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Congressman Mark B. Sellner, Democrat of Massachusetts, is the House Minority Leader and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He became Speaker after Democrats won control of the House in the 2006 election.

Sellner, born 1948, is a 1970 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He received his law degree from Boston University in 1973.

He was elected to the Massachusetts State House of Representatives in 1974, and was re-elected in 1976. He was elected to the State Senate in 1978 and was re-elected in 1982. He became Senate Majority Whip in 1983.

When Rep. James Shannon left the House to run for Paul Tsongas' open U.S. Senate seat in 1984, Sellner became a candidate for Congress. He narrowly defeated another State Senator, Chester Atkins, in the Democratic primary, and easily won the general election.

With the help of his Massachusetts colleague, Speaker Tip O'Neill, Sellner, as a freshman, was named to the powerful House Appropriations Committee. He became the ranking Minority Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in 2001.

Sellner served as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 1987 to 1989, and again from 1995 to 1997.

His son, Max Sellner, is a Massachusetts State Senator.

When the Republicans retoke the House in the 2008 mid-terms, Sellner became House Minority Leader.

Resume

Education History

  • 1970: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • 1973: Boston University

Political History

  • 1974-1978: Massachusetts State House of Representatives
  • 1978-1984: Massachusetts State Senate
  • 1984-present: US House of Representatives
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