Christina Marie Houlahan ( HOO-lə-hann; née Jampoler; born June 5, 1967) is an American politician, engineer, and former United States Air Force officer. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the U.S. representative from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district. The district includes almost all of Chester County, a suburban county west of Philadelphia, as well as the southern portion of Berks County including the city of Reading. She was first elected in 2018, defeating Republican Greg McCauley in the midterms.
Early life and education
Houlahan spent her childhood on various U.S. naval bases across the country, including on Oahu. Her father, Andrew C. A. Jampoler, a naval aviator, was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1942, to a Jewish family; he and his mother, who also survived the Holocaust, emigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He became a historian and author.
Houlahan, citing her idols as Indiana Jones and Sally Ride, earned her bachelor's degree in engineering from Stanford University in 1989, on an AFROTC scholarship. She then earned a master's degree in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
Earlier career
Military service
After graduation from Stanford University, Houlahan spent three years on United States Air Force active duty at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. There, she served as a project manager working on air and space defense technologies. She left active duty in 1991 for the Air Force Reserve, separating from the service in 2004 as a captain.
Private sector
After leaving active duty, Houlahan went to work for the start-up sportswear company AND1 as chief operating officer. As part of the employee benefits program the company offered 40 paid hours of community service at a location of the employee's choosing. Houlahan dedicated her hours to working with girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Houlahan became chief operating officer of B-Lab, a non-profit start-up, when AND1 was sold.
Education career
Citing a need to experience the problems in the U.S. educational system first-hand, Houlahan entered the lifelong learning program at University of Pennsylvania where she re-took courses in the hard sciences. She enrolled in the Teach for America program and began working as an 11th-grade science teacher at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia. She withdrew from the Teach for America program after one year and joined Springboard Collaborative, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit focusing on early childhood literacy in underserved populations nationwide. Houlahan served as both president and CFO/COO of Springboard Collaborative before leaving to focus on her political campaign.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
Houlahan has said that one of the experiences that motivated her to run for Congress was her organization of a bus trip to the Women's March in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2017. When asked why she chose to begin her political career by running for Congress and not a lower office, she said, “I don't have time for that. The stakes are too high, and I think I'm qualified."
Houlahan expected to face two-term Republican incumbent Ryan Costello. However, Costello pulled out of the race after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania threw out Pennsylvania's congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan Republican gerrymander. While Costello was the only incumbent to retain his previous district number, it was made significantly more compact and turned from a moderately red district to a heavily blue one. It lost its heavily Republican western portion around Lebanon, which had only been connected to the rest of the district by way of a tendril through Berks County. Instead, it now took in almost all of Chester County (except for a sliver around Birmingham Township that was drawn into the neighboring 5th district), along with the heavily Democratic southern portion of Berks County, including Reading.
Houlahan took the Democratic nomination unopposed and faced first-time candidate Greg McCauley in the general election. On November 6, 2018, Houlahan easily defeated McCauley, garnering 58.8% of the vote over McCauley's 41.1%. Houlahan was one of seven Pennsylvania women running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, and one of four Democratic women to win, along with Mary Gay Scanlon, Madeleine Dean and Susan Wild. She joined two other female military veterans in the House freshman class, former naval officers Elaine Luria and Mikie Sherrill.
Upon taking office in January 2019, Houlahan became the first Democrat to represent a Chester County-based district since before the Civil War (1857). The county had historically been very Republican but has trended Democratic (Dem. 42%; Rep. 40%; Ind. 18%) in recent years.
Houlahan ran on a platform that included healthcare, job creation, and campaign finance reform. Other campaign issues she identified included education, family issues, and veteran's issues. Houlahan had a strong record of campaign fundraising, with donations totaling almost $5 million so far. She was also endorsed by many organizations, including Emily's List, Human Rights Campaign, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Project 100, Vote Vets, the Service Employees International Union-PA (SEIU PA) and several other unions.
2020
Houlahan ran for re-election in 2020 against Republican John Emmons. She was reelected with over 56% of the vote.
2022
Houlahan had publicly expressed interest in a 2022 campaign for the United States Senate, but on June 8, she announced she would run for reelection to the House. After an uncontested primary, she ran against Republican Guy Ciarrocchi in the general election, winning reelection with over 58% of the vote.
Tenure
On July 29, 2024, Houlahan was announced as one of six Democratic members of a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
On March 6, 2025, Houlahan was one of ten Democrats in Congress who joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting to censure Democratic congressman Al Green for interrupting President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address.
Political positions
Foreign policy
In January 2019, she said she opposed withdrawing US troops from Syria.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Houlahan signed a letter advocating for President Biden to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
During the Gaza war, Houlahan signed a letter expressing concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct of the war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It called for President Biden to further pressure the Israeli government to adjust their strategy regarding the war.
Healthcare
Houlahan supports the government negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies and a public option, but opposes a single payer healthcare system.
LGBT rights
She supports same-sex marriage, the Equality Act. In 2019, she opposed President Trump's memorandum banning transgender individuals from the military.
Market regulations
In 2022, Houlahan was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.
National security
Houlahan believes that critical and emerging technology leadership is a core component of U.S. national security, citing biotechnology as a priority for research and development. She has also focused on shoring up critical materials and resources, like transformers, and believes that American small businesses focused on critical and emerging technologies should have streamlined access to federal programs.
Caucus memberships
- Climate Solutions Caucus
- Servicewomen and Female Veterans Caucus (Co-Chair)
- Women in STEM Caucus
- For Country Caucus
- New Democrat Coalition
- Honor and Civility Caucus
- Congressional National Service Caucus
- Veterans' Education Caucus
- Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus
- Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition
- Problem Solvers Caucus
Committee assignments
117th Congress
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities
- United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
- Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation
- Committee on Small Business
118th Congress
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Military Personnel
- Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
- Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
- Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture – Ranking member
Electoral history
Personal life
Houlahan lives in Devon, Pennsylvania, with her husband Bart, whom she met at Stanford and married in 1991. They put on hold their goal of running a foot race in every state before age 50 when she entered the race for U.S. Representative. The couple has two adult daughters.
See also
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
External links
- Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan official U.S. House website
- Chrissy Houlahan for Congress
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Appearances on C-SPAN
