SEEKONK, Mass. (WPRI) — Massachusetts Congressman-elect Jake Auchincloss on Wednesday announced his senior staff appointments, tapping a Capitol Hill veteran as his chief of staff and a longtime Newton official and activist as his district director.
Auchincloss will be sworn in Sunday to succeed fellow Democrat Joe Kennedy III, who abandoned the 4th Congressional District seat to make an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate. The district stretches from Brookline and Newton, where Auchincloss is a city councilor, down through the Attleboros and Taunton into northern Fall River.
“The Massachusetts 4th is a powerhouse of talent and civic engagement, and my senior staff represents the caliber of my constituents,” Auchincloss said in a statement. “They embody the core values of our office: excellence, integrity, curiosity, and inclusive leadership. They are ready on day one to help me deliver results for the district. And they share my commitment to progressive solutions to our nation’s greatest challenges.”
Auchincloss has also been assigned space in the Longworth House Office Building and been given a seat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. (Kennedy had served on the Energy and Commerce Committee.)
Auchincloss’s chief of staff will be Tim Hysom, who currently serves in the same role for California Congressman Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat whose district includes Long Beach. Hysom helped set up Lowenthal’s office when he first entered Congress in 2013, and previously worked in the office of another California Democrat, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
Hysom is currently acting president of the House Chiefs of Staff Association, and before working for Schiff he was a staffer at the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to help Capitol Hill offices run more effectively.
As his district director, Auchincloss is tapping Dana Hanson, who was most recently director of community engagement and inclusion for Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller after co-chairing her campaign to lead the city. Hanson has also held positions on the city’s library boards and school organizations.
Auchincloss plans to keep the district offices that Kennedy currently uses in Newton and Attleboro, and has retained Kennedy’s district director, Lisa Nelson, as an advisor during the transition.
Auchincloss’s legislative director will be Jessica Mulligan, who is currently senior legislative assistant to Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She previously worked for the nonprofit U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and for the lobbying firm the Glover Park Group.
Democratic operative Matt Corridoni will join Auchincloss’s office as communications director, and will serve in the same role for his 2022 re-election campaign. Corridoni was most recently spokesperson for the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer that raised and spent money supporting the party’s U.S. Senate candidates.
Before that, Corridoni worked on rapid response for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, having previously served as press secretary when Buttigieg ran for Democratic National Committee chairman in 2017. Corridoni also worked on press relations for another member of the Massachusetts delegation, Democrat Seth Moulton, who like Auchincloss is a combat veteran.
Ted Nesi (tnesi@wpri.com) is WPRI 12’s politics and business editor and a Target 12 investigative reporter. He is a weekly panelist on Newsmakers and hosts Executive Suite. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook
