State representative Brendan Boyle.
THE son of a Donegal emigrant will learn on Wednesday whether or not he will become the youngest Congressman in the United States House of Representatives.
Brendan Boyle (37), whose father Frank emigrated from Glencolmcille in 1970, saw off Margorie Margolies, mother-in-law of Chelsea Clinton, to be the Democratic pick for Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District in a major win for the State Representative.
Voters go to the polls on tomorrow and, if elected, he will become the only Congressman to have an Irish parent.
The powerful House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the United States Congress. The other house is the Senate.
Back in May, Mr Boyle easily defeated the former US congresswoman, despite help she received from her high-profile in-laws with both Bill and Hillary Clinton hosting fundraisers for her.
Mr Clinton also featured in a final campaign advert endorsing Ms Margolies (71) and an automatic messaging call to voters.
Brendan and his brother Kevin (34) were both returned as members of the Democratic party in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012.
In 2010, the Boyles became the first ever brothers to be elected at the same time to the House.
Mr Boyle’s father Frank, who grew up in the small south west Donegal Gaeltacht, changed his working hours cleaning Philadelphia’s subway stations so he could canvas for his son in the evenings.
Brendan Boyle regularly referred to his father’s working class roots in debates with the other Democrat candidates.
In a campaign video, Boyle shows his father sweeping a Pennsylvania train station.
According to ‘The Philadelphia Inquirer’ newspaper, he has made the growing gap between the rich and the rest a centrepiece of his campaign to represent the 13th Congressional District, a mostly middle-class area with pockets of poverty spanning parts of Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
The 37-year-old advocates raising the minimum wage to help the working poor and increasing taxation of passive income such as stocks and bonds, noting that wage earners pay higher effective rates than investors.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)