Nick Collins is an American politician who currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing First Suffolk District. Collins serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses. Additionally,he serves a member of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading,and a member on the Joint Committee's on Bonding,Capital Expenditures and State Assets;Mental Health,Substance Use and Recovery;and Public Service. He is a Boston resident and a Democrat. Elected into the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2010,he served four terms in the House representing the 4th Suffolk District.
In May 2018,Collins won the election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry. He was sworn into the Massachusetts Senate on May 9,2018 by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.[1] His district is one of four minority-majority state senate districts in Massachusetts,is entirely inside Boston's city limits,and includes all of South Boston and parts of the Dorchester,Mattapan and Hyde Park neighborhoods.
As senator for the 1st Suffolk District,Collins has been the host of the annual Boston's St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast since 2019,a televised political roast that has featured presidents,vice-presidents,United States Senators and members of Congress throughout its history.
His father,James Collins,was a state representative from Charlestown who also worked in the administrations of Boston Mayor Kevin White and Massachusetts Governor Edward J. King. Collins’began his career in public service as a legislative aide to Massachusetts Senator Jack Hart. He was also a regional field director for the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.
Career
Collins was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives seat for the 4th Suffolk District in 2010. He has also served as chair of the Boston legislative delegation. Collins major legislative accomplishment in his first term was being a lead sponsor of the landmark Prescription Drug Monitoring bill signed into law by Deval Patrick on August 24,2012.
In early 2013 incumbent State Senator Jack Hart resigned from his seat to take a job at a law firm and a special election was called in order to fill it. Three candidates entered the race:4th Suffolk District State Rep Nick Collins;12th Suffolk District State Rep Linda Dorcena-Forry;and 'Caught in Southie' publisher Maureen Dahill. Collins and Dahill are both white and lived in South Boston,while Dorcena-Forry is Haitian-American and lived in the Lower Mills section of Dorechster.[2] Collins received support from a number of unions including the Greater Boston Labor Council,[3] but not the most prominent union member in the state senate district,Savin Hill State Rep Marty Walsh,who stayed neutral in the race. Collins ultimately fell short in the April 30,2013 Democratic Primary with the final count:Dorcena-Forry 10,220 votes,Collins 9,841 votes,and Dahill with 1,594 votes.[4]
Later in 2013 Collins repaid Walsh's neutrality in his failed State Senate race by endorsing Walsh's opponent[5] in the open seat race for Mayor of Boston.[6] Collins endorsed West Roxbury resident and At-Large City Council John Connolly. While Connolly and Walsh were the top two vote getters and advanced to the general election,Connolly lost to Walsh in November 2013. Collins went on to joke about the endorsement at the Boston St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in 2014,saying that he was being sent to City Hall jail.
Collins was a founding board member of UP Academy of Dorchester and Boston and an advisory board member of Excel High School in South Boston. In March 2016,he served as chairman of the South Boston Citizens Association's Evacuation Day ceremonies. In May 2016,he was elected as a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
In January 2018,1st Suffolk District State Senator Linda Dorcena-Forry announced that she was resigning from office in order to take a position with Suffolk Construction,and causing another special election.[7] Unlike the 2013 Special Election,this time Collins faced no opposition in his bid for State Senate,[8] and he won the seat.[9] Collins is at the 4th State Senator in a row to hold this seat who has first won it in a special election:Dorcena-Forry won the seat in a 2013 special election,Hart won the seat in a 2002 special election,and Lynch won the seat in a 1996 special. Previous State Senate President William Bulger is the last holder of the 1st Suffolk District State Senate seat to have won the election in a regularly scheduled election.
Upon assuming office in the Senate in 2018,Collins was named the host of the annual Boston St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast,hosting his first breakfast in 2019. He moved the breakfast in his first year of hosting to the Flynn Cruiseport Boston and created a theme for the event that focused on the contribution of the immigrant community to the South Boston Waterfront and the city of Boston. Vice-President Joe Biden sent a video message in to the event.
