Draft:Tara Jacobs

Tara J. Jacobs is an American politician and Democratic member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council since 2023.

Early life, education, and career
Jacobs was born in Manhasset, New York in 1971, and attended various public and private schools on Long Island before beginning an early college program at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, then transferring to Tufts University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Later, she would earn an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business, majoring in Marketing and Management.

She began a career as an advertising executive with companies such as Publicis, The Richards Group, and Arnold Worldwide before moving to North Adams, Massachusetts and becoming involved with community service and local politics, winning election to the North Adams School Committee in 2015 and becoming the chair of the North Adams Democratic City Committee.

Massachusetts Governor's Council
In 2022, Jacobs declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the Eighth District seat on the Massachusetts Governor's Council to replace outgoing incumbent Councillor Mary Hurley, who chose not to run for re-election. Despite being seen as an underdog and outspent by three other candidates, she won the nomination with 33% of the vote. She then went on to defeat Republican nominee John Comerford by almost 24 points (61.8% to 38.1%) in the general election and was inaugurated by Massachusetts Senate president Karen Spilka on January 5, 2023.

In February 2024, Jacobs cast the lone dissenting vote against the confirmation of Judge Gabrielle Wolohojian to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, citing both deficiencies in the search process of Governor Maura Healey and the choice not to name a nominee from the western part of the Commonwealth.

Towns represented
District 8 consists of the entirety of Berkshire and  Franklin Counties, as well as all of Hampshire County except for the town of  Ware, all of  Hampden County except for the towns of Brimfield, Holland, Monson, and Wales, and the towns of Ashburnham, Athol, Petersham, Royalston and Winchendon in Worcester County. Included in the district are the cities of Springfield, Pittsfield, North Adams, Greenfield, Westfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, and Northampton.