Richard Tisei

In 1990, incumbent Democratic State Senator John A. Brennan decided to retire. Tisei decided to retire his seat in the lower chamber to run for that open senate seat. He defeated Democrat Mike Festa and Independent Paul Maisano 54%–37%–9%.[12][13] He won re-election unopposed in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2008. In 2000, he defeated Democrat Steve Spain 73%–27%.[14][15] In 2004, he defeated Katherine Clark 57%–43%.[16] In 2010, he decided to retire in order to run statewide. Clark ran again and won the seat.

As a member of the State Senate, Tisei served for many years as a member of the Joint Committee on Human Services and Elder Affairs.[17] He was named legislator of the Year by the Massachusetts Alliance for the Mentally Ill, The Human Service Providers of Massachusetts and the Home Health Care Association Of Massachusetts. Tisei had a 100% rating from MASS NARAL[18] and Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts. He was also a supporter of same-sex marriage.[19]

Tisei is known best for sponsoring the 1993 Welfare Reform Law and the Whistleblower Protection Law. He also sponsored legislation that would limit the amount of campaign funds candidates can rollover from year to year.[3][20]

He is a fiscal conservative and strongly supported a sales tax holiday.[21][22]

In a Washington Post article, he described himself as "a live-and-let-live Republican. My philosophy is, the government should get off your back, out of your wallet and away from the bedroom."[19]

• Bills in the Third Reading
• Elder Affairs
• Election Laws[23]
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• Municipalities and Regional Government
• State Administration and Regulatory Oversight
• Steering and Policy
• Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development[24]
• Ways and Means[25]
• Redistricting[26]

On July 28, 2009, Tisei was named the campaign chair for Charlie Baker's 2010 gubernatorial run. On November 23, 2009, Baker named Tisei as his running mate, and thus as a candidate for lieutenant governor.[4]

Just prior to the announcement of Tisei as Baker's running mate, Tisei publicly disclosed that he is gay for the first time in an interview with the Boston Globe.[29] Baker and Tisei, unopposed in the Republican primary, were defeated in the general election.

The Patrick/Murray ticket defeated Baker/Tisei 48%–42%.

In November 2011, Tisei announced his plans to challenge eight-term U.S. Congressman John F. Tierney (D-MA 6th).[30] The newly redrawn Massachusetts's 6th congressional district remained largely the same, but added Billerica, Tewksbury, and Andover.[31] This was a swing district where Scott Brown got 58% of the vote in January 2010 and where Baker/Tisei got 50% in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.[32] Tierney barely came out on top over Tisei, by 3,500 votes out of 374,244 cast.[33] The race was the closest in New England.[34]

Tisei’s campaign made a number of payments for a political consultant, campaign aides, a fundraiser, and a digital marketing firm in 2011 from a state campaign fund. David Scharfenberg of The Boston Globe speculated that the payments were to support his campaign for Congress. The Tisei campaign has noted that the payments were all made prior to his official declaration of candidacy for Congress and that they were for activities in support of a potential run for state-level office.[35]

Tisei ran against Democratic nominee Seth Moulton in 2014. It was widely thought that he would face incumbent Congressman John F. Tierney in a rematch from the 2012 race. But on September 9, Tierney became the fourth member of the U.S. House of Representatives to lose a primary election in the 2014 cycle.[36] Roll Call previously called the race between Tierney and Tisei a "Toss up", but did not re-evaluate the race after the primary upset.[37] Tisei was notably endorsed by Marisa DeFranco, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for United States Senate in the 2012 election.[38]

Tisei boycotted the Republican state convention because of the "socially conservative platform the party adopted."[39] But the National Republican Congressional Committee has given him "On the Radar" status, meaning that the NRCC "will help to provide candidates and their campaigns the tools they need to run successful, winning campaigns."[40]

He was endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund[41] but was soundly beaten by Moulton in the general election, by 149,638 votes (54.97%) to 111,989 (41.13%).