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A former state lawmaker is on track to become the U.S. House’s first female majority leader.
Back home in the other marble halls Katherine Clark once roamed, the Massachusetts Legislature could soon hit a new milestone for women’s representation, too.
Three new women were elected to the state Senate Tuesday, on a night that saw records nationally for women candidates. That sets up the chamber to start January with its highest-ever number of women members.
With the election of Democrats Kate Lipper-Garabedian, Erika Uyterhoeven and Persis Yu, women are set to hold 14 Senate seats in January, inching above the previous high of 13 four years ago and accounting for 35% of senators. Women make up 51.5% of the state’s population.
“It’s great,” Senate President Karen Spilka said Thursday. “I have to start out by saying it should be equal to our population. It should be more, honestly, but we’re slowly getting there, slowly and surely.”
So far, the most women to hold office at one time in the Massachusetts Legislature was 63, according to the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. That 2021 record could be surpassed next year depending on how one remaining House race shakes out. Along with the 14 senators-elect, at least 49 women were elected to the House Tuesday.
That number could grow to 50 if Carver Democrat Sarah Hewins holds her 89-vote lead over Republican Rep. John Gaskey.
Massachusetts' first female state lawmakers, Reps. Susan Walker Fitzgerald of Jamaica Plain and Sylvia Donaldson of Brockton, were elected in 1923. Brookline Republican Sybil Holmes became the first woman elected to the state Senate 89 years ago.
Other milestones for Massachusetts women in politics came much more recently — Gov. Maura Healey became the first woman elected to the corner office in 2022, more than two decades after Jane Swift stepped into the role of acting governor and 10 years after voters picked Elizabeth Warren as the state's first female U.S. senator.
Spilka is the third woman to serve as Senate president, and the House has yet to choose a woman as its speaker. In Spilka’s office, the Ashland Democrat covered up the historical portraits of past (male) Senate presidents with pictures of women who’ve made their mark on Massachusetts in various ways, including Holmes, chef Julia Child, astronaut and Needham High School graduate Suni Williams and Belinda Sutton, who in 1783 petitioned the Legislature for a pension from her former enslaver's estate.
“When I first came here, I think that there was what we commonly refer to as a good old boy network,” said Spilka, first elected to the House in 2001. “I think that women in both the Senate in the House have put a dent in that to make a little bit of change and prioritize some different bills and fight for some different things, whether it be education, childcare, paid family and medical leave.”
The women newly sworn in to House and Senate seats in January will join a relatively small club — according to the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, 243 women and more than 20,000 men have served in the state Legislature throughout its history.
A trivia question as we head into the weekend: who was the first woman Massachusetts sent to Congress, and when? Send your guesses to [email protected].
HEARD AROUND TOWN
…North Shore Congressman-elect Dan Koh is off and running, asking his fellow incoming Democrats in the U.S. House to support him in a bid for president of the freshman class. That's according to a letter obtained by Punchbowl News, in which Koh says he wants “to help turn a group of new members from every corner of the country into a class that knows each other, looks out for one another, and gets things done together”…
…Thirty years ago, John Kerry and Bill Weld raised a pint of Sam Adams and Guinness, respectively, to toast each other after a hard-fought Senate race. According to a Daily Free Press account of the post-election rapprochement, later quoted in the National Review, Kerry also presented Weld that night with a kitchen sink, in acknowledgement of the governor's analysis that Kerry "never buckled, he never snapped. And we threw the kitchen sink at him, matches, everything." The one-time rivals plan to toast to their toast Saturday at J.J. Foley’s Cafe on East Berkeley Street. The anniversary celebration runs from 5 to 7 p.m, per the invite from Ginny Buckingham, Rob Gray and Mary Anne Marsh…
…Rhode Island Governor-elect Helena Foulkes reached north into Boston’s Dewey Square Group for her transition team's communications director. Jon Carvalho, a former aide to New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, is the only one of the six transition staffers Foulkes announced Thursday not to come directly from her campaign, according to WPRI. This election cycle, Carvalho worked on Massachusetts' Question 7, the still-undecided ballot measure on single-family home lot sizes…
HAPPENING TODAY
8:00 | Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation holds its annual Tax Policy Conference, titled “Looking Ahead to 2027: How Federal Changes and Local Pressures Will Affect Tax Policy” | WilmerHale, 60 State St., Boston
9:00 | Supreme Judicial Court hears oral arguments in two criminal cases | John Adams Courthouse, Room 1, One Pemberton Sq., Boston | More Info
10:30 | Mayor Wu and Boston Legacy FC join others "to celebrate the raising of the final beam at White Stadium" marking the completion of the building's structural framework | White Stadium, 450 Walnut Ave., Boston
