User:Toll Booth Willie/M3

The 3rd Middlesex District is one of 40 electoral districts that each send one senator to the Massachusetts Senate. The district is represented by state Sen. Michael J. Barrett of Lexington, a Democrat.

The Massachusetts Senate district map has included a 3rd Middlesex District since district representation was adopted in 1857, and the district has always covered cities and towns immediately north or northwest of Boston, though the precise communities have changed over the years, from the current northwest suburban district to previous apportionments centered on Cambridge, Somerville or Malden and Wakefield.

Cities and towns
Under the apportionment plan of 2011, the 3rd Middlesex District consists of Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Lincoln, Waltham, Weston, three precincts on the west side of Lexington and three precincts comprising the northern half of Sudbury, all in Middlesex County, from which the district takes its name. The district lies west and northwest of Boston, mainly in the Route 128 corridor, stretching north to Greater Lowell.

History
The 3rd 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.

1857-1866: Southern Middlesex County
When the current system of single-member districts was enacted in 1857, Middlesex County was split into six districts. Most of the towns in today's 3rd Middlesex District were placed in the 2nd Middlesex District or 4th Middlesex District. The inaugural 3rd Middlesex District covered the southernmost towns of Middlesex County, due west and southwest of Boston: Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Framingham, Natick, Newton, Sherborn, Sudbury, Wayland and Weston.

1866-1896: Cambridge
New lines drawn in 1866 renumbered the south county district as the 4th Middlesex District and created an entirely new 3rd Middlesex District consisting of the town of Brighton and city of Cambridge.

Following Brighton's annexation into Boston, part of Suffolk County, in 1874, the statewide redistricting of 1876 curtailed the 3rd Middlesex District to the city limits of Cambridge. The 3rd Middlesex District continued to cover Cambridge alone in the lines drawn in 1886, though one eastern ward of Cambridge was assigned to the 2nd Suffolk District.

1896-1974: Somerville and neighbors
Large-scale changes to the senate district map in 1896 resulted in the Cambridge district being renumbered as the 2nd Middlesex District, and a new 3rd Middlesex District consisting of Arlington, Belmont and Somerville.

Arlington and Belmont were moved to other districts in the redistricting of 1906 and the 3rd Middlesex District was made coterminous with Somerville. In 1916, ward 3 in eastern Cambridge was added to this district. In 1926, the district was again limited to Somerville only.

Redistricting in 1939 retained only five of Somerville's seven wards in the district, and added ward 3 of Cambridge; ward 2 of Malden; and three wards of Medford. These lines were retained in the new district map drawn in 1948.

District borders were adjusted slightly in 1960, with the new 3rd Middlesex District consisting of ward 3 of Cambridge, ward 2 of Malden, two wards in Medford and six wards of Somerville.

The 1970 redistricting enlarged the district's footprint to include ward 2 of Boston, two wards of Cambridge, ward 1 of Everett, two wards of Medford, and all of Somerville. Despite including part of Suffolk County (Boston), the district retained the name 3rd Middlesex District.

1975-2002: Malden-Wakefield area
Just three years after the 1970 lines were drawn, Massachusetts redistricted again, and the 3rd Middlesex District was shifted slightly north. For the first time in more than 100 years, the district did not include either Cambridge or Somerville. The new 3rd Middlesex District consisted of Malden, Melrose, Stoneham and Wakefield.

Denis L. McKenna was re-elected without opposition in the new 2nd Middlesex District. The 3rd Middlesex District inherited incumbent Stephen J. McGrail from the former 4th Middlesex District.

McGrail did not run for re-election in 1976, prompting a three-way Democratic primary won by Malden state Representative John A. Brennan Jr. with 48.2% of the vote, and a two-person GOP primary won by John T. Cinella Jr. with 60.9% of votes.

The district's borders were expanded slightly in 1977, with the 3rd Middlesex District now including Malden, Melrose, Stoneham, Wakefield and the southern half of Reading. This configuration would remain unchanged in the district map of 1987.

Brennan was re-elected with no opponents in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988. He decided not to run for re-election in 1990.

In a four-way race for the Democratic nomination, Michael E. Festa of Melrose polled 33.3% to beat former Senator Stephen J. McGrail (27.8%), state Representative James S. Conway (22.8%) and Joseph W. Cassey (16.1%). On the Republican side, Wakefield state Representative Richard Tisei gained 77% of the vote against Brian Keating.

Tisei was re-elected with no opponents in 1992.

Redistricting in 1993 added the remainder of the town of Reading to the district. The 3rd Middlesex District now included all of Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham and Wakefield.

Tisei was re-elected with no opponents in 1994, 1996 and 1998.

2003-present: Waltham to Chelmsford
New lines in 2001 assigned Malden, Wakefield and surrounding towns to the new Middlesex and Essex District. Tisei was re-elected with no opponents in this district in 2002.

The former 5th Middlesex District, comprising western and northwestern suburbs of Boston, was renumbered as the 3rd Middlesex District. The district now included Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, the western half of Lexington, Lincoln, the eastern half of Sudbury, Waltham and Weston. These borders would change only slightly in the redistricting of 2011, adding one additional precinct in Sudbury.

In the election of 2002, the 3rd Middlesex District inherited the incumbent senator from the former 5th Middlesex District, Susan Fargo of Lincoln, and re-elected her with no opponents.

Fargo chose not to run for re-election in 2012. Former state Senator Michael J. Barrett topped a five-person field with 35.3% of the vote to secure the Democratic nomination. Sandi Martinez took 59% of the GOP vote in a two-person primary to make a fourth consecutive bid as the Republican nominee.

Barrett was re-elected with no opponents in 2016.