Viriato Manuel Pereira de Macedo (born October 16, 1965), also popularly known as Vinny deMacedo, is a

Cape Verdean American Cape Verdean Americans are an ethnic group of Americans whose ancestors were Demographics of Cape Verde, Cape Verdean. In 2010, the American Community Survey stated that there were 95,003 Americans living in the US with Cape Verdean ancestors. ...

politician, and was the

Massachusetts State Senator 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 st ...

for the

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and Barnstable District, which comprises the communities of

Bourne Bourne may refer to: Places UK * Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town ** Bourne Abbey ** Bourne railway station * Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex * Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset * Bourne ...

, Falmouth, Kingston, Pembroke,

, and

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. He is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

who was sworn into the Massachusetts Senate on January 7, 2015. In November 2019 deMacedo resigned from the Massachusetts Senate to take a job in higher education.Spillane, Geoff (November 21, 2019).
State Sen. Viriato 'Vinny' deMacedo, R-Plymouth, wraps up 21-year legislative career
. ''Cape Cod Times''. Retrieved 2020-03-01.

Political career

Senator deMacedo had no political experience prior to becoming a candidate for 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 ...

on November 3, 1998, running against the Democratic incumbent Joseph Gallitano. He won the election by a tight margin of 189 votes. He subsequently won re-election as Massachusetts State Representative seven times, serving through 2014. In November 2014, he was elected to 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 ...

, succeeding retiring Massachusetts Senate President

Therese Murray Therese Murray (born October 10, 1947 in Boston) is an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate from 2007 to 2015. Murray, a Democrat, was the first woman to lead a house of the Massachusetts General Court. She repre ...

as state senator for the Plymouth and Barnstable District. As of 2016 he held the position of Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. His legislative priorities included solving the opiate epidemic facing Massachusetts and ensuring the Commonwealth's fiscal responsibility. Vinny served as one of five state senators (along with 11 state representatives) on the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy. During his 16 years in the Massachusetts House, he received many awards for his legislative work including: * Twice named Legislator of the Year - Massachusetts Town Clerks Association * Legislator of the Year -

Jewish Community Relations Council A Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is a locally based Jewish organization that carries out "action agendas on behalf of and in the name of the local Jewish communities." Councils may aim "to represent the consensus of the organized Jewish ...

* Legislator of the Year – Council of Human Services Providers; and *

National Federation of Independent Business The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is an association of small businesses in the United States. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. The goal of NFIB is to ad ...

Guardian of Small Business Award. Massachusetts Ways & Means Committee Hearings

Biography

Senator deMacedo was born in Brava, Cape Verde.Miller, Yawu (January 11, 2012).
Two Brothers, Two Sets of Political Viewpoints
. ''CommonWealth''. commonwealthmagazine.org. Retrieved 2020-03-01. He has six siblings, including an older brother, Donaldo Macedo. In 1966, when he was six months old, the family immigrated to the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

region of the United States, where they lived at first in Dorchester, before three years later moving to Kingston, where deMacedo was raised. He graduated from

Silver Lake Regional High School Silver Lake Regional High School is a public, regional high school in Massachusetts' South Shore region. It is the only secondary school in the Silver Lake Regional School District, comprising the towns of Kingston, Plympton and Halifax, Massa ...

in 1983. He went on to study at New York's The King's College, from which he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Business Administration in 1987. After graduating deMacedo began working for his brother in the car business before starting his own gas station in Cedarville in 1991. He continues to be the owner and operator of the ''RWA Mobil Station'' on Route 3A. He is a member of the Cedarville and Sagamore Business Association and the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce. He is married to Jennifer de Macedo, and is the father of three children. He visited

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

in January 2008, for the first time since moving to the United States, as part of a political mission, and met several members of the Cape Verdean government, including the President

Pedro Pires Pedro de Verona Rodrigues Pires (; born 29 April 1934) is a Cape Verdean politician who served as Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991, and later as President from 2001 to 2011. Life and career Pires was born in São Filipe, Fogo, Cape ...

References

External links

official website

profile
at the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

official website
Facebook page

profile at ImagineElection.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:deMacedo, Viriato 1965 births Living people Republican Party Massachusetts state senators The King's College (New York City) alumni People from Plymouth, Massachusetts American politicians of Cape Verdean descent Cape Verdean emigrants to the United States Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people

Political career

Biography

See also

References

External links