12:00 | Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association hosts a webinar about understanding the midterm election results with a healthcare outlook. Lobbyists from the Washington, D.C.-based firm Alston & Bird will focus on the Massachusetts delegation and implications for healthcare policy | Register
1:00 | Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans Services holds a virtual meeting. The council is made up of 25 appointed individuals who advise Gov. Healey on matters impacting veterans in Massachusetts | Access
JOB BOARD
Motor Equipment Repair Person — NEW, City of Newton
Real Estate Specialist — NEW, Town of Nantucket
General Counsel — NEW, Group Insurance Commission
Executive Director — NEW, Mass Cultural Council
General Counsel — NEW, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office
Managing Director of Development and Communications — NEW, Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Real Estate Project Manager, Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance
Senior Legal Advisor, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
Program Officer for Science, Engineering, and Technology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Job board continues below the fold — post a job
ON BEACON HILL
TAX HOLIDAY HELD OFF: Like the version already passed by the House, the $2.6 billion spending bill state senators approved yesterday to close the books on fiscal 2026 does not include Gov. Healey's gas tax suspension. | State House News Service (gift link)
FOR THE RECORD: While Senate leaders say there are still “details to be worked out” with the public-records expansion passed at the ballot Tuesday, Gov. Healey says her office will comply with the measure that takes effect in January. | Boston Globe
WATERED DOWN: Concern and confusion from Quabbin watershed communities pushed the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to drop its proposed withdrawal of an extra 20 million gallons a day from the reservoir. Local lawmakers cheer the move as a win for the region that has been calling for more attention to its needs from Boston. | Daily Hampshire Gazette
NEWS NEXT DOOR
THE DELEGATION'S TAKE: Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Democrats' big night Tuesday came from "being populist economic fighters." Congressman Stephen Lynch says the Democrats who won in "red, red, red states" did so as moderates talking about the cost of living. | Time | GBH News
ON THE DOCKET: Norfolk District Attorney elect-Djuna Perkins, whose outrage over the office's handling of the Sandra Birchmore case drove her to run, says she plans to review both that high-profile case and the one involving Karen Read. | WCVB
OUT OF SERVICE: MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, citing a scheduled family vacation does not plan to attend a Boston City Council hearing today on the Blue Hill Avenue bus-lane proposal, despite a subpoena from the council. | Boston Herald
MOBILIZING ON THE MERRIMACK: In Lawrence, where Mayor Brian DePeña and Rep. Francisco Paulino are both facing federal charges, turnout ticked up this year from the 22.8% that gave the city the state's lowest rate in the 2022 midterms. Candidates, residents and civic organizations have been working to boost participation. | CommonWealth Beacon
MEANWHILE, UP NORTH: The blue wave hit Concord, N.H., flipping the New Hampshire House so it's now on track to join Massachusetts with a Democratic supermajority. The Republican speaker lost his seat, and one candidate for the speakership said there's never been this many Democrats elected. | New Hampshire Bulletin
SPONSORED Preparing for Winter, Putting Massachusetts Customers First: National Grid is helping customers manage energy costs while investing in the gas and electric systems that keep homes warm, businesses running and communities connected. | Learn more
MORE HEADLINES
THE SUNDAY SHOWS
KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller recaps local election results, highlights and lowlights with WBUR senior reporter Gin Dumcius and MASSterList editor Katie Lannan.
@ ISSUE: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard sits down with MassDems chair Steve Kerrigan.
ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5's Ed Harding and Sharman Sacchetti host a conversation with Secretary of State Bill Galvin. Political analysts Mary Anne Marsh and Rob Gray join for a roundtable discussion.
CITYLINE: 11:30 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5 anchor Jessica Brown hosts a discussion on the future of Blue Hill Ave., with Rep. Russell Holmes offering an overview of the proposed changes and city councilors Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper explaining their opposition.
JOB BOARD
Senior Transportation Engineer, City of Newton
Chief Economic Development Officer, City of Chelsea
Commission Counsel, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
Individual and Corporate Giving Manager, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation
Legislative Director, Massachusetts AFL-CIO
Litigation Attorney, Disability Law Center
Director, Regulatory Affairs, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Director of Public Policy, Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance
District-Based Communications Professional, US House of Representatives
Senior Government Relations Specialist, ACLU of Massachusetts
Director of Sustainable Materials Management, City of Newton
Attorney, Prisoners’ Legal Services of MA
Engineering Project Manager, City of Newton
Legal Advocate, Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
Advocacy Director, Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
Director of Workforce Development, St. Francis House
Evaluation and Monitoring Associate, Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation
