Representative Michelle McGaw
Member, House State Government and Elections Committee
Member, House Veterans' Affairs Committee
Representative Michelle
McGaw (D) was first elected in 2020 to represent the people of District 71 in
Portsmouth, Tiverton and Little Compton. She is a member of the House State
Government and Elections Committee and the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
In her first term, she served on the House Task Force for the COVID-19 Vaccine.
In 2022, Representative
McGaw sponsored a new law allowing Rhode Islanders a more practical deadline
for transferring
their registration after purchasing a
vehicle. She cosponsored laws that raised the legal age for purchasing firearms
and ammunition to 21 and requiring the
Department of Health to set standards
for toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water. She
has pushed for the state to strengthen its commitments to the environment and
clean energy, introducing legislation to prohibit
any type of new high-heat solid waste processing facilities in environmentally sensitive areas, and to require the state’s Energy
Facility Siting Board to deny applications for power plants that would adversely affect Rhode Island’s ability to meet its
carbon-emissions-reduction obligations.
She is a 1984 graduate of
St. Paul Catholic High School and graduated from University of Rhode Island
College of Pharmacy in 1989. She is a consultant pharmacist serving the
long-term care community.
Representative McGaw is a
member of the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee, and served on the
Portsmouth Waste and Recycling Committee and the 2020 Portsmouth Charter Review
Committee. She is a former board member for the Rhode Island Democratic Women’s
Caucus. She was involved in youth recreation and local Little League baseball
for many years, including the Little League Challenger Division.
A resident of Portsmouth
for more than 30 years, Representative McGaw and her husband James are the
parents of two adult sons, Jake and Max.