Dorcena Forry wins state Senate seat

Senator-elect Linda Dorcena Forry shares a hug with her mother Annie Dorcena during her victory celebration at The Ledge in Lower Mills on Tuesday, May 28. Photo by Mike Deehan

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry coasted to a win on Tuesday in a special election to fill a state Senate vacancy. Dorcena Forry, a Dorchester Democrat, faced off against Joseph Ureneck, a Dorchester Republican, on an Election Day that was marked by low turnout in the First Suffolk Senate district, which includes Dorchester, South Boston, Mattapan and a portion of Hyde Park.

According to the unofficial tally on the city Elections Department’s website, Dorcena Forry had 7,858 votes to Ureneck’s 1,486 votes, with all 77 precincts reporting. There were 274 write-in votes.

She declared victory at her Election Night party at the Ledge restaurant. Ureneck was not immediately available for comment.

Dorcena Forry’s easy victory came a month after she won a three-way Democratic primary by just over 370 votes. Two South Boston Democrats, state Rep. Nick Collins and blogger Maureen Dahill, came in second and third place, respectively. Ureneck ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Dorcena Forry, a Lower Mills resident, will become the first Haitian-American to serve in the state Senate and the first woman to represent the district. Dorcena Forry was elected to the state House of Representatives in a 2005 special election aimed at replacing Rep. Thomas Finneran, a Mattapan Democrat and the speaker of the House. She is married to Reporter editor Bill Forry.

Hart, a South Boston Democrat, left the state Senate earlier this year to take a job with a law firm.

Dorcena Forry's ascension to the state Senate means another special election will have to be scheduled, this one to fill her 12th Suffolk House seat.

UPDATE: Post was updated at 9:23 p.m. with additional numbers from the Elections Department. It was updated again at 9:40 p.m.

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