Massachusetts House of Representatives' 17th Middlesex district

Map of Massachusetts House of Representatives' 17th Middlesex district, based on the 2010 United States census.

Massachusetts House of Representatives' 17th Middlesex district in the United States is one of 160 legislative districts included in the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court. It covers part of Middlesex County.^[1] Democrat Vanna Howard was elected to the position on November 3, 2020.^[2]

District profile

As of the last redistricting in 2011,^[3] the district encompasses the southeastern portion of the city of Lowell and the northeastern portion of the town of Chelmsford.^[4] It has maintained these boundaries since the 2001 redistricting.^[5]

• Chelmsford's Precinct 4
• Lowell's Ward 1; Precinct 3 of Ward 2; Precincts 2 and 3 of Ward 4; Ward 10; and Ward 11

The current district geographic boundary overlaps with those of the Massachusetts Senate's 1st Middlesex and 3rd Middlesex districts.^[6]

Former locations

• c. 1872: Marlborough^[7]

List of members representing the district

• Daniel Wetherbee, circa 1858 ^[8]
• Shattuck Hartwell, circa 1859 ^[9]
• Winfield S. Slocum, circa 1888 ^[10]
• Arthur C. Walworth, circa 1888 ^[10]
• Maurice Allan Buck, circa 1920 ^[11]
• Thomas M. Flaherty, circa 1951 ^[12]

General Court	Representative	Party		Term	District location
169th	Peter Harrington[13]		Democratic	January 1, 1975 – January 3, 1979	Newton's Ward 1; Precincts 1, 2, and 3 of Ward 2; Precinct 2 of Ward 7
170th
171st	Nick Lambros		Democratic	January 3, 1979 – January 5, 1983	Dracut Lowell's Ward 5; Precincts 2 and 4 of Ward 6; and Ward 9
172nd
173rd	John Cox		Democratic	January 5, 1983 – January 4, 1989
174th
175th
176th				January 4, 1989 – 1995	Dracut Lowell's Precincts 2 and 3 of Ward 5; and Ward 9
177th
178th
179th	Tom Golden		Democratic	January 4, 1995 – January 1, 2003	Lowell's Precinct 1 of Ward 1; Precinct 3 of Ward 2; Ward 5; Ward 6; Ward 9; and Precinct 3 of Ward 10
180th
181st
182nd
183rd	David Nangle		Democratic	January 1, 2003 – January 6, 2021	Chelmsford's Precinct 4 Lowell's Ward 1; Precinct 3 of Ward 2; Precincts 2 and 3 of Ward 4; Ward 10; and Ward 11
184th
185th
186th
187th
188th
189th
190th
191st
192nd	Vanna Howard		Democratic	January 6, 2021 – Present[2]	Chelmsford: Precinct 4; Lowell: Ward 1, Ward 2: Precinct 3, Ward 4: Precincts 2, 3, Wards 10, 11
193rd				2023 – Present

See also

• List of Massachusetts House of Representatives elections
• List of Massachusetts General Courts
• List of former districts of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
• Other Middlesex County districts of the Massachusetts House of Representatives: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th

Images

Portraits of legislators

• 
  Charles Varnum
• 
  James O'Donnell
• 
  Harry Shedd
• 
  Edward Nelson Eames
• 
  Ralph Currier
• 
  Daniel Sullivan
• 
  Thomas Flaherty
• 
  Edward Dickson
• 
  Peter Harrington
• 
  John Cox
• 
  Thomas Golden
• 
  David Nangle

References

1. "Massachusetts Representative Districts". Sec.state.ma.us. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
2. "Representative Vanna Howard". The 192nd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
3. "Bill H.3770".
4. Massachusetts General Court, "Chapter 153. An Act Relative to Establishing Representative Districts in the General Court", Acts (2011)
5. "Session Law - Acts of 2001 Chapter 125".
6. David Jarman (July 30, 2019), "Upper legislative district ↔ lower legislative district correspondences: MA", How do counties, House districts, and legislative districts all overlap?, Daily Kos, State House Districts to State Senate Districts
7. "Representative Districts". Massachusetts Register. Boston: Sampson, Davenport, & Company. 1872.
8. "Massachusetts House of Representatives". Massachusetts Register. Boston: Adams, Sampson & Co. 1858. pp. 10–12.
9. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Manual for the Use of the General Court. 1859 – via Internet Archive.
10. Geo. F. Andrews, ed. (1888). "Representatives: Middlesex County". 1888 State House Directory. Official Gazette, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Lakeview Press.
11. Public Officials of Massachusetts: 1920. Boston Review. 1920.
12. 1951–1952 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston.
13. 1975–1976 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston.

Further reading

• Stephanie Ebbert (August 29, 2020), "Primary challengers, newcomers looking for ticket to Beacon Hill on Tuesday", Boston Globe
• Katie Lannan; Chris Lisinski (September 2, 2020), "Sen. Welch, Rep. Nangle lose state legislative seats", Boston Globe, Challengers defeated incumbents in key Democratic primaries, reshaping Beacon Hill

External links

• Ballotpedia
• "17th Middlesex District, MA". Censusreporter.org. (State House district information based on U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey).
• League of Women Voters of Greater Lowell
• League of Women Voters of Chelmsford