By Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent, The Boston Globe Updated January 11, 2022, 10:41 p.m.
Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards declared victory Tuesday in the special election for the First Suffolk and Middlesex seat in the state Senate, becoming the body’s the only Black member and the first woman and person of color to represent a district that stretches from Cambridge and Beacon Hill through East Boston to Winthrop and Revere.
Edwards, an East Boston Democrat, skated to victory without a Republican opponent on the ballot after she bested Anthony D’Ambrosio, a first-term Revere School Committee member, to take their party’s nomination last month.
Edwards thanked voters Tuesday night and said she was looking forward to continuing her work fighting for local communities in the State House.
“Like so many in our communities, I know what it’s like to be unable to afford school lunch, to lose a job and panic about next month’s rent, to live each day breathing in air pollution and to worry about tomorrow as the sea levels continue to rise,” Edwards said in a statement. “Together, with our pain and purpose, we will fight for laws and the social conditions that protect people, communities, and our planet.”
As temperatures dipped below zero on Tuesday, fewer than 2,000 voters went to the polls.
Edwards took 867 of 907 votes in Boston, according to unofficial results from the city. In Cambridge, she had 365 of 369 votes. In Revere, Edwards garnered 239 of 285 votes, and in Winthrop she had 293 votes out of 321 cast, according to unofficial results.
Joseph Boncore, a Winthrop Democrat, represented the district until September, when he resigned to lead a powerful biotechnology trade group. His departure sparked Tuesday’s vote, the third special election for the seat since 2007.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.