Barney Frank, a champion of liberal causes who spent more than 30 years representing Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives, has entered hospice care at his home in Ogunquit as he deals with congestive heart failure, according to Politico.
Frank, 86, represented Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District from 1981 to 2013, and was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, in 1987.
An advocate for civil rights and affordable housing, Frank is also known for sponsoring sweeping financial regulation reforms in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.
He moved to Ogunquit with his husband, Jim Ready, after retiring from Congress.
According to Politico, Frank is supporting Gov. Janet Mills over political newcomer Graham Platner in Maine’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
“I worry a little bit about the tendency on the Democratic side to fall for the flavor of the month,” he told the outlet. “There is this flirtation or this attraction of people who are new and who are very good at articulating a response to the anger, but without talking about what you do about it.”
