Meetinghouse Hill Democrat weighing run against Henriquez

Meetinghouse Hill resident Nanci Conklin Lawton is considering a run against embattled state Rep. Carlos Henriquez.

The Democrat has worked at the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development for the last 13 years. She has also worked as a State House aide and served as a past president of Meetinghouse Hill Civic Association.

“It’s not the time to have a legislator have a mug shot,” Conklin Lawton said.

Henriquez, a Democrat who represents parts of Roxbury and Dorchester, has been accused of assaulting a young woman and holding her against her will in the vehicle early Sunday morning. In a statement on Monday, Henriquez called the allegations “completely untrue.”

The accuser intends to hold a press conference on the matter on Wednesday afternoon.

Conklin Lawton does not have a timeframe for a decision on whether to wage a write-in run in the Fifth Suffolk District, she told the Reporter.

Henriquez does not have any Democratic or Republican challengers on the ballot. Perennial candidate Althea Garrison is running as an independent in the November general election. The primary is on Thursday, Sept. 6.

“I have to weigh my options,” she said, adding that she will put her twin children first.

But, she added, if Henriquez is not holding back his punches, “why should I?”

Conklin Lawton is in the process of divorcing from husband Barry Lawton, who ran against Henriquez in the 2010 Democratic primary and lost by 41 votes. Barry Lawton said this week he would not “pre-judge” Henriquez, but acknowledged that he had received calls from people inquiring whether he would run again.

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