Jon Hecht

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hecht spent his youth in Belmont, attending Belmont Public Schools. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Stanford University in 1981, a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1988, and a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1990.[1][2][3]

Hecht was a New York City attorney before working as a program officer for human rights and governance for the Ford Foundation in Beijing from 1990 to 1994. He was a research fellow and law lecturer in East Asian legal studies at Harvard Law School from 1994 to 1998. He co-founded the China Law Center at Yale Law School in 1999 and was its deputy director until 2006.[1][2]

A former board member of the Arsenal Center for the Arts, Hecht won a seat on the Watertown Town Council in 2005, later serving as chair the council's budget, economic development, and rules committees.[1]

Elected as a Democrat to the 29th Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2008, Hecht is Vice Chair of the Elder Affairs Committee and a member of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight and the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. He is a member of the Mental Health Caucus, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Caucus, and Urban Parks Caucus.[1]

In December 2011, Hecht was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace Steven Tolman in the Massachusetts Senate, but lost to state representative Will Brownsberger in the primary election.[4]

Hecht and his wife Lora Sabin, a public health economist at Boston University School of Public Health, reside in Watertown and have four children.[1]

• 2019–2020 Massachusetts legislature

• Official web site
• Campaign web site