Massachusetts Senate declares First Middlesex seat vacant, schedules March 3, 2026 special election; advances supplemental budget timetable and dozens of local-

The Massachusetts Senate on the floor declared the seat for the First Middlesex District vacant following the death of Senator Edward J. Kennedy and directed the Senate president to issue a precept scheduling a special election for March 3, 2026, to fill the vacancy covering the city of Lowell and surrounding towns. The chamber also adopted an order setting a tight timetable and filing rules for consideration of a supplemental fiscal-year 2025 spending bill and advanced a series of mostly noncontroversial local bills to third reading or to engrossment.

The vacancy declaration was made "by the authority of Article 4, Section 2 of Chapter 1 of the Constitution," according to the order presented on the floor. The order identifies 03/03/2026 as the date for the special election to fill the First Middlesex District seat and lists affected communities as the city of Lowell and several surrounding towns. The motion was adopted without recorded opposition.

The Senate also approved an order affecting the timetable and process for considering House 4615, the supplemental appropriations bill. Under the order, the House bill is to be reported by the committee on Ways and Means as new text (Senate document 2655) and placed on the Senate calendar for second meeting consideration on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, with a second-meeting session scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. The order required that all amendments be filed electronically in the clerk's office by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, that such…