Vanna Howard
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Vanna Howard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 1st Middlesex district | |
| Assumed office March 18, 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Edward J. Kennedy |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 17th Middlesex district | |
| In office January 6, 2021 – March 17, 2026 | |
| Preceded by | David Nangle |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | UMass Boston |
Vanna Howard is a Cambodian-born American politician serving as a member of the Massachusetts Senate, representing the 1st Middlesex district. A member of the Democratic Party, her district includes Dunstable, Dracut, Lowell, Pepperell, and Tyngsborough.
She previously served on the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the 17th Middlesex district. In March 2026, she won a special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate's 1st Middlesex district, which had been vacant since the death of senator Ed Kennedy.
Born in Cambodia, Howard's father, siblings, and grandparents were killed by the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian genocide. After fleeing Cambodia in 1979, Howard, along with her mother and stepfather, resettled in a refugee camp and two years later, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. She recalls her early days in the United States, while she learned English, as "very lonely."[1]
Howard attended the University of Massachusetts Boston and moved to Lowell in 1991 when she was hired as a bilingual legal secretary.[1]
