U.S. Rep. Tsongas to face new challenge from GOP’s Wofford

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2016/02/23/u-s-rep-tsongas-to-face-new-challenge-from-republican-wofford/

BOSTON Haverhill Republican Ann Wofford has pulled nomination papers to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, a Lowell Democrat, in the third congressional district this fall, according to the secretary of state’s office.

The campaign would mark Wofford’s second attempt at knocking off Tsongas. The widow of former U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas, she has held the seat ever since she won a special election in 2007 following then-Rep. Marty Meehan’s decision to resign from Congress to become the University of Massachusetts – Lowell’s chancellor.

Wofford, who didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, challenged Tsongas in 2014, losing by a count of 139,140 votes to 81,638 votes. The election marked Wofford’s first run for public office. Her latest move was confirmed Tuesday by Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.

Wofford has kept her 2014 campaign website alive in the interim. In a short biographical statement, Wofford says she graduated from high school in Springfield and settled in Haverhill with her husband in June 2004, raising two daughters. Wofford’s bio also indicates that she graduated with a chemical engineering degree from Cornell University and spent 17 years working in the private sector as a chemical engineer.