Christina “Chrissy” Houlahan is a Democrat who has won a seat in the US House of Representatives in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District. This is her first political office.
About Chrissy Houlahan
Houlahan was born in 1967 at Navy Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland. Her father was in the Navy and she grew up living at different US Naval bases across the country, including Hawaii. She now lives in Devon, Pennsylvania with her husband Bart of 27 years and has two adult daughters.
Education
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Stanford University in 1989. She attended there on an AFROTC scholarship. After that she earned a Master’s degree in Technology and Policy from MIT in 1994.
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Military Career
After graduating from Stanford, Houlahan spent three years on active duty with the US Air Force at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA. She served as a project manager working on air and space defense technologies. After active duty she joined the Air Force Reserves and served in Inactive Reserve for 13 years.
Civilian Career
In addition to being an Air Force Reserves veteran, she worked for the sportswear company, AND1. She worked in the positions of Director of Distribution and Information Systems from 1996-2000, Vice President of Retail from 2004-2005, and Chief Operating Officer from 2000-2005.
From 2008-2010 she worked at the company she founded, B-Lab, a non-profit start-up that promotes B corporations and good business practices.
After that she enrolled in Teach for America through the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a Chemistry teacher for Mastery Charter Schools from 2011-2012.
She then went on to work as the President and Chief Operating/Financial Officer at Springboard Collaborative, a Philadelphia-based non-profit that focuses on early childhood literacy in under-served populations nationwide, from 2012-2016.
She then started focusing on her political campaign. She also did work as an Industrial Engineer at Alphatech in 1995, and as a Research Assistant while she was at MIT.
Political Issues
As a veteran, her experience as a non-profit director, as well as her time in education, Chrissy Houlahan will bring much to her seat in Congress.
The issues that are important to her are:
- ensuring quality affordable healthcare for all Pennsylvanians
- great schools for every child
- growing our economy
- money in politics
- protecting our environment
- combating climate change
- support of veterans and their families
- women’s health
Veterans and their Families
When it comes to supporting veterans and their families, Houlahan believes that they deserve more than gestures and lip service. She believes that they deserve:
- the best possible training and equipment
- a commitment to deployment and combat as the last resort
- superb and honorable leadership in the field
- high quality services and medical care for themselves and their families
She also believes in helping those retraining to go back into civilian employment and counselling for those who are coping with the stresses of combat.
Chrissy Houlahan won against Republican Greg McCauley in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District.
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