State Senator Joan Menard
Mike Rossettie at Red Mass Group is reporting (update: as is the State House News service), that Senator Joan Menard, a Fall River Democrat who has served in the Massachusetts Legislature for more than 30 years, will not seek re-election to the State Senate.
Menard’s staff could not confirm the news in a call placed to her office around 6:45 p.m. today.
If she had run for re-election, Menard would have faced a Democratic primary challenge from Fall River firefighter Michael Coogan. Coogan kicked off his campaign last week.
Jim O’Sullivan of the State House News has noted that Democratic Rep. Michael Rodrigues may also be a candidate now that Menard has stepped down.
Senator Menard has served in the Senate since 2000. She served in the House of Representatives from 1979-1999, and has chaired the Massachusetts delegation to the Democratic National Committee since 1993.
I am glad to hear that Rep. Rodrigues is almost definitely running for that seat. Even with the negative exposure that he’s gotten in the past year, it doesn’t change the fact that he is an extremely hardworking legislator who cares a lot about his district. I hope he runs and I hope he wins.