Madeleine Dean Cunnane (born June 6, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for

Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district Pennsylvania's fourth congressional district, effective January 3, 2023, encompasses the majority of Montgomery County and most of Berks County northeast of Reading in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, the Pennsylva ...

since 2019. The district includes almost all of Montgomery County, a suburban county north of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, as well as a northeastern portion of Berks County. Before being elected to Congress, Dean was a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvani ...

, representing the 153rd district in the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

Early life and education

The youngest of seven children, Madeleine Dean was born to Bob and Mary Dean in

Glenside, Pennsylvania Glenside is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Cheltenham Township and Abington Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders Northwest Philadelphia. The population was 7,737 at the 2020 census on a land area ...

. She graduated from

Abington Senior High School Abington Senior High School is a four-year co-educational high school in Abington, Pennsylvania, United States. A part of the Abington School District, the school was a two-year high school known as Abington South Campus from September 1964 u ...

. She graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private university, private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Bapt ...

, and earned her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

at the

Widener University Delaware Law School Widener University Delaware Law School (Delaware Law School and formerly Widener University School of Law) is a private law school in Wilmington, Delaware. It is one of two separate ABA-accredited law schools of Widener University. Widener Univ ...

. She also studied politics and public service at the

Fels Institute of Government The Fels Institute of Government is the graduate school of public policy and public management at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Founded in 1937 by Samuel Simeon Fels of the Fels Naptha Soap Company, the Fels Institute prepares ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Career

After law school, Dean returned to the Philadelphia area and practiced law with the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers, going on to serve as executive director. She then opened a small, three-woman law practice in Glenside, and served as

in-house counsel A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel. Roles and responsibilities The role of a corporate lawyer is to e ...

for her husband's growing bicycle business. While raising three young sons, Dean turned to teaching. She served 10 years as an assistant professor of English at her alma mater, La Salle University, in Philadelphia, where she taught writing and ethics.

Early political career

Dean got her start in politics soon after graduating from high school, when she was elected to an Abington Township committee seat. She volunteered on her first campaign, for Joe Hoeffel's reelection to the state legislature, in the same district seat she later held. On that campaign she met her future husband, Patrick Cunnane, then a 19-year-old elected committeeman.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Having worked and volunteered in politics for decades, and her children grown, Dean was asked to become a public servant herself, serving as Abington Township commissioner, and ran for state representative in 2012. In the State House, she prioritized social issues such as addiction, equal rights, access to healthcare, ethics, criminal justice reform, and gun violence. After the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Newtown Public Schools, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people. The victims were 20 children bet ...

, Dean and Dan Frankel co-founded the gun violence prevention caucus, PA SAFE Caucus. The caucus is a self-described coalition of legislators and advocates dedicated to curbing the sale of illegal guns. In 2015, Dean was appointed to the Governor's Commission for Women, a commission designed to advise the governor on policies and legislation that promote equality issues ranging from sexual assault to business initiatives. In 2017, she was elected chair of the Southeast Delegation of the Pennsylvania House Democrats, composed of 22 House Democrats representing nine counties. She served on several committees, including Appropriations, Judiciary, Policy, Urban Affairs, State Government, and Finance, of which she was vice-chair. Dean stated in 2014: "We know that the number one issue with voters is education and how we fund our public schools". Regarding the Pennsylvania education budget for 2013, the then-state Representative said: "How we educate our kids tells us how our economy will be." In that same instance, she highlighted the issue of public school funding.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

In February 2018, after a significant change in Pennsylvania's congressional districts mandated by the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...

, Dean announced she would end her campaign for lieutenant governor and instead run for Congress in the 4th district. The district had previously been the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

, represented by two-term fellow Democrat

Brendan Boyle Brendan Francis Boyle (born 6 February 1977) is a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives, since 2015 representing successive districts in the Philadelphia area. Since January 202 ...

