Next Tuesday, voters in the 18^th Middlesex District will go to the polls to select the Democratic nominee for the rare vacant state representative seat that was created when Kevin Murphy resigned to become city manager.  For that reason, this seemed like a good time to trace the lineage of that district and the others in Lowell.  A subsequent article will do the same for state senate seat centered in Lowell.

Our story begins forty years ago.  Back then, the Massachusetts House of Representatives had 240 members – it was reduced to 160 members representing single-seat districts in 1978.  Prior to the so called “House Cut”, Lowell had four representative districts: the 44^th, 45^th, 46^th and 47^th.  These districts are made up of wards and precincts, however, since the composition of those divisions has changed overtime, ward and precinct names from an earlier time do not exactly match those of today.  Still, the ward locations are roughly the same so if you’re enough of a political junkie to know current ward locations you can figure it out.

The 44^th District consisted of all of Ward 1; Ward 5, Precincts 2, 3 and 4; and all of Ward 9.

The 45^th District consisted of Chelmsford’s Precincts 2 and 7 and in Lowell, all of Ward 6 and Ward 8, Precincts 2, 3 and 4.

The 46^th District consisted of Ward 2, Precincts 2, 3 and 4; all of Ward 3; Ward 4, Precinct 3; Ward 5, Precinct 1; all of Ward 7; and Ward 8, Precinct 1.

The 47^th District consisted of Chelmsford’s Precincts 4 and 11 and in Lowell, Ward 2, Precinct 1; Ward 4, Precincts 1, 2 and 4; all of Ward 10; and all of Ward 11.

1974

44^th District: Edward Early defeated George Anthes in the Democratic Primary and Vincent Pytlinski in the General Election.

45^th District: Phil Shea was unopposed

46^th District: Robert Kennedy defeated George Kouloheras, Joseph Keefe and Sally Regan in the Democratic Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.

47^th District: Ray Rourke defeated George Pilato and Francis Pollard in the Democratic Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.

In July 1975, state Secretary of Transportation Fred Salvucci selected Ray Rourke to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation.  Rourke resigned his house seat and a special election was scheduled.  In the Democratic Primary, Edward Lelacheur defeated ten other candidates (Thomas Dougherty, Francis Gendreau, Stephen Harigan, Thomas Machado, Gerald Mahoney, John McNulty, Anthony Medeiros, Mary Gath Murphy, George Pilato and Daniel Reynolds.  There was no Republican but Lelacheur defeated Independent John Burgoyne in the special election held on December 16, 1975.

1976

44^th District.  Incumbent Edward Early ran (successfully) for Register of Deeds this year which created an open rep seat.  In the Democratic Primary, Leo Farley defeated Bruce Desmond, Dennis O’Dea, George Gath and Marie Hurley.  There was no Republican nominee.

In the other districts, Phil Shea and Ed Lelacheur were unopposed and Robert Kennedy defeated Independent candidate Anna Martin in the general election.

1978

The “House Cut Amendment” that had been bouncing around the legislature for nearly a decade was implemented for the 1978 election with 240 legislative districts being compressed into 160.  Here are the three districts that involved Lowell and the results:

17th Middlesex: Lowell’s Ward 5, Precincts 1 thru 4; Ward 6, Precincts 2 and 4; Ward 9, Precincts 1, 2 and 3; Dracut’s Precincts 1 thru 5.  This new district caused two incumbents, Leo Farley who had just been elected to represent the 44^th District, and Nickolas Lambros of Dracut, who had represented the 42^nd District (Dracut and Tyngsborough) to face off in the Democratic Primary.  Lambros won.  He defeated Independent Ralph Lawson in the General Election.

18th Middlesex: All Lowell – Ward 1, Precincts 1 thru 4; Ward 2, Precincts 2, 3 and 4; Ward 3, Precincts 1, 2 and 4; Ward 4, Precinct 2; Ward 8, Precincts 1; Ward 10, Precincts 1, 3 and 4; and Ward 11, Precincts 1, 2 and 3.  Incumbent Ed Lelacheur did not have to run against another incumbent but he had two challengers in the Democratic Primary, Bruce Desmond and Edward Cahill.  Lelacheur won and defeated Republican Vincent McLaughlin in the General Election (McLaughlin had defeated P. Richard Beaumier in the Republican Primary).

19th Middlesex:  All Lowell – Ward 2, Precinct 1; Ward 3, Precincts 3 and 5; Ward 4, Precinct 1, 3 and 4; Ward 6, Precincts 1, 3 and 5; Ward 7, Precincts 1 and 2; Ward 8, Precincts 2, 3 and 4; and War 10, Precinct 2.  This was the heavy weight match of 1976 with incumbents Robert Kennedy and Phil Shea facing off in the Democratic Primary.  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 19^th Middlesex District.

The primary special election 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, Tim Rourke would have to run again in the fall of that same year in the 1980 state election.

1980

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent Nick Lambros (of Dracut) defeated George Ayotte and Ralph Lawson (both of Dracut) in the Democratic Primary and Republican Roland Millard (of Lowell) in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Ed LeLacheur defeated Republican Vincent McLaughlin in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – Incumbent Tim Rourke defeated Republican Ray Lord Jr in the General Election.

