January 9, 2019
Boston has a handful of new state, county, and federal legislators slated to be sworn in to office this week.
State and county office holders are inaugurated on Jan. 2. Before the swearing in for two-year terms of this 191st session, state senators and representatives will elect their leaders, expected to be current House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka. This would be Spilka’s first election for a full two-year term, after some leadership disruption in the body following a harassment scandal that led to the resignation of former Senate President Stan Rosenberg.
New Boston-area representatives include Liz Miranda in the Fifth Suffolk District, succeeding Rep. Evandro Carvalho; Nika Elugardo, who ousted chair of the House Ways and Means committee, Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez in Jamaica Plain; Jon Santiago, who won a three-way race to unseat Rep. Byron Rushing in the South End; and David Biele, replacing now-state Sen. Nick Collins in his former Fourth Suffolk seat.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins also starts her post on Jan. 2, replacing interim District Attorney John Pappas, who was appointed to finish former DA Dan Conley’s term after he left.
The next day, Jan. 3, in Washington D.C., City Councillor Ayanna Pressley will become Congresswoman Pressley. She joins her fellow members at the Congressional Black Caucus swearing in at 9 a.m., followed by the general House of Representatives swearing in at noon at the Capitol.
Pressley will have a community swearing in ceremony and celebration, on Saturday, Jan. 12 at Roxbury Community College, according to her campaign. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m.
Althea Garrison, the former state representative and incoming city councillor at-large, will be sworn in at the council’s first meeting of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 9. Garrison finished in fifth place in the 2017 municipal elections. Under council rules, if an at-large vacancy appears, the next highest vote getter finishes out the remainder of the term. With Pressley’s move to Congress, Garrison will serve out the next year in the open seat.
City Council President terms last two-years, simultaneous with the council terms. District 4 Councillor Andrea Campbell will remain in the post until the beginning of the next council cycle.
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