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The 2nd Bristol and Plymouth District is one of 40 electoral districts that each send one senator to the Massachusetts Senate. The district is represented by state Senator Mark Montigny of New Bedford, a Democrat.

Named for the two counties that it partially covers, the district consists of New Bedford and four smaller nearby towns in Southeastern Massachusetts. Under previous apportionment plans, it was known as the 2nd Bristol District, Bristol District or South Bristol District

Along with what are now the 1st Bristol and Plymouth District and the former 1st Bristol District, it is one of three districts that have represented the South Coast since 1857. Throughout their history, one of these three districts has included New Bedford and neighboring towns, while another has included Fall River and neighboring towns, though the district names have been swapped at times.

History
Before the 1850s, Massachusetts state senators were elected by county, with Bristol and Plymouth counties each electing two or three. Even after the introduction of single-member state senatorial districts in 1857, the districts tended to stay within county lines.

The eastern towns of today's 2nd Bristol and Plymouth District (Acushnet, Fairhaven and Mattapoisett) were initially apportioned to the South Plymouth District.

1857-1876: South Bristol
Bristol County was split into three districts, with the South Bristol District consisting of Dartmouth and New Bedford.

In the reapportionment of 1866, the Bristol County districts were renamed, with the former South District now called the 2nd Bristol District. The district also gained Acushnet and Fairhaven.

1876-1948: 2nd Bristol
In the reapportionment of 1876, the Fall River and New Bedford districts swapped numbers. Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and New Bedford became part of the 3rd Bristol District.

The new 2nd Bristol District consisted of Berkley, Dighton, Fall River, Rehoboth, Somerset and Swansea.

This arrangement was unchanged until 1896, when Berkley and Rehoboth were transferred to the 1st Bristol District. In 1906, Dighton also moved to the 1st Bristol District, leaving the 2nd Bristol District as just Fall River, Somerset and Swansea for the next three decades.

The district's footprint shrank again in 1939, when Swansea moved to the 1st Bristol District, leaving only Fall River and Somerset.

1948-1970: 2nd Bristol
In 1948, Somerset became part of the 1st Bristol District, but the 2nd Bristol District picked up Acushnet and Freetown from the 3rd Bristol District, while continuing to include Fall River. This district remained unchanged in the 1960 redistricting.

Mary L. Fonseca, a Fall River Democrat, served as the district's senator starting in 1953.

1971-1974: 2nd Bristol
The reapportionment of 1970 added three more Bristol County towns to the district, which now included Acushnet, Berkley, Fall River, Freetown, Somerset and Westport.

Fonseca was re-elected with no opponents in 1972.

1975-1978: Bristol
There were no changes to the district's boundaries when new maps were drawn in 1973, but because the rest of Bristol County was reapportioned into multi-county districts, the former 2nd Bristol District was known simply as the Bristol District.

Fonseca was re-elected with no opponents in 1974 and 1976.

1979-1988: 2nd Bristol
Redistricting in 1977 moved Berkley to the newly renamed 1st Bristol District. With another Bristol district back on the map, Acushnet, Fall River, Freetown, Somerset and Westport were again labeled the 2nd Bristol District.

Fonseca was re-elected with no opponents in 1978, 1980 and 1982.

In 1984, Fall River state Representative Thomas C. Norton defeated Fonseca in the Democratic primary election, 15,420 to 13,117. With no Republican opponent, he became the region's new senator.

Norton was re-elected with no opponents in 1988.

1989-2002: 2nd Bristol
Acushnet was the only town to remain in the district after the reapportionment of 1987, which relabeled the Fall River area as the new 1st Bristol District. The new 2nd Bristol District picked up several communities that had been in the Bristol and Plymouth District, and returned to its 1860s boundaries, with Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and New Bedford. No changes would be made to the 2nd Bristol District in the redistricting of 1993.

The new 2nd Bristol District inherited incumbent Senator William Q. MacLean Jr., who was re-elected with no opponents in 1988.

In 1990, MacLean faced an opponent in the form of Robert M. Hunt, who had served one term as New Bedford's state senator 10 years earlier.

MacLean did not run for re-election in 1992. Mark Montigny won a three-way Democratic primary election with 12,978 votes, or 41.9%. He defeated Walter J. Ramos (10,606 votes) and George Rogers (7,409), who had been a past senator from New Bedford.

Montigny had no November opponent in 1992, and was also re-elected with no opponents in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000.

2003-present: 2nd Bristol and Plymouth
The addition of a Plymouth County town prompted a name change for the district in the new maps drawn in 2001. The 2nd Bristol and Plymouth District included Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and New Bedford. This lineup remained intact through the redistricting of 2011, as well.

Mark Montigny was re-elected as the district's senator with no opponents in 2002 and 2004. In 2006, he faced an unenrolled (no party affiliation) candidate.

Montigny was re-elected with no November opponent in 2008, after defeating Raimundo Delgado in the Democratic primary, 9,767 votes to 2,037. He was also re-elected with no opponents in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018.