November 17, 2024

A scheduling conflict kept me from watching this week’s Lowell City Council meeting so next week I’ll double up and report on both the November 12 and November 19 meetings. Today, I’ll dip into Lowell political history with a review of those who have represented Lowell in the state legislature over the past few decades.

Our story begins in 1978 with implementation of the “House Cut” amendment, a statewide referendum vote that forced the House of Representatives to shrink by one-third which dropped the number of members from 240 to the current 160.

Prior to the cut, all or part of four legislative districts included sections of Lowell. After the cut, that dropped to the three we have now. Because the identifying number (i.e., the 18th Middlesex) and the exact geographic makeup of those three districts have changed due to the every-ten-year reapportionment following the federal census, I’ll avoid too much detail about district numbers and ward and precinct composition. Instead, I’ll identify the three districts by the dominant Lowell neighborhood associated with each:

The “Centralville/Pawtucketville” district is now the 16th Middlesex and is represented by Rodney Elliott.

The “Belvidere” district is now the 17th Middlesex and is represented by Vanna Howard.

The “Highlands” district is now the 18th Middlesex and will be represented by Tara Hong (who replaces defeated incumbent Rady Mom).

The Centralville/Pawtucketville district

In the 1978 state election, the “House Cut” reorganization caused two incumbents, Leo Farley who had represented a district in Lowell, and Nickolas Lambros, who had represented a district made up of Dracut and Tyngsborough, to run against each other in the Democratic Primary. Lambros won with 4181 votes to 4067 for Farley. Then in the general election, Lambros beat Independent candidate Ralph Lawson. Lambros was reelected in 1980, defeating two Dracut candidates (George Ayotte and Ralph Lawson) in the Democratic Primary, and Republican Roland Millard (of Lowell) in the general election.

In 1982, however, Lambros was defeated by John Cox of Lowell (Cox received 6481 votes; Lambros got 4059). Cox was unopposed in the general election. Cox was easily reelected to five more terms, although more often than not he did have a Republican challenger and occasionally a Democratic one.

In 1994, Cox chose not to run for reelection. The open seat attracted a number of candidates. The winner was Tom Golden (1562 votes) who defeated Bernie Lemoine (1432), Regina Faticanti (540), Gail Bartlett (539), Robert Finn (181), and John Zagarella (104). Although Golden was unopposed in the general election, a recent UMass Lowell graduate, Corey Lewandowski, had tried to run in the primary as a Republican but failed to get the number of nomination signatures needed to appear on the ballot. This is the same Corey Lewandowski who today is a top advisor to President-elect Donald Trump.

Golden was reelected eleven times, usually running unopposed in both the Democratic Primary and in the general election.

In early 2022, Golden was selected to be City Manager of Lowell and resigned his seat as a state representative. In that fall’s Democratic Primary, Rodney Elliott (1881 votes) defeated Zoe Dzineku (1782). In the general election, Elliott (7204) defeated Republican Karla Miller (3828).

Elliott was unopposed in both the Democratic Primary and the general election this year.

The Belvidere District

In the 1978 contraction of the House, incumbent Ed LeLacheur avoided having to run against another incumbent state representative, although he did have two opponents in the Democratic Primary. LeLacheur (4378 votes) defeated Bruce Desmond (2681) and Edward Cahill (772). In the general election, Lelacheur (8292 votes) beat Republican Vincent McLaughlin (2538) who had defeated P. Richard Beaumier in the Republican Primary.

In 1980, LeLacheur again defeated McLaughlin in the general election. In 1982, he defeated William Kirwin in the Democratic Primary (4828 votes for LeLacheur to 2819 for Kirwin) and Republican Michael Conway in the general election (with 6966 votes for LeLacheur to 3380 for Conway). In 1984, LeLacheur defeated Roy Cox in the primary and was unopposed in the general election.

In 1986, LeLacheur faced his most significant challenge as an incumbent when Lowell Mayor Brian Martin ran against him in the Democratic Primary, however, LeLacheur prevailed with 4200 votes to Martin’s 2552.

