Sean Garballey (born February 22, 1985) is the current

Massachusetts State Representative 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 ...

for the 23rd Middlesex District representing Arlington and West Medford. He was elected in a special election on 4 March 2008, after the incumbent, J. James Marzilli, Jr. won a 2007 special election for a seat in 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 st ...

Early life and career

Garballey, born in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...

attended Arlington Public Schools. He earned a

B.A. 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 yea ...

in Political Science from

UMass Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a Public university, public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Mas ...

in 2007. At the time of his election he was enrolled in a dual

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

and

Public Administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

masters program at

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a la ...

, but did not complete the degree.

Elections

While completing college, he was elected to the Arlington School Committee in 2005 serving until 2008. In the 5 February 2008 special Democratic primary election for the 23rd Middlesex District seat, Garballey faced off against fellow school committee member Jeff Thielman and first time candidate Andrew O'Brien. Garballey received 47% of the vote, with Thielman taking 43% and O'Brien taking 10%. Garballey went on to face

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 ...

John Worden, former Arlington town moderator, and

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Robert Valeri, a local businessman. Garballey won the 4 March 2008 special election with 67% of the vote. Worden received 29%, and Valeri received 4%. Garballey was elected at age 23. In 2008 and 2010 Garballey ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections. In 2012, Garballey was re-elected. He defeated Republican Joseph Monju in the general election.

Issues

In the 2013-2014 legislative session of the Massachusetts General Court, Garballey serves on the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, and the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. In the 2011-2012 session of the Massachusetts General Court, Garballey served as the vice-chairman to the Joint Committee on Election Laws. He was also appointed to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development, as well as the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting. On Education, Garballey, as a member of the Foster Care Coalition, joined Governor Deval Patrick for the signing of An Act Protecting Children in the Care of the Commonwealth. On the Environment, Garballey supported the Oil-Spill Prevention legislation as well as the Creation of the Food Policy Council.

Public office

* Arlington Town Meeting member (2003–2008) * Arlington School Committee (2005–2008) * Massachusetts House of Representatives (2008–present)

References

External links