1982

17^th Middlesex – John Cox defeated incumbent Nick Lambros in the Democratic Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Incumbent Ed Lelacheur defeated William Kirwin in the Democratic Primary and Republican Michael Conway in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – On April 17, 1982, Tim Rourke was killed in an automobile accident.  His spouse, Susan Rourke, defeated Donald Scott in the Democratic Primary and P. Richard Beaumier, who ran as a Libertarian, in the General Election.

1984

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent John Cox defeated William Zielinski of Dracut in the Democratic Primary and Republican Constance Achin and Independent Nick Lambros in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Ed Lelacheur defeated Roy Cox in the Democratic Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – Susan Rourke was unopposed.

1986

Cox and Rourke were both unopposed.

18^th Middlesex – Incumbent Ed Lelacheur defeated Brian Martin, 4200 to 2552, in the Democratic Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.

1988

Cox, Lelacheur and Rourke were all unopposed.

1990

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent John Cox defeated Keith Willette in the Democratic Primary and Republican Sheila Richardson in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Incumbent Ed Lelacheur defeated Republican Vincent McLaughlin in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – Incumbent Susan Rourke defeated Republican Mary Burns in the General Election.

1992

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent John Cox defeated Republican Costas Panagopoulos in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Incumbent Ed Lelacheur defeated Republican Roy Nagle in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – Steve Panagiotakos defeated incumbent Susan Rourke in the Democratic Primary and Republican Tim Golden in the General Election.

1994

Redistricting based on the 1990 census was implemented in this election.  While Lowell retained three legislative districts, their makeup changed.

17^th Middlesex – Ward 1, Precinct 1; Ward 2, Precinct 3; all of Wards 5, 6 and 9; Ward 10, Precinct 3.  Incumbent John Cox did not seek reelection.  In the Democratic Primary for the open seat, Tom Golden defeated Bernie Lemoine, Regina Faticanti, Robert Finn, John Zagarella and Gail Bartlett.  Golden was unopposed in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Andover’s Precinct 5; Tewksbury’s Precinct 3; and Lowell’s Ward 1, Precincts 2 and 3; Ward 4, Precincts 2 and 3; Ward 10, Precincts 1 and 2; and all of Ward 11.  Incumbent Ed Lelacheur defeated Leo “Buckles” Nolan in the Democratic Primary and Republican Roy Nagle in the General Election.

19^th Middlesex – Ward 2, Precincts 1 and 2; all of Ward 3; Ward 4, Precinct 1; and all of Wards 7 and 8.  Steve Panagiotakos was unopposed.

1996

Tom Golden and Ed Lelacheur were unopposed.

19^th Middlesex – Steve Panagiotakos ran (successfully) for the State Senate.  In the Democratic Primary for the open seat, Kevin Murphy defeated Joe McNamee and Donald LeBlanc.  Murphy defeated Republican Tim Golden in the General Election.

1998

17^th Middlesex – Ed Lelacheur chose not to seek reelection.  In the Democratic Primary for the open seat, Dave Nagle defeated Bill Martin, Steve Geary, Rita Mercier, Karin Theodoros and Scott Consaul.  In the General Election, Nangle defeated Republican Karen Simao.

2000

Golden, Nangle and Murphy were all unopposed.

A redistricting based on the 2000 census changed the makeup of the Lowell districts and also caused them to be renumbered.

2002

16^th Middlesex – Chelmsford’s Precincts 2, 6 and 8; Lowell Wards 5, 6 and 9.  Incumbent Tom Golden defeated Republican Harry Garavanian in the General Election.

17^th Middlesex – Chelmsford’s Precinct 5; Lowell Wards 1, 10 and 11 and Ward 2, Precinct 3 and Ward 4, Precinct’s 2 and 3.  Dave Nangle defeated Republican Cliff Krieger in the General Election.

18^th Middlesex – Ward 2, Precinct’s 1 and 2; all of Ward 3; Ward 4, Precinct 1; all of Wards 7 and 8.  Kevin Murphy defeated Republican John Charow in the General Election.

2004

Golden and Murphy were unopposed.

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent Dave Nangle defeated Kenneth Sheehan in the Democratic Primary and Republican Cliff Krieger in the General Election.

2006

Murphy and Nangle were unopposed.

16^th Middlesex – Incumbent Tom Golden defeated Republican Matthew Prahl in the General Election.

2008

Golden, Nangle and Murphy were all unopposed.

2010

Golden, Nangle and Murphy were all unopposed.

2012

Golden and Murphy were unopposed.

17^th Middlesex – Incumbent Dave Nangle defeated Republican Martin Burke in the General Election.

2014

Golden and Nagle are running for reelection without opposition.

18^th Middlesex – Kevin Murphy resigned to become Lowell City Manager.  Candidates in the Democratic Primary are Brian Donovan, Jim Leary, Rady Mom and Dave Ouellette.  Paul Ratha Yem is running a write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination.  Fred Bahou is running as an unenrolled candidate in the General Election.