Quick Facts
Biography
Viriato Manuel Pereira de Macedo (born October 16, 1965), also popularly known as Vinny deMacedo, is a Cape Verdean American politician, and is the Massachusetts State Senator for the Plymouth and Barnstable District in the Massachusetts Senate, which comprises the communities of Bourne, Falmouth, Kingston, Pembroke, Plymouth, and Sandwich. He is a Republican who was sworn into the Massachusetts Senate on January 7, 2015.
Political career
Senator deMacedo had no political experience prior to becoming a candidate for the Massachusetts House of Representatives on November 3, 1998 for a term as a Massachusetts State Representative, against the Democratic incumbent Joseph Gallitano. He won the election by a tight margin of 189 votes, and since then he was re-elected in every election.
In November 2014, he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, succeeding retiring Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray as state senator for the Plymouth and Barnstable District. He now holds the position of Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. His legislative priorities include solving the opiate epidemic facing Massachusetts and ensuring the Commonwealth's fiscal responsibility.
During his 16 years in the Massachusetts House, he has received many awards for his legislative work including:
- Twice named Legislator of the Year - Massachusetts Town Clerks Association
- Legislator of the Year - Jewish Community Relations Council
- Legislator of the Year – Council of Human Services Providers; and
- National Federation of Independent Business Guardian of Small Business Award.
Biography
Senator deMacedo was born in Brava, Cape Verde, but traveled with his parents to New England in 1966, when he was 6 months old. His family first settled in Dorchester, before three years later moving to Kingston, where deMacedo was raised. He graduated from Silver Lake Regional High School in 1983. He went on to study at New York's The King's College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in 1987.
After graduating deMacedo began working for his brother in the car business before starting his own gas station in Cedarville in 1991. He continues to be the owner and operator of the RWA Mobil Station on Route 3A. He is a member of the Cedarville and Sagamore Business Association and the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce.
He is married to Jennifer de Macedo, and is the father of three children.
He visited Cape Verde in January 2008, for the first time since moving to the United States, as part of a political mission, and met several members of the Cape Verdean government, including the President Pedro Pires.