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WONDER WOMEN — Democrats appear to have prevailed in two state representative race recounts, flipping a pair of Republican seats and helping replenish women’s ranks in the Legislature amid a wave of departures.

Margaret Scarsdale led Republican Andrew Shepherd by seven votes after the 1st Middlesex district recount concluded on Saturday. The results still need to be certified, and Shepherd told Playbook he’s considering a court challenge.

Democrat Kristin Kassner also edged state Rep. Lenny Mirra in the North Shore’s 2nd Essex district by one vote, which the Republican incumbent plans to challenge.

Should those results stand, women are poised to hold 61 of the Legislature’s 200 seats next session — just shy of the record 63 they held earlier this session. Female lawmakers and political operatives say it’s a remarkable feat given the potentially decimating wave of women leaving the Legislature this year for high-profile jobs, higher offices and retirements.

“I just didn't see this happening ... and I was totally wrong,” Dawne Shand, the outgoing board president of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and an incoming state representative who flipped an open Republican seat, told Playbook. "This incoming class is an astonishing group of people with such a variety of experiences."

Shand believes the near-record number of female lawmakers — nearly 31 percent of the Legislature — is due in part to redistricting and in part to the demise of Roe v. Wade motivating voters to elect women and Democrats.

It’s also the culmination of years of pipeline building and growing campaign expertise among women. Those efforts not only helped propel women to five of the state’s six constitutional offices, but also helped send others like Shand and veteran Democratic canvasser Kate Donaghue to the House, and state Rep. Liz Miranda to the Senate.

The incoming class of female lawmakers is diverse. The women range in age from early thirties to late sixties. They are local elected officials, immigrants and attorneys. They won newly created majority-minority seats — Framingham’s Priscila Sousa, Brockton’s Rita Mendes and Chelsea's Judith Garcia, for instance — and will in some cases be the first women elected in their districts.

Their myriad backgrounds are poised to shape policymaking next session, from early education to affordable housing, state Rep. Patricia Haddad, the House co-chair of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, told Playbook. "Having a diverse group of people who maybe are renters, homeowners, come from different parts of the state where the cost of living is very different — that’s going to be helpful," she said.

Massachusetts still lags behind some other states in female legislative representation. Women, for instance, will hold the majority of seats in both Colorado and Nevada's Legislatures next year, according to Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics. 

While women here hold some key leadership positions — most notably, Senate President Karen Spilka — House Speaker Ron Mariano has yet to replace now-U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin as majority leader. There are no Republican women in the Senate, and their ranks in the House are dwindling.

“It’s not as good as we could be doing,” Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, told Playbook. But, she added, “the fact that women will be in almost every constitutional office” and maintained their legislative ranks will “hopefully start to break down some of the stereotypes [about women in politics] for good.”

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Trains are finally rolling on the Green Line Extension to Medford.

TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark and state and local officials attend the GLX opening ceremony at the Medford/Tufts station at 9:45 a.m. Polito chairs a STEM Council meeting at 11 a.m. in Boston. Markey tours Perkins School for the Blind at noon.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: This is the last week of Playbooks for the year — which means it's your last chance to send me tips and scoops. Email me: [email protected].

— WATCH: Secretary of State Bill Galvin tell Republicans to get on board with mail-in voting "if they're going to compete in the future" in his latest WCVB "On the Record" interview. Galvin also believes New Hampshire Democrats defending their first-in-the-nation presidential primary from President Joe Biden's proposed changes don't "really care who the president of the United States is, they care about being first."

— SPEAKING OF THE GOP: “Not long ago, the GOP controlled most of Cape Cod. A blue wave is changing the region,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Once a bastion for Yankee Republicans before turning into a reliably bipartisan pocket of Massachusetts, the Cape appears to be undergoing another political transformation. It culminated in last month’s election when, for the first time, a Democrat won the local district attorney’s office, another recaptured the Cape’s sheriff’s post after decades in GOP control, and the party flipped yet another legislative seat. As of next year, the GOP will control just two of the eight legislative seats representing the Cape and Islands, and none on the county commission, the region’s executive branch.”

