He’s a literal freshman.
A 19-year-old Democrat unseated an eight-term GOP member of the Massachusetts State House Tuesday, capitalizing on a historic midterm election that saw formerly safe Republican seats flipped at all levels across the country.
Daniel Darris-O’Connor, of the white-collar Boston suburb of Billerica, will become one of the youngest-ever Bay State lawmakers when he replaces state Rep. Marc Lombardo — who had represented the 22nd Middlesex District since Darris-O’Connor was 4 years old.
“Yes, I’m a younger candidate, and I’m a lot younger than most, I’d say. But I wouldn’t say I was running as the young candidate,” Darris-O’Connor told The Boston Globe, adding that he was frequently mistaken for a campaign intern or another candidate’s son while door-knocking.
“I ran being focused on the issues.”
Darris-O’Connor will turn 20 the day before he is sworn in this coming January, meaning he’ll just miss out on besting the benchmark set by Thomas Lussier, who was 19 when he became a member of the state House in 1977, according to The Globe.
The newest member, who described his district as “very purple, especially for Massachusetts,” said he ran a campaign focused on affordability and controlling rising costs for residents.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” Darris-O’Connor said. “We have a great quality of life in Massachusetts. But if you can’t afford it, what’s really the point of it?”
The teen said he was inspired to get into politics while in middle school during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing that period as “radicalizing.”
Tuesday was not Darris-O’Connor’s first election win, either — he was voted to Billerica’s five-member select board in 2025, before he even finished high school.
Lombardo, known as one of the Massachusetts legislature’s most conservative members, was first elected in 2010 and unsuccessfully ran for state House minority leader in 2024.
Darris-O’Connor led Lombardo by just 438 votes out of more than 17,000 ballots cast and more than 99% of the vote tallied as of Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
“I remained true to who I am, never afraid to speak up,” Lombardo told The Globe in a statement. “It wasn’t always easy on my family and me but it was worth every minute.”
Democrats already held supermajorities in both the Massachusetts House and Senate and had matched their pre-election total of 135 state House seats won with six races still uncalled as of Thursday morning.
Republicans had lost a net of three seats in the lower chamber, including the districts held by retiring Minority Leader Bradley Jones and his number-two, Kim Ferguson — who also opted not to seek another term.
Another GOP incumbent, David Vieira, lost his seat to a 23-year-old Democrat challenger, Jack Richardson.
