The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

, the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...

state legislature of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state. All but one of the districts are named for the counties in which they are located (the "Cape and Islands" district covers Dukes,

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

, and parts of Barnstable counties). Senators serve two-year terms, without

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

. The Senate convenes in the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. The buildin ...

, in Boston. The current session is the 192nd General Court, which convened January 6, 2021. It consists of 37 Democrats and 3 Republicans. The

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for ex ...

Karen E. Spilka Karen Eileen Spilka (born January 11, 1953) is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the 2nd Middlesex and Norfolk district, which includes the towns of Ashland, Framingha ...

of Ashland. The Senate Minority Leader, from the Republican Party, is Bruce Tarr of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

. The last state general election was on November 3, 2020.

Qualifications

The following are the qualifications to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate: * Be 18 years of age * Be a registered voter in Massachusetts * Be an inhabitant of Massachusetts for five years * Be a resident of the district when elected * Receive a least 300 signatures on nomination papers

Recent party control

Democrats hold a

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

in the Senate.

Current leadership

Committees

The current

standing committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of the Massachusetts Senate are as follows:

Current districts and members

Past composition of the Senate

References

External links

''official government website''

as of 2011 *

*

with names of senators
State Senate of Massachusetts
at Project Vote Smart * {{Authority control