— “Rivera gets long contract extension at MassDevelopment,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “With less than a month before a new governor takes over, the MassDevelopment board of directors approved a long-term contract extension for Daniel Rivera, the authority’s president and chief executive officer. A spokesman for the authority confirmed the board on Wednesday extended the contract of Rivera until June 30, 2026, and said the vote was unanimous.”

— “Lawmakers, citing new momentum, plan to reintroduce right-to-die bill in January,” by Robert Weisman, Boston Globe: “Will Massachusetts become a right-to-die state in 2023? Though polls show a growing majority of residents favor it, legislation that would give the terminally ill the option to obtain lethal drugs has never been brought to a vote in the full state House or Senate. But now, with a potential ally in the governor-elect, and the rollback of abortion rights amplifying calls for bodily autonomy, supporters of the long-stalled proposal — which lawmakers plan to reintroduce next month — say they may finally have the momentum they need.”

— "Senator Eric Lesser’s next chapter? He says it will be close to home," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "Lesser will continue to serve on the Western Massachusetts Passenger Rail Commission, and he’s a member of the transition team working with Gov.-elect Maura Healey and Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Driscoll on transportation issues. In the new year, he will return to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to teach a course, 'State and Local Leadership in the Millennial Era,' a topic with which he is clearly familiar."

— “In expensive Boston, longstanding residency requirements appear back on the bargaining table,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “The dual realities of Boston’s sky-high cost of living and an extremely tight labor market have created such a dire hiring situation for the city that, for the first time in years, changes to its longstanding employee residency requirement appear to be back on the bargaining table. Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration has softened residency in recent months, most recently by quietly implementing a six-month waiver for new police officers, and several unions with open contracts are urging her to go even further with permanent changes reducing the requirement.”

— "Amid calls to increase policing at Mass. and Cass, overtime spending surges under Mayor Wu," by Tori Bedford, GBH News: "[T]he Wu administration is continuing to pump more resources into an already years-long surge of police overtime at Mass. and Cass. In the first 10 months of [Boston Mayor Michelle] Wu’s tenure, up through August 2022, Boston police logged more than $4 million in overtime payments in the area, according to police payroll records."

— “Somerville and Medford mayors discuss Green Line extension, T's largest expansion in decades,” by Sharon Brody and Paul Connearney, WBUR: “Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne remembers it well. In 2005, Ballantyne says, her young daughter spoke at a public meeting that considered the plan for the MBTA's Green Line to expand into Somerville and Medford. Ballantyne says her second-grader stood up and told the Massachusetts Transportation Secretary that she wanted to ‘see clean air for my friends.’ … Seventeen years later, Ballantyne and her now 26-year-old daughter will join the passengers on the first train from College Avenue Station at Tufts University.”

— “Massachusetts East-West Rail talks get rolling,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Lawmakers kicked off a months-long process to look into how best to implement an East-West passenger rail service, but cautioned that since the statewide connection involves private and federal railroad companies, it could take many years to incorporate.”

— “Major delays on Orange Line — again — call renovations into question,” by Ivy Scott, Boston Globe.

— “Rachael Rollins gives herself a ‘B’ on her first year as US Attorney,” by Alexi Cohan, GBH News: “Speaking on Greater Boston, Rollins gave herself a ‘B’ on her first year. ‘It’s been a little bumpy,’ she said. ‘I have work to improve on but I'm very happy with what we’ve done.’ Rollins said the bureaucracy of federal government means lack of urgency, whereas she was able to work quicker in her former role as Suffolk County District Attorney."

— “Tribal Chairman, Mashpee Resident Charged In Plimoth Patuxet Theft,” by Mackenzie Ryan, Mashpee Enterprise: “The Plymouth Police Department has charged Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Brian M. Weeden and Mashpee resident Phillip C. Hicks Jr. in the theft in early November of two bulrush mats and two black bear skin rugs from a wetu — a domed hut used traditionally by the Wampanoag tribe — that is part of an exhibit at Plimoth Patuxet Museums.”

