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The 1st Middlesex District is one of 40 electoral districts that each send one senator to the Massachusetts Senate. The district is represented by state Sen. Dd Dd of Dd, a Democrat.

The Massachusetts Senate district map has included a 1st Middlesex District since district representation was adopted in 1857, and the 1st Middlesex District has been anchored by the city of Lowell since the 1920s. Previously it included other portions of Middlesex County.

Cities and towns
Under the apportionment plan of 2011, the 1st Middlesex District consists of the entire city of Lowell; the towns of Tyngsborough, Dunstable and Pepperell, forming a line to the west of Lowell along the New Hampshire border; and the towns of Groton and Westford, immediately south of the other three towns.

History
The 1st Middlesex District can trace its history back to the original state senatorial districts created in 1857. Before the 1857 apportionment, senators were elected by county, with Middlesex County electing three to five senators at-large.

1857-1896: North of Boston
When the current system of single-member districts was enacted in 1857, the districts still tended to stay within county lines. Middlesex County was split into six districts. Lowell was placed in the 6th Middlesex District; its neighboring towns to the west were included in the 4th Middlesex District. The original 1st Middlesex District consisted of several towns along the Mystic River, immediately north of Boston: Charlestown (before its annexation to Boston), Malden (including present-day Everett), Melrose and Somerville.

The redistricting of 1866 contracted the 1st Middlesex District to the city limits of Charlestown, moving the other towns to the 2nd Middlesex District.

Following Charlestown's 1874 annexation into Boston -- part of Suffolk County -- the 1st Middlesex District regained Everett, Malden and Somerville, and added Medford in the statewide reapportionment of 1876.

Redistricting in 1886 shifted the district's boundaries slightly west, to include Arlington, Medford, Somerville and Winchester.

1896-1939: West of Boston
A radical redrawing of the district map in 1896 saw an entirely new group of towns in the 1st Middlesex District, former members of the 2nd Middlesex and 4th Middlesex districts. The new 1st Middlesex District consisted of Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Natick, Newton, Sherborn, Watertown and Weston. These district lines remained in place until 1926, with only one change, the removal of Watertown in the redistricting of 1916.

In 1926, Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton and Natick were removed from the 1st Middlesex District, and two new towns were added along its northern border. The district now consisted of Framingham, Marlborough, Newton, Wayland and Weston.

1939-1960: Lowell and southwest
The Framingham-area towns were moved to the new Middlesex and Norfolk District in the redistricting of 1939, and a new 1st Middlesex District was adopted on roughly its current footprint. The district now included eight wards of Lowell and 13 neighboring towns: Ashby, Ayer, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, Tyngsborough and Westford.

Redistricting in 1948 saw Littleton removed from the district but the addition, for the first time, of towns from outside Middlesex County. The new towns added were Ashburnham, Harvard, Lancaster and Lunenburg, all in northeastern Worcester County.

1960-present: Lowell and west
The lines drawn in 1960 brought all of Lowell into the district and removed several of the suburban towns, including all of the Worcester County towns, and a few towns on the district's southern fringe. The 1st Middlesex District now consisted of Ashby, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Townsend and Tyngsborough.

Ayer and Westford were added to the district in the redistricting of 1970.

Another round of redistricting, in 1973, removed Ayer. The 1st Middlesex District now included Ashby, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Townsend, Tyngsborough and Westford.

B. Joseph Tully was re-elected with no opposition in 1972 and 1974.

New lines drawn in 1977 removed Ashby and added Shirley to the district. Communities in the 1st Middlesex District were now included Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, Tyngsborough and Westford.

B. Joseph Tully was re-elected with no opposition in 1978, but resigned in July 1979 after being appointed city manager of Lowell. Philip L. Shea was elected with no opposition in a 1979 special election for the open seat.

Shea was re-elected with no opposition in 1982. In 1984, he did not run for re-election, and former Lowell City Manager and congressional aide Paul Sheehy won a three-way race for the Democratic nomination.

Sheehy was re-elected with no opposition in 1986 and 1988.

In the redistricting of 1987, Westford was removed, yielding a 1st Middlesex District of Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Shirley and Tyngsborough.

Sullivan did not run for re-election in 1992. With an open seat beckoning, Daniel P. Leahy won a four-way race for the Democratic nomination with 41.1% of the vote, far ahead of the second-place finisher, former senator Philip L. Shea, at 27.3%.

Dracut and Shirley were removed, and Westford added back, in the redistricting of 1993. The 1st Middlesex District now contains Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Tyngsborough and Westford.

Leahy did not run for re-election in 1996. State Representative and former Lowell School Committee member Steven C. Panagiotakos took 68.6% of the primary vote over Matthew C. Donahue (31.4%) for the Democratic nomination.

Panagiotakos was re-elected with no opposition in 1998.

Panagiotakos was re-elected with no opposition in 2008. He did not run for re-election in 2010. Former Lowell Mayor and congressional candidate Eileen Donoghue defeated Christian L. Doherty, 61.6% to 38.3%, in the Democratic primary.

Donoghue was re-elected with no opposition in 2014 and 2016. She resigned in April 2018 to become city manager of Lowell.