Meet Jamie
Jamie with his Niece Olivia and nephew Josh
Jamie with his mother olivia eldridge
jamie with his sister amanda eldridge standing outside of acton housing authority
About the Senator
State Senator Jamie Eldridge has served as State Senator for the Middlesex and Worcester district since January 2009, representing 14 communities in Metrowest. He serves as the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Election Laws. As an activist legislator, Senator Eldridge is the Senate chair of the Clean Energy, Criminal Justice Reform, Medicare For All and MBTA Caucuses.
Senator Eldridge has focused his energies on Beacon Hill on increasing investments in public education and transportation, combating climate change, making healthcare a right, stimulating the economy, reforming our criminal justice system, advancing campaign and ethics reform, protecting the environment, and supporting immigrants. He lives in Acton, his hometown.
Family Roots
Jamie grew up with his younger sister Amanda in South Acton. His mother, Betsy Eldridge, was a kindergarten teacher in the Acton public schools for over twenty-five years, and his father Dave worked as an electrical engineer for thirty-five years for Raytheon Company in Marlborough and Sudbury.
Education
A lifelong Acton resident, Jamie is a product of Acton’s public schools, graduating from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in 1991. Jamie’s commitment to public service began at an early age as he co-founded the high school’s community service organization, Acton Boxborough Community Outreach (ABCO). Jamie is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he was President of the Student Council, and continued his volunteer activities, including for Habitat for Humanity, the Native American Mentoring Program, and Matt Boulay for City Council, all in Baltimore. While attending Boston College Law School, Jamie served as President of the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) for two years, where he fought to increase the law school’s funding of public interest internships, change the U.S. Department of Defense’s ban on gay and lesbian Americans serving in the military, support reproductive rights groups on all Boston College campuses, and expand public interest law practices in animal rights, community economic development, and environmental protection.
While in law school, Jamie became interested in a new area of public interest law called Community and Economic Development law, which he practiced as a student at the Harvard Law School Clinic in Jamaica Plain, as a lawyer at Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell, and he continues to support to this day as a legislator and lawyer.
Community Involvement
In 2001, Jamie was elected as a member of the Acton Housing Authority and was appointed by the Acton Board of Selectmen as an Associate Member to the Acton Planning Board. Holding these positions gave him a deeper understanding of municipal budgets and the impact of state legislation on communities, and housing, environmental, and “Smart Growth” issues, as well as the need for every community to protect its most vulnerable residents.
Jamie has also long been politically involved in the Middlesex and Worcester Senate district. During high school, he was a town coordinator for then-State Representative Bob Durand’s successful run for State Senate in 1990. After graduating from college, Jamie was elected as the chair of the Acton Democratic Town Committee, and the Middlesex and Worcester Democratic Coalition. In 1996, he was hired as State Senator Bob Durand’s campaign manager, and then campaign manager for State Representative and then Senator Pam Resor’s campaigns for re-election in 1998 and 2000.
As a state legislator, Jamie was an early supporter of Deval Patrick’s 2006 run for Governor, Maura Healey’s 2014 run for Attorney General, Don Berwick’s and Jay Gonzalez’s runs for Governor, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for President of the United States, and Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 campaigns for President of the United States. He was a national delegate for Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention.
Advocacy for Those in Need
Prior to his election as State Representative, in 1996 Jamie worked as a Legislative Aide for State Senator Bob Durand, working in his Littleton district office, and the State House. After graduating from law school, in 2000 Jamie worked as a public interest attorney with Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell, a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to the poor, senior citizens, and people with disabilities.
As a public interest lawyer, he also worked to help low-income residents with issues of housing, Social Security, disability, and unemployment. Jamie received a National Equal Justice Works fellowship to help low- and moderate-income people buy their first homes, start a business, or create a non-profit to create change in their neighborhoods. He left Merrimack Valley Legal Services to run for State Representative for the 37th Middlesex District, becoming the only publicly-financed “Clean Elections” candidate to be elected in Massachusetts history in 2002.