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 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, and parts of Barnstable counties). Senators serve two-year terms, without term limits. The Senate convenes in the Massachusetts State House in Boston, the state capital.
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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 at least 300 signatures on nomination papers
Recent party control
Democrats hold a supermajority in the Senate.
Current members and districts
Massachusetts Senate districts are named for the counties that contain a portion of the district ordered by percentage of the district's population that is within that county. If multiple districts would have the same name under this scheme, they are also given an ordinal number. The one exception is "Cape and Islands" which if the naming scheme were followed would be "Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket".
Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire
Bristol and Norfolk
First Bristol and Plymouth
Second Bristol and Plymouth
Third Bristol and Plymouth
Cape and Islands
First Essex
Second Essex
Third Essex
First Essex and Middlesex
Second Essex and Middlesex
Hampden
Hampden and Hampshire
Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester
Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester
First Middlesex
Second Middlesex
Third Middlesex
Fourth Middlesex
Fifth Middlesex
Middlesex and Norfolk