Next Tuesday, seven candidates will be seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat of the First Suffolk and Middlesex District that was held for the last nine years by Anthony Petrucelli of East Boston. These candidates, including our own State Rep. Jay Livingstone, have been campaigning and meeting the voters during the last three months in the district that stretches from Cambridge to Revere and includes Beacon Hill, the North End, Chinatown, East Boston and Winthrop.
For more than 80 years, this elected office was always considered an East Boston seat, but that may change this year as several candidates not from East Boston have made significant inroads in this sprawling district.
We urge as many voters as possible to get out and vote on Tuesday. While some may consider a State Senator as not being involved in many local issues, this cannot be further from reality. Issues like charter school caps, marijuana laws, dealing with the opioid epidemic and state aid to cities and towns to name just a few, all come under the purview of the State Senate.
Today, more than ever, these issues affect everyone in our district.
In the last special election for this seat in 2007 only 13,000 voters came out. We hope that more voters will turn out this year.
All the candidates have spent thousands of hours in this district during the last three months doing grassroots work. Now it is up to the voters to decide who will represent them in the State Senate.