Lori Trahan was a college athlete. Before she was elected to the House of Representatives, she became the first in her family to graduate from college, which was in part made possible by a scholarship to play Division 1 volleyball at Georgetown University.
Early in her career, Trahan worked for former Congressman Marty Meehan as a scheduler and worked her way up to become his chief of staff. She also worked in the private sector: working at ChoiceStream and later as CEO of the Concire Leadership Institute, a women-owned firm.
She was first elected to the House of Representatives, as a Democrat representing Massachusetts’s 3rd District, during the 2018 midterm elections. Since then, she has been re-elected twice, in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
In her time in Washington D.C., Trahan has introduced legislation alongside other congress members that support the rights of college athletes including the College Athlete Economic Freedom Act, the Fair Play for Women Act and the College Athlete Right to Organize Act.
The College Athlete Economic Freedom Act was originally introduced by Trahan and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in 2021, months before the NCAA’s interim NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) policy was announced in July. The legislation would “establish an unrestricted federal right” to athlete’s NIL.
Trahan called the bill the “most pro-athlete piece of legislation in the NIL space” in an interview with Chase Griffin. The bill has been supported by athletes around the country, including Cornell women’s volleyball captain Syndey Moore, who endorsed it and emphasized its benefits in an interview with The Athlete’s Bureau.
Trahan has been involved with many similar bills. The Fair Play for Women Act looks to implement regulations protecting gender equality in K-12 and college athletics, and would hold schools “accountable for Title IX violations.” The College Athlete Right to Organize Act would “establish collective bargaining rights.”
Last week, Trahan and other members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce listened to testimony, including Griffin, during a hearing focused on NIL and college athletics. She called it “remarkable” to hear athletes' stories about what NIL has done for them.
During the hearing, Trahan spoke about her “concerns” about the FAIR College Sports Act, which would in part “establish a committee for intercollegiate athletics.” NCAA President Charlie Baker previously called for government regulation.
Trahan asked about international students and women athletes’ access to NIL, issues she said were “unaddressed” in the bill, and referred to TAB polling data that concluded that college athletes hold negative sentiments or disapprove of congressional involvement in restructuring the regulation of college athletics.
“That should concern each one of us here today. That the very people this committee is seeking to ‘protect’ don't actually trust that we have their best interests at heart,” she said. “And I don’t think that, as drafted, the bill that we’re focusing on today will do much to change that.”