In the Massachusetts Senate,Collins serves on several committees,including chair of the Joint Committee on Export Development;vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Bonding,Capital Expenditures and State Assets;vice-chair of the Committee on Public Health;Senate Ways and Means;the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight;the Joint Committee on Tourism,Arts and Cultural Development;the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs;and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.
In 2020,as the COVID-19 pandemic hit,Collins worked with community leaders and organized the donation of thousands of masks to COVID-19 hospitals,community health centers,senior living facilities and other locations.[10] In the legislature he advanced several bills aimed at increasing racial and gender diversity in state contracting projects and addressing system injustice,partnering with 11th Hampden District State Rep Bud Williams of Springfield on an economic equity bill aimed at addressing systemic injustice and racial equity in government,business,public health and the courts.[11] He also filed in another bill aimed to improve economic equality and reduce the racial wealth gap in Massachusetts by requiring diversity of race and gender on all development projects on state land. The bill was inspired by the success of the Omni Seaport Hotel,a $550 million development,which included diversity requirements not only for vendors,but also for ownership and financing. Dubbed the “Massport Model,”the legislation was included in a State Senate's economic development package,requires diversity in ownership,as well as construction,design,financing and management on state projects.[12]
Collins was the subject of intense scrutiny when he became one of only a handful of Democrats and the only State Senator representing a minority-majority district to vote against the State Senate's version of a far-reaching police reform bill in 2020,joining 6 of his colleagues in a 30-7 vote.[13] He called the bill’s most controversial element —a provision imposing new limits on the protection police officers enjoy from civil lawsuits —“problematic,”and cited that as the reason for his opposition to the bill. Collins ultimately voted for the compromise bill that became law later in 2020.[14]
Collins considered running for Mayor when incumbent Boston Mayor Marty Walsh resigned in early 2021 to become the US Secretary of Labor under newly elected President Joseph R. Biden.[15] Collins ultimately decided against it,releasing a short statement in late April 2021 that read:[16]
“After much encouragement and consideration and discussions with family,I’ve decided I will not be a candidate for mayor. I remain dedicated to my job in the Massachusetts Senate and working with leadership and my colleagues on our shared priorities to help Boston and the Commonwealth grow and thrive. I look forward to working closely with City Hall to create a better Boston for all.”[17]
Personal life
Collins lives in South Boston with his wife Dr. Olivia J. Liff,a board-certified family physician. They have two daughters.
Stephen Francis Lynch is an American businessman,attorney and politician who has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts since 2001. A Democrat,he represents Massachusetts's 8th congressional district,which includes the southern fourth of Boston and many of its southern suburbs. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer,and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court.
Linda Dorcena Forry is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,who represented the 1st Suffolk district from June 2013 - January 2018. She previously represented the 12th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives after winning a special election in April 2005. Haitian-American,Dorcena Forry,is the former House Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.
Althea Garrison is an American politician from Boston,Massachusetts who previously served a single term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1993–1995) and a partial term as an at-large councilor on the Boston City Council (2019–2020). She is considered the earliest transgender person known to have been elected to a state legislature in the United States. She was outed against her will by the Boston Herald after her 1992 election. She is a perennial candidate,having been an unsuccessful candidate for political office more than forty times.
Marc R. Pacheco is an American state legislator serving as a member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 1st Plymouth and Bristol district. A member of the Democratic Party,he previously represented the 3rd Bristol district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1989 to 1993.
Christopher M. Markey is an American lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 9th Bristol district. A member of the Democratic Party,he was first elected in 2010.
Geoffrey G. Diehl is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Republican,he represented the 7th Plymouth district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019.
Charlotte Golar Richie serves as the senior vice president for public policy,advocacy and government relations for YouthBuild USA. She formerly served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and held other government positions. She was a candidate for the mayor of Boston in the 2013 election,placing third in the nonpartisan primary election.
