Massachusetts first to elect Senator of Haitian descent in US, Linda Dorcéna Forry

Haitian-American Linda Dorcéna Forry has been named the Senator for the 1st Suffolk District in the Massachusetts State Senate. On Tuesday the 28th of May 2013, Forry, a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing her district since 2005, beat Republican Joseph Anthony Ureneck for the seat by a whopping 82% of over 9,600 votes. Her victory is a considerable one as it marks the first time a person of Haitian descent has been elected the U.S. Senate.

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Linda Dorcéna Forry was born in Boston in 1973. She attended the ST. Kevin Grammar School and then the Monsignor Ryan Memorial High School. Her alma mater was Boston College, where she studied business management before working as a legislative assistant. In 1999 she left the State House to work for the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development's executive staff and she rose to become the Acting Chief of Staff.

Ten years later she would serve as the Chair of the Black and Latino Caucus and would also become Chairman of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses.

Her current seat as senator encompasses Mattapan, Hyde Park, Dorchester and South Boston, a seat which has been predominantly represented for 500 years by Irish and Italian politicians. Her win was made possible by the significant efforts of the Haitian community in the state, who mobilized during the process to give her support.

Linda Dorcéna Forry will juggle her new role as U.S. Senator along with that of wife to newspaperman Bill Forry and mother of four children, no doubt admirably.

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