Marty Walsh was born on April 10, 1967, to Irish parents who had both immigrated to the United States. He grew up in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. As a young child, Walsh survived Burkitt’s lymphoma.

After high school, he followed his father into construction and joined the local union that represented laborers. In his twenties, he became sober after struggling with alcoholism. In 1997, he became a legislator in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving the Thirteenth Suffolk district. While working as a state legislator, Walsh attended college at night and graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. 

In 2013, he ran for mayor of Boston and was elected the city’s 54th mayor. In office, he increased housing for the city’s homeless population, funded universal pre-kindergarten and community college for low-income students, and secured a $15-minimum wage. He was reelected in 2017 but resigned in March 2021 after President Joe Biden appointed him Secretary of Labor. 

The US Senate confirmed Walsh’s appointment by a vote of 68 to 29, and he was sworn in on March 23, 2021, as the 29th Secretary of Labor. Overseeing the Department of Labor, Walsh will have a critical role in trying to help get people back to work after many lost jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.