Political history
O'Leary was elected as a Barnstable County Commissioner in 1987 and took a role in forming the Cape Cod Commission, a regional planning authority for smart growth started in 1990. O'Leary also participated in the Cape Light Compact which helped combine energy conservation and green energy incentives with consumer protection to change the process by which the area creates and consumes electricity. O'Leary's work on the Cape Cod Land Bank, which focused on environmental and open space preservation was also subsequently used as a model used by communities across Massachusetts to this day.
O'Leary won election to the Massachusetts State Senate in 2000, becoming the first Democrat in his district elected in 40 years and eventually spearheaded the nation’s first ocean management legislation, which allows for harmonious conservation, industry and development in ocean waters. Becoming Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, O'Leary lead in reforming and significantly increasing funds for Massachusetts’ higher education system. O'Leary chaired the Education Committee, and was a chief architect of one of the biggest pieces of education legislation since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. It allowed for increased choice and innovation in public school districts.
O'Leary was a candidate in the Democratic Primary for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, which includes parts of the South Shore of Massachusetts, and includes all of Cape Cod and the islands. O'Leary's candidacy came following the announcement by fellow Democrat Bill Delahunt, who had represented the 10th District in the US Congress since first winning the seat in 1996, of Delahunt not seeking reelection in 2010. O'Leary lost the primary to Norfolk County district attorney William R. Keating.
William David Delahunt was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Massachusetts's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. Delahunt did not seek re-election in 2010, and left Congress in January 2011. He was succeeded by Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Keating.
Sagamore Beach is a village on Cape Cod, in the town of Bourne, Massachusetts, United States. The northern half of the Sagamore census-designated place, Sagamore Beach faces Cape Cod Bay, and the Cape Cod Canal courses through it. Along with Buzzards Bay and Bournedale, it is one of three communities that comprise the county of Barnstable.
Benjamin Brackett Downing is an American politician and Democratic former member of the Massachusetts State Senate. He represented the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin district from 2007 to 2013, before being redistricted to the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden district, which he represented until 2017.
The 2008 congressional elections in Massachusetts were held on November 4, 2008, to determine who will represent the U.S. state of Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; whoever is elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009, until January 3, 2011. The election coincides with the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
The 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on November 2, 2010, to determine who would represent the state of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives. Massachusetts has ten seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 112th Congress from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. All current representatives are member of the Democratic Party and none of the ten faced major party opposition in 2008.
William Richard Keating is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 2011, representing Massachusetts's 10th congressional district until redistricting. Keating's district includes Cape Cod and most of the South Coast. He raised his profile advocating for criminal justice issues in both houses of the Massachusetts General Court from 1977 to 1999 before becoming district attorney of Norfolk County, where he served three terms before being elected to Congress.
Jeffrey Davis Perry is a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who represented the 5th Barnstable District from 2003-2011. He was the Republican Party nominee for United States Congress in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in the 2010 election, losing to Democrat Bill Keating.
Michael John Barrett is an American 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.
Elections were held in Delaware on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Primary elections were held on September 14, 2010.
The 2004 congressional elections in Massachusetts was held on November 2, 2004, to determine who would represent the state of Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives. Massachusetts had ten seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected were served in the 109th Congress from January 3, 2005 until January 3, 2007.
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.
Daniel A. Wolf is an American entrepreneur, aircraft pilot, and politician. In 1989, he founded the Cape Cod-based airline Cape Air, which originally flew between Provincetown and Boston in Massachusetts, and has since expanded internationally. In 2010, he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate to represent the Cape and Islands district. He ran unopposed in 2012, and was subsequently re-elected to a third term in 2014. During his tenure, he has emerged as a progressive leader in the Senate, advocating for renewable energy, increased minimum wage, and universal health care.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Massachusetts, a loss of one seat following the 2010 census, for service in the 113th Congress from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election. The candidate elected in each of the state's congressional districts was a member the Democratic Party.
Ian A. Bowles, is an American environmentalist, businessman, politician, and political aide who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs from 2007 to 2011. Bowles is a native of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Falmouth High School and Harvard College. He also has a master's degree from Oxford College and an honorary doctorate from Emerson College. He resides in Dover, Massachusetts, with his wife Hannah Riley Bowles and their two children.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy III is an American politician and diplomat who has been the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland since 2022. Prior to this, Kennedy served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district that extends from Boston's western suburbs to the state's South Coast. He worked as an assistant district attorney in the Cape and Islands and Middlesex County, Massachusetts, offices before his election to Congress. In January 2021, he became a CNN commentator.
The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the election of Massachusetts' class II U.S. senator and other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections, including the governor of Massachusetts.
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 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on November 8, 2016, electing the nine U.S. representatives from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2016 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. The primaries were held on September 20. All incumbents were re-elected to office.
Massachusetts Senate's Cape and Islands district in the United States is one of 40 legislative districts of the Massachusetts Senate. It covers 66.7% of Barnstable County, all of Dukes County, and all of Nantucket County population in 2010. Democrat Julian Cyr of Truro has represented the district since 2017. He is running unopposed for re-election in the 2020 Massachusetts general election.
Massachusetts Senate's Plymouth and Barnstable district in the United States is one of 40 legislative districts of the Massachusetts Senate. It covers 33.3% of Barnstable County and 17.6% of Plymouth County population. Democrat Susan Moran of Falmouth has represented the district since May 2020, after a special election was called when Republican Vinny deMacedo of Plymouth resigned in November 2019.
