Lydia Edwards Eyes State Senate Run

August 19, 2021

Chris Lisinski, State House News Service

Then a Boston city councillor, Lydia Edwards speaks at Piers Park in East Boston. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) — Boston City Councillor Lydia Edwards speaks at Piers Park in East Boston. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Lydia Edwards is in if Joe Boncore is out.

The Boston City Councilor announced Thursday that she plans to run for the First Suffolk and Middlesex Senate district if and when Boncore, who disclosed more than a month ago he was negotiating a job with the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, resigns from his seat.

"This is my path: I will be a candidate for Senate this fall," Edwards said in a statement. "I'm proud to look back on the people I have helped, and I know that I have more in me to give. When Senator Boncore steps down, I will formally step up."

Boncore's departure is not yet official. He filed ethics and financial interest disclosure forms in mid-July indicating that he was in negotiations to take over as the next CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, an influential lobbying group. As of Thursday, he had not submitted a resignation and the Council had not confirmed his hiring.

If he does cut his two-year Senate term short, lawmakers will need to call a special election to fill the seat.

"Senator Boncore has been a steadfast partner in the Senate and has served the public with strength and a keen sense of right and wrong, using his moral compass and thoughtful advocacy to stand up for the residents of this district, and it would be a great honor to follow his legacy," Edwards said. "As he explores the next chapter of his career, I am prepared to begin mine."

Edwards ran for the Senate seat in a 2016 special election, when she finished fourth in the Democratic primary topped by Boncore. She won the election to represent District 1 on the Boston City Council in 2017 and secured re-election in 2019.

The First Suffolk and Middlesex District includes Boston's North End and Beacon Hill, parts of its South End and Back Bay neighborhoods, a stretch of southern Cambridge, and all of Winthrop and Revere.

Edwards filed paperwork earlier this year to seek re-election to her City Council seat. She is the only candidate running for the city's District 1, according to elections officials.