. But the 13th's share of Philadelphia, including Boyle's home, was drawn into the 2nd district, and Boyle opted to run for reelection there. On May 15, Dean defeated two challengers, Shira Goodman and former Congressman Joe Hoeffel, in the Democratic primary. In the general election she defeated Republican money manager Dan David with 63.45% of the vote to his 36.55%. She was one of four Democratic women elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in 2018. The others were

Mary Gay Scanlon Mary Gay Scanlon (born August 30, 1959) is an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has represented in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. The district is based in Delaware County, a mostly ...

Chrissy Houlahan Christina Marie Houlahan ( ; née Jampoler; born June 5, 1967) is an American politician, engineer, and former United States Air Force officer. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she is serving as the United Stat ...

and

Susan Wild Susan Wild (née Ellis; born June 7, 1957) is an American lawyer and former politician from Pennsylvania. A Democrat, she represented in the United States House of Representatives from January 2018 to January 2025. The district is in the Lehigh ...

. The state's delegation had previously been all male.

2020

Dean ran for reelection and defeated the Republican nominee, military veteran and political commentator Kathy Barnette, with 59.5% of the vote to Barnette's 40.5%.

2022

Dean stood for re-election in 2022, but her district was mostly unchanged 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 ...

. Dean faced Republican nominee Christian Nascimento, a vice president of product at

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

and former Methacton School Board president, and won 61.3% of the vote.

Tenure

On January 12, 2021, Dean was named an

impeachment manager An impeachment manager is a legislator appointed to serve as a prosecutor in an impeachment trial. They are also often called "House managers" or "House impeachment manager" when appointed from a legislative chamber that is called a "House of Repr ...

(prosecutor) for the

second impeachment trial of Donald Trump The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States (in office from 2017 to 2021), began on February 9, 2021, and concluded with his acquittal on February 13. Donald Trump had been Second impeachment of Dona ...

. On July 29, 2024, Dean was announced as one of six Democratic members of a bipartisan task force investigating the

attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, then a former president of the United States and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the 2024 United States presidential election, 2024 presidential election, surv ...

Committee, subcommittee and task force assignments

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Co ...

:* Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee :* Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcomittee *

House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affair ...

:* Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee :*Foreign Arms Sales Task Force – Ranking Member

Caucus memberships

* Bipartisan Fentanyl Prevention Caucus - Chair * Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus - Vice Chair * Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force * Gun Violence Prevention Task Force * Bipartisan Women's Caucus *

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 ...

Congressional Progressive Caucus The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a congressional caucus affiliated with the Democratic Party in the United States Congress. The CPC represents the progressive faction of the Democratic Party. " e Congressional Progressive Caucus, ...

Congressional Equality Caucus The Congressional Equality Caucus, formerly the Congressional LGBTQ+ Caucus, was formed by openly gay representatives Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank on June 4, 2008, to advance LGBT+ rights. The caucus is chaired by the most senior openly ...

* Congressional Ukraine Caucus

Political positions

Dean voted to provide Israel with support following

2023 Hamas attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

. On February 28, 2024 Dean called for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza, stating "we must all rally behind an end to the violence and heartbreak Dean voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a ''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...

'' analysis.

Electoral history

Other political campaigns

Lieutenant governor

In November 2017, Dean announced her candidacy for

lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor of Pennsylvania, governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutena ...

, facing, among others, incumbent

Mike Stack Michael Joseph Stack III (born June 5, 1963) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 33rd lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a member of the Pe ...

in the Democratic primary. She dropped out to run for Congress.

Personal life

Dean lives in Lower Merion Township, with her husband, Patrick "P.J." Cunnane. Cunnane is an entrepreneur in the bicycle industry and managed Advanced Sports International. They have three grown sons and three grandchildren. Her son, Pat, was senior writer and deputy director of messaging in the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

. Dean is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

References

External links

Congresswoman Madeleine Dean
official U.S. House website
Madeleine Dean for Congress

Madeleine Dean (D)
state legislature profile * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Madeleine 1959 births Female members of the United States House of Representatives 21st-century Roman Catholics La Salle University alumni Catholics from Pennsylvania Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania lawyers Widener University alumni Women state legislators in Pennsylvania 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly