U.S. Representative — Massachusetts’s 3rd Congressional District
Massachusetts’s 3rd · educational cover · Merrimack Valley regional illustration
What this office is
A United States Representative is a federal legislator elected from one congressional district. Massachusetts’s 3rd is one of the Commonwealth’s nine House seats. The term is two years. The whole House stands for election every even-numbered year.
This page is Side One: inform, educate, inspire. It is not the race, not legal advice, and not an official government notice. For the 2026 cycle, use the election twin.
Confirm the current Member and the official map on House.gov — Find your Representative and the Clerk of the House.
How the job fits this community
The 2026 ballot uses Massachusetts’s 2023 map. The 3rd is the Merrimack Valley: Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Fitchburg, Leominster, and the surrounding towns on that drawing. It is mill cities that became immigrant cities, plus hill towns to the west.
This is not Worcester and not the North Shore 6th. Confirm the official line.
Federal work here is USCIS and SSA in the same week, a campus inbox at UMass Lowell, and remaining plants. Lawrence and Lowell file like gateway cities. Fitchburg files like a smaller mill city. Casework is the hinge between a new American household and a federal agency.
The Representative is the human hinge between this valley and Washington.
What the job entails
- Legislate. Introduce and cosponsor bills. Sit on committees. Vote.
- The purse. The House originates revenue bills. Appropriations decide what actually gets built or staffed.
- Oversight. Hearings and letters that watch the executive branch.
- Casework. SSA, VA, IRS, USCIS, military records, passports.
- District presence. Town halls, city halls, employers, schools — the district is the employer.
- Two homes. Washington for votes and committees. The district for the people who hired the office.
What a day is like
There is no single Tuesday. In Washington: a visitor from Lowell or Lawrence with a citizenship or SSA file. In the district: two mill-city desks and a Fitchburg drive.
The staff is the office. A serious Member is a serious principal: clear priorities, honest casework, no rumor as policy.
Place snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: Massachusetts · Chamber: U.S. House · Seat: District 3 of 9
- Map for 2026: The 2023 map
- Communities commonly listed: Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Fitchburg, Leominster
- Always verify on Where Do I Vote MA
Orientation adapted from public congressional-district descriptions and Massachusetts official election sources (Secretary of the Commonwealth; MassGIS 118th districts) for education. The map and the Member of record are whatever those official sources and House.gov say today.
What this is not
- Not a U.S. Senator (statewide, six-year term).
- Not the Governor.
- Not the Mayor of Boston, Worcester, or Springfield.
- Not a campaign flyer. This page does not tell anyone who to vote for.
Official doors
- Find your Representative
- Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth — elections
- Where Do I Vote MA
- MassGIS — 118th Congressional Districts
- Lowell Election Commission
The arena: 2026 election — Massachusetts’s 3rd