Bill Delahunt

Bill Delahunt served in the United States Congress from 1997 to 2011, representing the Tenth Congressional District of Massachusetts—which includes Cape Cod, the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and the South Shore. He has a distinguished career in public service and law enforcement and currently serves as Chairman and Founder of the Delahunt Group.

In Congress, Delahunt served as a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and recently as the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Europe. While on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Delahunt was respected for his expertise in policies toward Latin America and Europe.  In the 110th Congress Delahunt was named Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and International Organizations with jurisdiction over foreign aid and export assistance programs and human rights.  As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Delahunt brought his two decades of experience as a prosecutor—and lifelong commitment to safeguarding civil rights – to the federal arena.

Delahunt championed the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA), H.R. 4594, in the 111th Congress, serving as the lead Democratic sponsor in the House of Representatives. He also served as co-chair of the bipartisan Coast Guard Caucus; House Older Americans Caucus; and the Congressional Working Group on Cuba. In addition, Delahunt championed a diverse range of legislative priorities from streamlining international adoptions to minimizing wrongful convictions.

Prior to his service in Congress, Delahunt was a District Attorney in the metropolitan Boston area for twenty two years.  He is known for having developed the country’s first prosecutorial unit on domestic violence and sexual assault cases.  Delahunt pioneered programs to combat violence against women that have become national models.  A 1963 graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, Mr. Delahunt later went on to earn a law degree from Boston College in 1967. He served from 1963 to 1971 in the Coast Guard Reserve.