Gwen Moore is the Democratic incumbent representing Wisconsin's 4th District (Milwaukee) since 2005, the first African American elected to Congress from Wisconsin. Before Congress she was a VISTA volunteer, a housing and social services official, and a state legislator for 15 years. She serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Economic Committee and is seeking another term.[1][2][3]
Moore was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1951 and raised in Milwaukee, the eighth of nine children; her father was a union factory worker and her mother a public school teacher.[2] She attended North Division High School in Milwaukee, where she was student council president.[2] She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Marquette University, which she says she attended as a single, expectant mother with help from the federal TRIO program, and later received a Harvard University Certificate for Senior Executives in State and Local Government in 2000.[1][2] Sources differ on the year of her Marquette degree.[1][2]
Moore began her career as a VISTA volunteer, helping to start a community credit union and receiving the national "VISTA Volunteer of the Decade" award for 1976-1986, according to her official biography.[2] She then worked as a housing officer for the Wisconsin Housing Development Authority; WUWM, drawing on her campaign website, says she worked for the City of Milwaukee and the state on housing and social services issues.[2][3][1]
Moore served two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1989-1992) and then in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1993 to 2004.[2] She was elected to the U.S. House in 2004, defeating Republican attorney Gerald Boyle with 69.6% of the vote according to Wikipedia, and took office on January 3, 2005.[1][2][4]
In the House, Moore serves on the Ways and Means Committee (Tax, Social Security, and Work and Welfare subcommittees) and the Joint Economic Committee, and co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.[1][2][3] She previously served on the Financial Services, Science, Space, and Technology, and Budget committees, and was Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus from 2011 to 2013.[1][2] She is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, among others.[2] WUWM describes her as the longest-serving current member of Wisconsin's U.S. House delegation, and she won the August 11, 2026 Democratic primary over Amy Donahue, 70.5% to 29.3%.[1][3] According to her official biography, she is the mother of three and a grandmother and great-grandmother.[2]
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.
