State Senator Robert O'Leary

Robert O'Leary has represented Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket in the Massachusetts State Senate since his election in 2000. He was the first Democrat elected to represent the Cape and Islands in the State Senate since the end of the Civil War. Prior to his election to the State Legislature, he served as a Barnstable County Commissioner from 1987 through 2001, and has worked as a college history and politics professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for nearly thirty years.

Senator O'Leary grew up in Lowell and moved to the Cape in the early 1970s and now resides in Cummaquid.

He graduated from Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University, and a PhD in History from Tufts University. He is the father of three daughters and has three grandchildren.

Senator O'Leary represents the Cape and Islands District, consisting of the Towns of Barnstable (Precincts 1 through 9 inclusive and precinct 13), Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth in the county of Barnstable; Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Gosnold, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, and West Tisbury in the county of Dukes; and Nantucket in the county of Nantucket.

Senator O'Leary is the Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Vice-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Housing. In addition, he also serves on many other committees and boards including: the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, the Committee on Revenue and the Committee on Elder Affairs.