FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 2, 2018

CONTACT
Emily Fitzmaurice, Massachusetts Democratic Party, (617) 939-0808

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Attorney General Maura Healey to Receive Massachusetts Democratic Party’s Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Awards

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Democratic Party has named Senator Elizabeth Warren and Attorney General Maura Healey as this year’s recipients of the Party’s Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Awards. Bestowed annually upon two distinguished Democrats, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Awards are the highest honors presented by the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Senator Warren and Attorney General Healey will be honored at the Party’s annual Roosevelt Award Dinner on Wednesday, May 30^th at the Fairmont Copley Hotel.

“As strong leaders in our state and national Democratic Party, Senator Warren and Attorney General Healey are continuing the fight to build on the New Deal agenda started by President and Mrs. Roosevelt,” said Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford. “From advocating for working families to ensuring access to healthcare for all, Senator Warren and Attorney General Healey are leading the charge in moving Massachusetts and our nation forward.”

“I am honored to receive this year’s Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Award alongside Attorney General Maura Healey,” said Senator Warren. “I’m grateful to work with the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the strong grassroots advocates across the state as we fight for policies that allow every family to succeed.”

“I’m honored to join Senator Warren to receive the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt award from our Democratic Party,” said Attorney General Healey. “Both Roosevelts personified political courage and the legacy of their optimistic leadership during some of America’s darkest hours is a fitting reminder for anyone who serves the people – now and always.”

Elizabeth Warren is the senior senator from Massachusetts and a fighter for working people. Elizabeth was a law professor for more than 30 years, including nearly 20 years at Harvard Law School. She is one of the nation’s top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle class families. Elizabeth Warren, a fearless consumer advocate who has made her life’s work the fight for middle class families, was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2012, by the people of Massachusetts.

She is widely credited for the original thinking, political courage, and relentless persistence that led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Obama asked her to set up the new agency to hold Wall Street banks and other financial institutions accountable, and to protect consumers from financial tricks and traps often hidden in mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.

Elizabeth learned first-hand about the economic pressures facing working families, growing up in a family she says was “on the ragged edge of the middle class.” She got married at 19, and after graduating from college, started teaching in elementary school. Her first baby, a daughter Amelia, was born when Elizabeth was 22. When Amelia was two, Elizabeth started law school. Shortly after she graduated, her son Alex was born. Elizabeth hung out a shingle and practiced law out of her living room, but she soon returned to teaching.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers School of Law. Elizabeth and her husband Bruce Mann have been married for 37 years and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have three grandchildren.

Maura Healey began serving as Massachusetts Attorney General in January 2015 and is leading the people’s law firm as the people’s lawyer, continuing a career spent fighting for justice and equal rights.

Maura’s historic victory in her first-ever run for office was driven by a strong grassroots campaign where she bested well-financed, establishment candidates in both the Democratic primary and the general election in November 2014. Being sworn in at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, Maura vowed to lead an office guided by her core values and driven by the issues that matter to the people of the Commonwealth – from health care and energy costs to protecting consumers, ensuring equality for all and keeping our communities safer.

For seven years prior to her election, Maura helped lead the Attorney General’s Office, ultimately overseeing more than half of the office’s 500 employees. She began as Chief of the Civil Rights Division and went on to direct two of the office’s most prominent divisions: the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau and the Business & Labor Bureau.

Earlier in her career, Maura was a prosecutor in Middlesex County and a litigation partner at WilmerHale, one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms. She also spent two years as a 5’4” starting point guard on a professional basketball team.

Maura is the oldest of five children and grew up in the small coastal community of Hampton Falls, N.H., just over the Massachusetts border. Her mother was a school nurse, her father a captain in the Navy and an engineer, and her stepfather taught history and coached high school sports.

After graduating from high school, Maura left her small town to attend Harvard College, where she majored in government and was the captain of the basketball team. After two years as a starting point guard for a professional basketball team in Austria, Maura returned to Massachusetts to attend law school at Northeastern University.

Maura lives in Charlestown with her partner. She is the first openly gay Attorney General in the United States.

Warren and Healey join exclusive company with this prestigious award. Previous Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Award Recipients include: Senator Ted Kennedy, Senate President Therese Murray, Senator John Kerry, Congresswoman Katherine Clark, Senator Ed Markey, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Governor Michael Dukakis, Treasurer Shannon O’Brien, Congressman Jim McGovern, City Council President Michelle Wu, Congressman Joe Kennedy III, Lynda Tocci, Congressman Barney Frank, Shanti Fry, Mayor Martin Walsh, Agnes Ricko, former Party Chair Phil Johnston, Nancy O’Connor Stolberg, Ambassador Alan Solomont, State Representative Lida Harkins, State Senator Steve Panagiotakos, and Veronica Turner.

Those interested in buying tickets can do so here.

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