Nick Collins (politician)
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Nick Collins is an American politician who currently serves as a member of the
Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...
. He is a
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
resident and a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
.

Elected into the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 2010, he served four terms in the House representing the 4th Suffolk District. In May 2018, Collins won the election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry. He was sworn into the Massachusetts Senate on May 9, 2018 by Massachusetts Governor
Charlie Baker Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
. His district is one of four minority-majority state senate districts in Massachusetts, is entirely inside Boston's city limits, and includes all of South Boston and parts of the Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park neighborhoods. As senator for the 1st Suffolk District, Collins has been the host of the annual Boston's St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast since 2019, a televised political roast that has featured presidents, vice-presidents, United States Senators and members of Congress throughout its history.


Early life and education

Nick Collins was born and raised in
South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
with five siblings. He is a graduate of
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
and
The Frederick Gunn School The Frederick Gunn School is a private, coeducational, boarding school, boarding and day University-preparatory school, prep school for students in grades 9-12 and post graduate, located in rural Connecticut, United States. The campus borders the ...
, where he played hockey. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business management from
Babson College Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...
. His father, James Collins, was a state representative from Charlestown who also worked in the administrations of Boston Mayor Kevin White and Massachusetts Governor Edward J. King. Collins’ began his career in public service as a legislative aide to Massachusetts Senator Jack Hart. He was also a regional field director for the
Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama began on February 10, 2007, when Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a ma ...
.


Career

Collins was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives seat for the 4th Suffolk District in 2010. He has also served as chair of the Boston legislative delegation. Collins major legislative accomplishment in his first term was being a lead sponsor of the landmark Prescription Drug Monitoring bill signed into law by
Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...
on August 24, 2012. In early 2013 incumbent State Senator Jack Hart resigned from his seat to take a job at a law firm and a special election was called in order to fill it. Three candidates entered the race: 4th Suffolk District State Rep Nick Collins; 12th Suffolk District State Rep Linda Dorcena-Forry; and 'Caught in Southie' publisher Maureen Dahill. Collins and Dahill are both white and lived in South Boston, while Dorcena-Forry is Haitian-American and lived in the Lower Mills section of Dorechster. Collins received support from a number of unions including the Greater Boston Labor Council, but not the most prominent union member in the state senate district,
Savin Hill Savin Hill is a section of Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Named after the geographic feature it covers and surrounds, Savin Hill is about one square mile in area, and has a population of about 1 ...
State Rep
Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
, who stayed neutral in the race. Collins ultimately fell short in the April 30, 2013 Democratic Primary with the final count: Dorcena-Forry 10,220 votes, Collins 9,841 votes, and Dahill with 1,594 votes. Later in 2013 Collins repaid Walsh's neutrality in his failed State Senate race by endorsing Walsh's opponent in the open seat race for
Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
. Collins endorsed
West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...
resident and At-Large City Council John Connolly. While Connolly and Walsh were the top two vote getters and advanced to the general election, Connolly lost to Walsh in November 2013. Collins went on to joke about the endorsement at the Boston St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in 2014, saying that he was being sent to City Hall jail. Collins was a founding board member of UP Academy of Dorchester and Boston and an advisory board member of Excel High School in South Boston. In March 2016, he served as chairman of the South Boston Citizens Association's Evacuation Day ceremonies. In May 2016, he was elected as a delegate for
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
at the
2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the majo ...
. In January 2018, 1st Suffolk District State Senator Linda Dorcena-Forry announced that she was resigning from office in order to take a position with Suffolk Construction, and causing another special election. Unlike the 2013 Special Election, this time Collins faced no opposition in his bid for State Senate, and he won the seat. Collins is at the 4th State Senator in a row to hold this seat who has first won it in a special election: Dorcena-Forry won the seat in a 2013 special election, Hart won the seat in a 2002 special election, and Lynch won the seat in a 1996 special. Previous State Senate President William Bulger is the last holder of the 1st Suffolk District State Senate seat to have won the election in a regularly scheduled election. Upon assuming office in the Senate in 2018, Collins was named the host of the annual Boston St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, hosting his first breakfast in 2019. He moved the breakfast in his first year of hosting to the
Flynn Cruiseport Boston Flynn Cruiseport Boston, formerly known as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, is the main port for all cruise ships visiting Boston, Massachusetts. The port is owned and operated by Massport, which operates most of the Port of Boston, and is located ...
and created a theme for the event that focused on the contribution of the immigrant community to the South Boston Waterfront and the city of Boston. Vice-President Joe Biden sent a video message in to the event

In the Massachusetts Senate, Collins serves on several committees, including chair of the Joint Committee on Export Development; vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; vice-chair of the Committee on Public Health; Senate Ways and Means; the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight; the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development; the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs; and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Collins worked with community leaders and organized the donation of thousands of masks to COVID-19 hospitals, community health centers, senior living facilities and other locations. In the legislature he advanced several bills aimed at increasing racial and gender diversity in state contracting projects and addressing system injustice, partnering with 11th Hampden District State Rep Bud Williams of Springfield on an economic equity bill aimed at addressing systemic injustice and racial equity in government, business, public health and the courts. He also filed in another bill aimed to improve economic equality and reduce the racial wealth gap in Massachusetts by requiring diversity of race and gender on all development projects on state land. The bill was inspired by the success of the Omni Seaport Hotel, a $550 million development, which included diversity requirements not only for vendors, but also for ownership and financing. Dubbed the “Massport Model,” the legislation was included in a State Senate's economic development package, requires diversity in ownership, as well as construction, design, financing and management on state projects. Collins was the subject of intense scrutiny when he became one of only a handful of Democrats and the only State Senator representing a minority-majority district to vote against the State Senate's version of a far-reaching police reform bill in 2020, joining 6 of his colleagues in a 30-7 vote. He called the bill’s most controversial element — a provision imposing new limits on the protection police officers enjoy from civil lawsuits — “problematic,” and cited that as the reason for his opposition to the bill. Collins ultimately voted for the compromise bill that became law later in 2020. Collins considered running for Mayor when incumbent Boston Mayor Marty Walsh resigned in early
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
to become the US Secretary of Labor under newly elected President Joseph R. Biden. Collins ultimately decided against it, releasing a short statement in late April 2021 that read:
“After much encouragement and consideration and discussions with family, I’ve decided I will not be a candidate for mayor. I remain dedicated to my job in the Massachusetts Senate and working with leadership and my colleagues on our shared priorities to help Boston and the Commonwealth grow and thrive. I look forward to working closely with City Hall to create a better Boston for all.”


Personal life

Collins lives in South Boston with his wife Dr. Olivia J. Liff, a board-certified family physician. They have two daughters.


See also

*
2019–2020 Massachusetts legislature The 191st Massachusetts General Court was the meeting of the legislative branch of the state government of Massachusetts, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Boston at the Massachusetts State House, on Januar ...
*
2021–2022 Massachusetts legislature The 192nd Massachusetts General Court is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the state government of Massachusetts. It consists of elected members of the Senate and House of Representatives. It first convened in Boston at the Massachu ...


References


External links


Legislative website

Campaign website

Rep. Collins' Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Nick Living people People from South Boston Boston Latin School alumni The Frederick Gunn School alumni Babson College alumni Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Boston 21st-century American politicians 1982 births