Nick Collins

Nick Collins is an American politician who currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Senate, representing First Suffolk District.

Collins serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses.

Additionally, he serves a member of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, and a member on the Joint Committee's on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery; and Public Service.

He is a Boston resident and a Democrat.

He was also a regional field director for the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.

Elected into the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2010, he served four terms in the House representing the 4th Suffolk District.

Collins was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives seat for the 4th Suffolk District in 2010.

He has also served as chair of the Boston legislative delegation.

Collins major legislative accomplishment in his first term was being a lead sponsor of the landmark Prescription Drug Monitoring bill signed into law by Deval Patrick on August 24, 2012.

Three candidates entered the race: 4th Suffolk District State Rep Nick Collins; 12th Suffolk District State Rep Linda Dorcena-Forry; and 'Caught in Southie' publisher Maureen Dahill.

Collins and Dahill are both white and lived in South Boston, while Dorcena-Forry is Haitian-American and lived in the Lower Mills section of Dorechster.

Collins received support from a number of unions including the Greater Boston Labor Council, but not the most prominent union member in the state senate district, Savin Hill State Rep Marty Walsh, who stayed neutral in the race.

In early 2013 incumbent State Senator Jack Hart resigned from his seat to take a job at a law firm and a special election was called in order to fill it.

Collins ultimately fell short in the April 30, 2013 Democratic Primary with the final count: Dorcena-Forry 10,220 votes, Collins 9,841 votes, and Dahill with 1,594 votes.

Later in 2013 Collins repaid Walsh's neutrality in his failed State Senate race by endorsing Walsh's opponent in the open seat race for Mayor of Boston.

Collins endorsed West Roxbury resident and At-Large City Council John Connolly.

While Connolly and Walsh were the top two vote getters and advanced to the general election, Connolly lost to Walsh in November 2013.

Unlike the 2013 Special Election, this time Collins faced no opposition in his bid for State Senate, and he won the seat.

Collins is at the 4th State Senator in a row to hold this seat who has first won it in a special election: Dorcena-Forry won the seat in a 2013 special election, Hart won the seat in a 2002 special election, and Lynch won the seat in a 1996 special.

Previous State Senate President William Bulger is the last holder of the 1st Suffolk District State Senate seat to have won the election in a regularly scheduled election.

Collins went on to joke about the endorsement at the Boston St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in 2014, saying that he was being sent to City Hall jail.

Collins was a founding board member of UP Academy of Dorchester and Boston and an advisory board member of Excel High School in South Boston.

In March 2016, he served as chairman of the South Boston Citizens Association's Evacuation Day ceremonies.

In May 2016, he was elected as a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

In May 2018, Collins won the election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry.

He was sworn into the Massachusetts Senate on May 9, 2018 by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

His district is one of four minority-majority state senate districts in Massachusetts, is entirely inside Boston's city limits, and includes all of South Boston and parts of the Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park neighborhoods.

In January 2018, 1st Suffolk District State Senator Linda Dorcena-Forry announced that she was resigning from office in order to take a position with Suffolk Construction, and causing another special election.

Upon assuming office in the Senate in 2018, Collins was named the host of the annual Boston St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, hosting his first breakfast in 2019.

He moved the breakfast in his first year of hosting to the Flynn Cruiseport Boston and created a theme for the event that focused on the contribution of the immigrant community to the South Boston Waterfront and the city of Boston.

Vice-President Joe Biden sent a video message in to the event.

In the Massachusetts Senate, Collins serves on several committees, including chair of the Joint Committee on Export Development; vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; vice-chair of the Committee on Public Health; Senate Ways and Means; the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight; the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development; the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs; and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

As senator for the 1st Suffolk District, Collins has been the host of the annual Boston's St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast since 2019, a televised political roast that has featured presidents, vice-presidents, United States Senators and members of Congress throughout its history.

Nick Collins was born and raised in South Boston with five siblings.

He is a graduate of Boston Latin School and The Frederick Gunn School, where he played hockey.

He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business management from Babson College.

His father, James Collins, was a state representative from Charlestown who also worked in the administrations of Boston Mayor Kevin White and Massachusetts Governor Edward J. King.

Collins’ began his career in public service as a legislative aide to Massachusetts Senator Jack Hart.