U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright represents Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District and was first sworn into Congress on January 3, 2013. In Congress, Matt is committed to working across the aisle to advocate for working families. Matt’s priorities include strengthening the middle class, creating jobs, ensuring quality health care, protecting seniors, and supporting veterans and military families. A strong believer in working with members of both political parties, Matt has introduced more bills with Democratic and Republican support than any other House Democrat since he was first elected. That is one of the reasons he was named one of the most effective House Democrats by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking.

Matt serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and is the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice and Science, where he oversees more than $70 billion in annual federal spending on matters of economic development, law enforcement, and science and innovation. He is also the Vice Chair of the Financial Services & General Government Appropriations Subcommittee. Matt serves as a voice for Northeastern Pennsylvania in House leadership as one of the co-chairs of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC). He is committed to ensuring rural areas like ours are represented at the highest levels of the federal government.

Matt graduated magna cum laude with a history degree from Hamilton College in 1983. He earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1986, where he was a member of law review.

Matt lives in Moosic with his wife, Marion. They have two sons, Jack and Matthew.