State Rep. Zlotnik Will Seek Gobi's Worcester-Area State Senate Seat

WORCESTER, MA — A Gardner state representative is the first candidate to signal his intention to run for state Sen. Ann Gobi's seat as she prepares to join the Gov. Maura Healey administration.

Healey this week picked Gobi, a Spencer resident, to become the state's rural affairs director, a new position inside the governor's economic development office. Gobi will start the new role on June 5, triggering a special election to fill her seat.

Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik Tuesday switched his campaign purpose to run for Gobi's Worcester and Hampshire seat, which covers Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Gardner, Hardwick, Holden, Hubbardston, Leicester, New Braintree North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Spencer, Sterling, Templeton, Ware, West Brookfield, Westminster and southwestern Worcester.

Zlotnik, 33, won his 2nd Worcester District state House seat in 2012 while he was still in college. He is the vice chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses. He also sits on the House Committee on Climate Change, and the joint committees on Labor and Workforce Development and Public Safety and Homeland Security.

Gobi has represented the wide area between Worcester and the Quabbin Reservoir since 2000. She won her senate seat in 2014, and was most recently reelected in 2022 in a race against Republican James Amorello.