Seven-term Rep. Carolyn Dykema plans to resign from her office next week for a job in the solar energy industry, adding to a growing list of vacancies in the House and opening up a top job on the Legislature’s Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee.
Dykema announced Monday that she had accepted a position as northeast policy director at Nexamp, a company that she said focuses on “vertically integrated solar and energy storage solutions across the country.” It is the same company that hired Ben Downing as vice president of new market development at the tail end of his decade in the Massachusetts Senate.
The Holliston Democrat said she will leave the Legislature on Feb. 11, though the House clerk had not yet received a formal resignation letter early Monday morning.
“While this is an exciting opportunity and a promising new chapter, it is bittersweet leaving a role I’ve loved and the wonderful people I’ve been so grateful to serve,” Dykema, who joined the Legislature in 2009, said. “The residents of Holliston, Hopkinton, Southborough and Westborough are remarkable people, and I’ve been incredibly proud to be your State Representative. Your welfare and wellbeing have always been at the center of my work. You trusted me to represent you, and I hope I earned that trust every day.”
Dykema’s departure will leave residents of the 8th Middlesex district without representation in the House until voters can choose a successor.
The move will also vacate the House chair position on the Environment Committee shortly after a key bill-reporting deadline for the current two-year session, leaving Democratic leaders to decide if they will appoint a successor or ask Vice Chair Rep. Mindy Domb to take over additional duties.
Dykema joins a growing contingent of state representatives heading for the exit mid-term. Former Majority Leader Claire Cronin of Easton resigned this month to become U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Reps. Maria Robinson of Framingham, Sheila Harrington of Groton and Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead have all been selected for new jobs and are expected to resign soon.
Last week, Speaker Ronald Mariano would not commit to calling special elections to fill empty House seats before this fall’s general elections, which will involve newly redrawn lines following the decennial redistricting process.
If Mariano opts not to hold special elections and those expected resignations take place, five of the House’s 160 seats would sit vacant until January, leaving roughly 200,000 Bay Staters without political representation in one of the Legislature’s two chambers.
The House and Senate have each held one special election so far during the 2021-2022 lawmaking session. Voters selected Democrat Jamie Belsito of Topsfield to succeed Republican Rep. Brad Hill of Ipswich and chose Democrat Lydia Edwards of East Boston to succeed Democrat Sen. Joe Boncore of Winthrop.
This fall’s general elections will feature new boundaries for the House and Senate districts, which could lead to special elections featuring different district lines than the biennial contest later in the year.
In addition to the mid-term departures, at least 13 additional seats in the Legislature are set to open up with lawmakers not seeking reelection this fall, in some cases because they opted to run for higher office.
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