Around New England

And Then There Were Five – GOP State Senator Leaving

October 16, 2019

One of the six Republican members of the Massachusetts Senate is leaving to take a job with Bridgewater State University.

State Senator Viriato deMacedo (R-Plymouth), known as Vinny, plans to leave office within weeks, according to the Cape Cod Times.

In 2017 deMacedo had a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 63 percent, which by Massachusetts standards makes him a moderate conservative.

A special election to fill the vacancy is expected.

DeMacedo, 54, a native of Cape Verde, was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1998 and then to the Massachusetts Senate in 2014.

The Plymouth and Barnstable District includes the Cape Cod towns of Falmouth, Bourne, and Sandwich and the Plymouth County towns of Plymouth, Kingston, and Pembroke.

It’s not a Republican lock. Before deMacedo took the seat, the district was represented from 1993 to 2015 by Therese Murray, a Democrat who served as president of the Massachusetts Senate from 2007 to 2015.

The Massachusetts Senate is currently split 34 Democrats and 6 Republicans, counting deMacedo as one of the six Republicans.