Boncore move opens up Beacon Hill seat
Candidate race heating up on both sides
State Sen. Joseph Boncore will soon leave the Legislature to head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the latest in a handful of high-profile departures coming on Beacon Hill.
The Winthrop Democrat is set to resign from the state Senate next week, aides said, for a CEO position at MassBio, a biotech industry group with a history of poaching talent from the state capitol.
“It’s an honor to join such a renowned organization and one where I am so passionate about the mission,” Boncore said in a statement Wednesday. He’ll start his new role sometime in mid-September.
Boncore, whose district encompasses Revere and Winthrop, as well as parts of Boston and Cambridge, will leave open chair and vice chair seats on four Senate and Joint committees.
He’s the third consecutive current or former legislator to takeover at MassBio, where former CEO Robert Coughlin earned more than $800,000 in salary and bonuses in 2018. A company spokesman declined to comment on Boncore’s salary. He made slightly over $90,000 as a state Senator last year.
A few candidates have already expressed interest in Boncore’s seat, including Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, whose district includes East Boston, Charlestown and the North End. She said in a statement that she was “proud” to serve with Boncore and called him a “steadfast partner in the Senate.”
Boncore isn’t the only high-profile legislator scouting for greener pastures.
House Majority Leader Claire Cronin, the first woman ever to hold the role as the No. 2 Democrat in the state House of Representatives, has been tapped by President Biden to serve as ambassador to Ireland.
She is awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate before tendering her resignation, according to State House sources.
House Assistant Minority Leader Bradford Hill is also on his way out the door after Gov. Charlie Baker nominated him to serve on the state’s Gaming Commission. His resignation is expected Sept. 15.
A special election has been scheduled to fill his 4th Essex seat. Already LisaMarie Cashman, who served Ipswich’s former Republican Town Committee, and longtime maternal health activist and Democrat Jamie Zahlaway Belsito of Topsfield, have expressed interest in running.
MassGOP Chairman Jim Lyons promised Republicans would “work very hard” to hold onto Hill’s seat in a district where Biden won overwhelmingly last year.