In the next five elections, LeLacheur either faced token opposition or was unopposed, however, in 1998 he chose not to seek reelection. In the Democratic Primary to succeed him, Dave Nangle (1268 votes) defeated Bill Martin (1045), Steve Geary (978), Rita Mercier (817), Karin Theodoros (766) and Scott Consaul (291). In the General Election, Nangle (5780) defeated Republican Karen Simao (3703).

In the next ten elections, Nangle mostly ran unopposed, although he was challenged several times by Republican Cliff Krieger.

Shortly before the 2020 election, however, Nangle was indicted by the US Attorney on multiple finance-related charges. While that case was pending, Vanna Howard defeated Nangle in the Democratic Primary with Howard receiving 2724 votes to 1986 for Nangle and 1495 for Lisa Arnold. Howard was unopposed in the general election.

Howard ran unopposed in 2022 and easily defeated a challenge by Joseph Onoroski of the Pirate Party this year.

Highlands District

The “House Cut” reorganization forced incumbent state representatives Phil Shea and Robert Kennedy to face each other. Shea won, 3591 to Kennedy’s 3407. There was no Republican opponent.

In 1979, the Lowell City Council selected State Senator Joe Tully to be the new City Manager. A special election was called to fill the vacancy in the senate. Phil Shea, the only candidate from either party, won the September 18, 1979, special primary election and the October 16, 1979, special election. Shea’s election created a vacancy in his representative district.

The primary special election to fill that seat was held on January 8, 1980. On the Democratic side, Timothy Rourke defeated George Courtney, Richard Farrell and James Wolfgang. On the Republican side, Raymond Lord Jr. defeated Nicholas Kliros. In the February 5, 1980, special election, Rourke defeated Lord, 2119 to 1563. Because this election was only to fill out Shea’s unexpired term, Rourke had to run again in that fall’s state election in which he once again defeated Lord.

Rourke planned to seek reelection in 1982, but he was tragically killed in an automobile accident. His spouse, Susan Rourke, ran instead and defeated Donald Scott in the Democratic Primary and P. Richard Beaumier, a Libertarian, in the General Election.

Susan Rourke was reelected without opposition in the next three elections, however, in 1992, Steve Panagiotakos ran against her in the Democratic Primary and won. Panagiotakos received 3657 votes to 2421 for Rourke. In the general election, Panagiotakos (9331 votes) defeated Republican Tim Golden (2767 votes).

Panagiotakos was unopposed in 1992 and 1994, but in 1996 he ran for State Senate. In the Democratic Primary for the state representative seat to replace Panagiotakos, Kevin Murphy (1702 votes) defeated Joe McNamee (1010) and Donald LeBlanc (353). Murphy defeated Republican Tim Golden in the General Election with Murphy getting 4213 votes to Golden’s 3578. In the next eight elections, Murphy was either unopposed or faced token opposition.

In March of 2014, however, Murphy was selected to be Lowell City Manager and resigned his seat in the legislature. In that year’s Democratic Primary, Rady Mom (648 votes) defeated Jim Leary (595), Brian Donovan (577), Dave Ouellette (348), and Paul Ratha Yem (who ran on stickers). In the general election, Mom (3867) defeated unenrolled candidate Fred Bahou (2398).

In 2016, Mom faced a challenge in the primary but defeated challengers David Ouellette and Cheth Khim (Mom got 1072 votes, Ouellette 611, and Khim 402). In the general election, Mom (8107 votes) defeated Republican Kamara Kay (3115).

In 2018, Mom was challenged again in the Democratic Primary. Mom (1315 votes) defeated Rithy Uong (1077), Jim Leary (1052), and Sam Meas (319). Mom was unopposed in general election.

In 2020, Mom was unopposed.

In 2022, Mom (1023 votes) defeated Tara Hong (955) and Dominik Lay (352) with Mom being unopposed in general election.

However, in this year’s Democratic Primary, Tara Hong (1191 votes) defeated Mom (1010), and Andrew Kollar (313). In the general election Hong defeated unenrolled candidates David Ouellette. 

That brings us up to date on our state representatives over the past half century. In the coming weeks, I’ll write similar accounts for the state senate and for Congress.