— “Katherine Clark’s rise through politics has looked effortless. It was anything but,” by Tal Kopan, Boston Globe: “In interviews with more than two dozen of [incoming Democratic whip Katherine] Clark’s current and former colleagues and allies, a portrait emerges of a tactical, thoughtful, and tough politician, one whose gift for quiet but clinically effective inside strategies has earned her the nickname among some in the House as ‘the silent assassin.’ She is no one to take lightly; her rise has come with breathtaking speed. And she remains relentlessly focused not only on her stated mission — enacting policies that promote and support women, children, and families — but also on empowering other women to follow in her footsteps.”

— "Seth Moulton returns from secret Ukraine visit," by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: "Representative Seth Moulton on Sunday night returned from a swift and clandestine trip to Ukraine, his first since the Russian invasion. Traveling with a bipartisan delegation of five members, Moulton flew to Poland via Germany on Thursday night, then boarded an overnight train to Kyiv late Friday. ... Unlike his controversial — and unauthorized — trip to Kabul with Republican Representative Peter Meijer of Michigan in August 2021, when the American withdrawal of troops plunged Afghanistan into chaos, this trip was authorized."

— “Sen. Warren visits Durfee to announce $14 million in federal money for Fall River,” by Audrey Cooney, Herald News: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren was at B.M.C. Durfee High School on Friday touting $14 million in federal funding for the city aimed at offsetting environmental dangers, including lead water pipes and diesel school buses. … Warren joined Congressman Jake Auchincloss, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and local elected officials, including state Sen. Michael Rodrigues and Rep. Carole Fiola to celebrate what she called ‘once-in-a-lifetime funding.’ Fall River is set to receive a rebate for up to $3,895,000 to offset the cost of 11 electric school buses and charging infrastructure.”

— ACTION REQUESTED: Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley are among the more than 70 members of Congress who signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to take executive action to guarantee rail workers the sick days that weren’t included in the legislation that averted the freight rail workers’ strike.

— "Pot shops switch to cash after ATM crackdown," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "Pot shops across Massachusetts are scrambling to find alternative ways for customers to pay after several networks that supported a workaround to federal banking restrictions were recently shut down. The crackdown, first reported in Bloomberg News, involves some of the nation’s largest processors of 'cashless' ATM transactions which allowed cannabis buyers to use bank cards."

— “In 5 years, Palmer schools inked a dozen confidentiality agreements with staffers,” by Luis Fieldman, MassLive: “Elaine Fuller worked for over 20 years in the Palmer School District, but there is not much she can say about her last year working in the English department. That’s because a confidentiality agreement she signed prevents her from speaking about her time as a public school teacher. Fuller’s confidentiality agreement is among a dozen MassLive has obtained through public records requests and from former teachers, all of which were created in just four years between 2016 and 2020 — years during the tenure of Superintendent Patricia Gardner, who left the district in October.”

— “Paper tiger: Massachusetts has a reputation for tough gun laws, but enforcement is another story,” by Sarah L. Ryley, Boston Globe: “The Legislature made local police the front line in enforcing Massachusetts’ gun laws in 1998, when it passed what was hailed as the strictest gun control legislative package in the nation. Police were now required to conduct annual inspections of every dealer’s ‘records and inventory’ to make sure the shops are following all state and federal laws. But Globe public records requests to 112 Massachusetts police departments that oversee dealers responsible for 97 percent of the state’s in-person gun sales revealed that the local police in cities and towns across the state are falling down badly on the job.”

— “Wynn eyes expansion of Everett casino — including gambling — on big site across Broadway,” by Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: “Wynn Resorts’ newest vision for the company’s land across Broadway from its Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett includes two hotels with ballrooms, three parking garages, a theater, restaurants, clubs — 1.8 million square feet of development in all. Most notably, the latest plans also call for gambling, in the form of a poker room and sports-book facility. But for that to materialize, Wynn needs the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to go along.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former Boston City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, Alex Reimer, Jeffrey Goldstein, a director at Fidelity and former deputy chief of staff at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, Eric Maskin and John Lippmann.

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