Eric P. Lesser is in his second term in the Massachusetts State Senate, where he serves as Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies, Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, and leads Millennial Outreach for the State Senate. During his first term in office, Senator Lesser helped pass significant new laws related to substance abuse treatment and prevention, job training, and promotion of tourism and the arts.
Prior to becoming a State Senator, Lesser worked in the Obama White House, first as Special Assistant to Senior Adviser David Axelrod, and later as Director of Strategic Planning for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He traveled to 47 states and six countries with then-Senator Obama and his senior team as a young aide on President Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign. Lesser has been described as “the face of the promised Obama political generation” by the New York Times.
Senator Lesser holds a number of national recognitions, including a Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership at the Aspen Institute, and is a leader with NewDEAL, a national network of progressive state and local elected officials. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.
Criminal justice reform has the attention of the country, but it is at the state and local level where reform will be implemented. Much of the conversation about criminal justice reform has revolved around high-profile incidents in major U.S. cities like Cleveland and New York City — and on what the federal Department of Justice…
