Republican Tran Will Run Against U.S. Rep. Trahan In 2022

MARLBOROUGH, MA — There's officially a contest in the Massachusetts 3rd Congressional District currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan.

Former Republican state senator Dean Tran on Wednesday kicked off his campaign to unseat Trahan at an event in Fitchburg after announcing his intention to run last week. He has named issues like border security, supporting law enforcement — including opposing vaccine mandates for "front-line" workers — and stopping "wasteful spending" at the federal level.

Tran, of Fitchburg, lost his state senate seat in 2020 against Lunenburg Democrat John Cronin. The 2020 defeat followed a Senate ethics report that said his staff had used public resources to organize campaign fundraisers and other political events. He has previously said the investigation was a political attack — he was stripped of his assistant minority whip position after the report came out.

A Republican has not held the 3rd Congressional District seat for more than two decades. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, held the seat until redistricting after the 2010 Census. Former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas held the seat until 2017.

Trahan, of Westford, is vying for her third term in 2022. The House Ethics Committee in 2019 launched an inquiry into whether Trahan violated campaign finance limits during her 2018 campaign. But the probe was ultimately dismissed in July 2020 finding Trahan did not violate ethics rules.

The 3rd Congressional District covers a wide area from Gardener to Haverhill and south to Marlborough and the northern edge of Sudbury.