The Massachusetts General Court,formally the General Court of Massachusetts,is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. The name "General Court" is a holdover from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,when the colonial assembly,in addition to making laws,sat as a judicial court of appeals. Before the adoption of the state constitution in 1780,it was called the Great and General Court,but the official title was shortened by John Adams,author of the state constitution. It is a bicameral body. The upper house is the Massachusetts Senate which is composed of 40 members. The lower body,the Massachusetts House of Representatives,has 160 members;until 1978,the state house had 240 members. It meets in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston.
Edward John Markey is an American lawyer,politician,and former Army reservist serving as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party,he served 20 terms as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district from 1976 to 2013. Before his congressional career,he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976.
Karen Eileen Spilka is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the towns of Ashland,Framingham,Holliston,Hopkinton,Medway and Natick in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. She has served as the 95th President of the Massachusetts Senate since July 2018. Previously she served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005.
Dianne Wilkerson is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing the 2nd Suffolk District from 1993 to 2008.
Patricia Deats Jehlen is a former teacher and current Massachusetts State Senator of the Democratic Party. She represents the Second Middlesex District. That includes the cities of Cambridge,wards 9 to 11,inclusive,Medford and Somerville,and the town of Winchester,precincts 4 to 7,inclusive,in the County of Middlesex. She has served the Massachusetts State Senate since 2005. She also served the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1991 to 2003. She resides in Somerville,MA.
Elizabeth A. "Liz" Malia is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Democrat,she served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from March 1998 to January 2023. She represented the Eleventh Suffolk district,which includes parts of the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain,Roslindale,Roxbury and Dorchester.
Sonia Rosa Chang-Díaz is an American politician who served in the Massachusetts Senate from the 2nd Suffolk district as a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first Hispanic woman elected to the state senate. She ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in the 2022 election.
Michael John Barrett is a Massachusetts politician noted for having been elected to serve in three completely different state legislative districts over the course of his political career. At present he is the state senator for the 3rd Middlesex District of Massachusetts. Barrett served in the State Senate earlier,in 1987–1994,representing another district,before moving to his present home in suburban Lexington in 1996. Even earlier,in 1979–1985,he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from a district comprising Reading,North Reading and a portion of Wilmington.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as House Minority Whip since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2021 to 2023 and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2021. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
Harriette L. Chandler is an American politician who was the 94th President of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts State Senator for the 1st Worcester district,which includes parts of the city of Worcester,where she resides,and the towns of Boylston,Holden,Princeton,and West Boylston,and parts of Clinton and Northborough. She is a Democrat who has served since January 2001. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature,she was a member of the Worcester school committee from 1991 to 1994. She is the first woman from Worcester ever to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate.
Cynthia Stone Creem is an American politician serving in the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the 1st Middlesex and Norfolk district,which includes Brookline,Wellesley,and her hometown of Newton. A member of the Democratic Party,Creem was first elected in 1999 and has served as Majority Leader since 2018. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature,she was an attorney who served on the Massachusetts Governor's Council and the Newton Board of Aldermen.
Jeffrey Sánchez is an American politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2003 to 2019. He represented the Fifteenth Suffolk district,which is made up of the Boston communities Mission Hill,Jamaica Plain,and Roslindale,as well as the Precinct 5 of the Town of Brookline.
William N. Brownsberger is an American politician and the President pro tempore of the Massachusetts Senate representing the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District which includes his hometown of Belmont,as well as Watertown,and parts of Allston,Brighton,Fenway-Kenmore,and Back Bay which are neighborhoods of Boston. From 2007 to 2012,he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2013 special election to succeed Ed Markey in the U.S. House of Representatives.
James Michael "Jim" Cantwell is an American politician and lawyer from Massachusetts. A Democrat,Cantwell is the State Director for United States Senator Ed Markey. Cantwell previously served as the Massachusetts State Representative for the 4th Plymouth district from 2008 to 2018. The district encompassed Marshfield and precincts 1,2,4,5,&6 of Scituate.
Diana DiZoglio is an American politician who is the current Massachusetts State Auditor. A member of the Democratic Party,DiZoglio had previously represented the 1st Essex District in the Massachusetts Senate from 2019 to 2023. The district included her home city of Methuen as well as Newburyport,Haverhill,Merrimac,Amesbury,Salisbury,and four of eight precincts in North Andover.
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.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on November 3,2020,to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Massachusetts,one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Primary elections were held on September 1.
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.
Massachusetts House of Representatives' 15th 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 Brookline in Norfolk County and part of Boston in Suffolk County. Democrat Nika Elugardo of Jamaica Plain has represented the district since 2019.
