots in the race. On November 21, after a recount, Bourdeaux conceded.

2020

On February 7, 2019, Bourdeaux announced that she would run for the same seat in 2020. She was endorsed by a number of Georgia politicians, including Congressman

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

. In the first week of her campaign, she announced raising over $100,000. In the first quarter of 2019, she outraised all other congressional challengers in the country, with a total of over $350,000, but she still attracted challenges from local activists and community leaders in the Democratic primary. Bourdeaux won the primary, narrowly avoiding a runoff with 52.7% of the vote. Woodall did not seek reelection in 2020. Bourdeaux defeated Republican

in the general election. Aside from Deborah Ross and

Kathy Manning Kathy Ellen Manning (born December 3, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who represented the North Carolina's 6th congressional district from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, her district was in the heart of the Piedmont T ...

in North Carolina, who won seats that were redrawn to become safely Democratic, Bourdeaux was the only Democratic House candidate in 2020 to flip a seat previously held by a Republican.

2022

The Republican-controlled

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

significantly redrew the districts in the Atlanta suburbs after the 2020 Census. Bourdeaux's district was pushed to the west, losing its share of Forsyth County while picking up parts of Fulton County that had previously been in the neighboring 6th district, represented by

. At the same time, the 6th absorbed a large swath of Republican-leaning exurban territory previously in the 9th district. Believing that the new map made her district impossible to hold, McBath challenged Bourdeaux in the Democratic primary for the redrawn 7th district and won.

Tenure

Bourdeaux was sworn in on January 3, 2021. She is the first Democrat to represent this district since its creation in 1993 as the 4th district; it became the 11th in 1997 and has been the 7th since 2003.

John Linder John Elmer Linder (born September 9, 1942) is an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011. His district was numbered the from 1993 to 1997, the from 1997 to 2003, and the from 2003 ...

held the seat from its creation until handing it to Woodall, his former chief of staff, in 2011. Bourdeaux is the only Democrat since 1994 to win as much as 40% of the vote in the district. She is also the first white Democrat to represent a district based in the Atlanta suburbs since Buddy Darden left office in 1995. On August 12, 2021, Bourdeaux and eight other House Democrats signed a letter to Speaker

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

saying, "We will not consider voting for a budget resolution until the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passes the House and is signed into law." She said her support for the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget resolution would be withheld if the timeline did not change for passage of the budget. Bourdeaux ultimately voted for the $3.5 trillion budget. As of August 2021, Bourdeaux had voted in line with President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's stated position 100% of the time.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Small Business ** Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access *

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. History The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works ...

** Subcommittee on Highways and Transit ** Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Caucus memberships

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition, commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats, is a Congressional caucus, caucus of Political moderate, moderate members from the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the United States House of ...

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...

Problem Solvers Caucus The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group in the United States House of Representatives that has included members equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, with the Caucus' stated goal of fostering bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues ...

Personal life

Bourdeaux is married to Jeffrey Skodnik, a sales manager at

LexisNexis LexisNexis is an American data analytics company headquartered in New York, New York. Its products are various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper searc ...

. They live in

Suwanee, Georgia Suwanee is a city in Gwinnett County and a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,355; this had grown to an estimated 20,907 as of 2019. In 2020, its population was 20 ...

, and have a son. Her sister Margaret Bourdeaux is a researcher at Harvard University and is married to astronomer

David Charbonneau David Brian Charbonneau is a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. His research focuses on the development of novel techniques for the detection and characterization of Exoplanet, exoplanets orbiting nearby, Sun-like stars. Early life ...

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdeaux, Carolyn 1970 births 21st-century American women politicians American women academics Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) Fellows of the United States National Academy of Public Administration Female members of the United States House of Representatives Georgia State University faculty Living people Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumni Politicians from Roanoke, Virginia USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumni Women in Georgia (U.S. state) politics Yale College alumni 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives