BOSTON (State House News Service) — Rep. Sarah Peake, the House's second assistant majority leader and the dean of the Cape Cod delegation, announced Friday that she will not seek reelection later this year, capping off a nearly two-decade stint in the House of Representatives.
The Provincetown Democrat, who has held her seat in the House since taking office in early 2007, said she was announcing her retirement plan now to give potential candidates a chance to plan before nomination papers become available. The current legislative term, Peake's ninth, ends Dec. 31.
"I'm looking forward to working hard for the remainder of the term, we have a budget to craft and a major housing bill to get over the goal line along with many other initiatives," Peake said in a statement Friday.
She added, "It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the wonderful people of the fourth Barnstable district for these past 18 years. There is no more beautiful district filled with wonderful people anywhere in the Commonwealth. It has been my honor to be there for my constituents when they needed help untangling the red tape of state government, and to help craft legislation making sure our environment, economy, and way of life can thrive here on the outer and lower Cape."
Peake and her wife, Lynn Mogell, ran a Provincetown bed and breakfast from 1993 until 2015. Peake also served on the Provincetown High School Site Council, Charter Enforcement Commission and Provincetown Select Board before her time on Beacon Hill.
During her House tenure, Peake led the charge to create the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund, which provides a funding mechanism to help defray the cost of sewer projects on the Cape, and was involved in efforts to protect access to abortion and to update the state's gun safety laws.
"Being there for the last and final vote on marriage equality, that we made sure that it was going to be permanent and enshrined in our Constitution, was of course very big," she told the News Service on Friday.
And though Peake said she is looking forward to retirement and being able to control her own schedule again, she said making the announcement Friday was "very bittersweet."
"Serving in the Massachusetts Legislature has been the honor of a lifetime. It's been exciting, it's been impactful on the local, state and national level, and it's been a lot of fun," she said. "And I absolutely love all of the colleagues who I serve with now and who I've served with through the years."
Written by Colin A. Young/SHNS.
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