BILLERICA – A 19-year-old Democrat from Billerica has unseated an eight-term Republican incumbent to win the 22nd Middlesex District’s state rep seat.
Daniel Darris-O’Connor, 19, (D-Billerica) defeated incumbent Republican State Representative Marc Lombardo, also of Billerica, in the 22nd Middlesex District on Nov. 3, taking 8,968 votes to Lombardo’s 8,530, or 51.3% to 48.7%, a margin of 438 votes out of 17,498 cast, according to unofficial Associated Press results. The 22nd Middlesex District covers Billerica alone.
Lombardo was first elected in 2010, when Darris-O’Connor was 4 years old, and had held the seat for 16 years. He has a reputation as one of the Legislature’s most conservative members, and one legislative model had forecast him to win by almost 15 points. Brent Benson of MassNumbers called Darris-O’Connor’s 2.6-point win the biggest surprise of Tuesday’s legislative elections.
This was not Darris-O’Connor’s first election win. He is a sitting member of the Billerica Select Board, elected in 2025 while still a senior in high school, and is now a student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Darris-O’Connor said people on the campaign trail sometimes mistook him for an intern or for another candidate’s son.
“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.
Darris-O’Connor said he campaigned on affordability and the rising cost of living.
“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?”
In a statement to The Boston Globe, Lombardo said he “remained true to who I am, never afraid to speak up,” and that the job was not always easy on his family “but it was worth every minute.”
Darris-O’Connor will be one of the youngest lawmakers in Massachusetts history. He is set to take office on Jan. 6, one day after his 20th birthday, so he just misses the benchmark set by Thomas Lussier, who was 19 when he became a member of the State House in 1977.