The 2013 Boston mayoral election occurred on Tuesday,November 5,2013. Incumbent mayor Thomas Menino had declined to run for re-election to a sixth term. A non-partisan preliminary election was held on Tuesday,September 24,2013. 12 candidates made the ballot to replace Menino,with state representative Marty Walsh and at-large city councilor John R. Connolly advancing to the general election. Walsh was elected to his first term,defeating Connolly by 3% of the vote,and was inaugurated on Monday,January 6,2014.
The 2013 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts was held on June 25,2013,in order to fill the Massachusetts Class 2 United States Senate seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3,2015.
Martin Joseph Walsh is an American politician and trade union official who served as the mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and as the 29th United States Secretary of Labor from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,Walsh resigned from his position as the US Secretary of Labor in March 2023 in order to accept a position as executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association. Before his mayoralty,he served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,representing the 13th Suffolk district from 1997 until 2014. As a trade union member,Walsh worked his way up to serve as the head of the Boston Building Trades Council from 2011 until 2013.
Shawn C. Dooley is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 9th Norfolk district,succeeding Dan Winslow. The 9th Norfolk District constitutes all or parts of the Towns of Medfield,Millis,Norfolk,Plainville,Walpole,and Wrentham. A member of the Republican Party,he was sworn in January 29,2014. In 2022,he vacated the seat to run for the Massachusetts State Senate,he was defeated by incumbent Becca Rausch.
The 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial election took place on November 6,2018,to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Republican Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito sought reelection to a second term in office,facing Democratic challengers Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey,respectively. Candidates were selected in the primary election held on September 4,2018.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 3,2020,to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states,elections to the United States House of Representatives,and various state and local elections. On September 1,incumbent senator Ed Markey defeated U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III in a competitive primary for the Democratic nomination,and Kevin O'Connor defeated Shiva Ayyadurai for the Republican nomination. Markey went on to win the general election with 66.2% of the vote,and was thus re-elected to a second full term in a landslide.
Dean A. Tran is an American politician from Fitchburg,Massachusetts,who was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 2017 in a special election. He represented the Worcester and Middlesex District,and is a Republican. Before his election to the Massachusetts Senate,Tran was a member of the Fitchburg City Council.
Elizabeth Miranda is a Cape Verdean-American community organizer and politician. She is a state senator representing the Massachusetts Senate's 2nd Suffolk district after winning a five-way Democratic Primary Election,and advancing to an uncontested race in the 2022 Massachusetts general election. Prior to that,since January 2019,Miranda had served as the Democratic Massachusetts State Representative for the Fifth Suffolk district. Her district comprises parts of the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. She is a member of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.
Jon Santiago is an American physician and Democratic politician who served in the Massachusetts state representative for the 9th Suffolk district from 2019 to March 2023. He ran a campaign for mayor of Boston in 2021,but withdrew from the race before the primary election.
The 2021 Boston mayoral election was held on Tuesday,November 2,2021,to elect the mayor of Boston,Massachusetts. Incumbent mayor Marty Walsh was eligible to seek a third term. However,he resigned as mayor on March 22,2021,after being confirmed as secretary of labor in the Cabinet of Joe Biden. This left the Boston City Council president,at the time Kim Janey,to hold the role of acting mayor until the victor of the election would take office.
Massachusetts Senate's 1st Suffolk district in the United States is one of 40 legislative districts of the Massachusetts Senate. It covers portions of Suffolk county. Democrat Nick Collins of South Boston has represented the district since 2018.
Massachusetts House of Representatives' 12th Suffolk district in the United States is one of 160 legislative districts included in the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court. It covers part of Milton in Norfolk County and part of Boston in Suffolk County. Democrat Brandy Fluker Oakley of Dorchester has represented the district since 2020.
The 193rd Massachusetts General Court is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the state government of Massachusetts,composed of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It first convened in Boston at the Massachusetts State House on January 4,2023,on the last day of the governorship of Charlie Baker and is scheduled to continue until January 7,2025,during the first two years of Governor Maura Healey's first term.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
