Paul Heroux

Paul Heroux was first elected in November 2012 as the State Representative from the Second Bristol District, Massachusetts. Heroux won his primary with over 78% of the vote.[1] He then defeated Republican incumbent George T. Ross with over 58% of the vote.[2] Representative-elect Heroux was sworn in as freshmen representative on January 2, 2013.[3]

On November 4, 2014 Heroux was elected to a second term with 61% of the vote over local businessman Bert Buckley.[4]

In 2016, Heroux ran unopposed for reelection and received 99.6% of the total votes cast for state representative.[5]

Heroux's work as a state representative included creating a $38 million school internet infrastructure grant program that offered money to school districts all over Massachusetts,[6][7] was a cosponsor of the transgender public accommodation bill,[8] which is now law as the Massachusetts Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Initiative,[9] was a cosponsor of the ban on gay conversion therapy,[10] which is now law,[11] adding money to several state budgets for homeless children's programs,[12] and fought to try to get the state to measure prison program outcomes on reducing recidivism.[13]

In September 2017, Heroux came in first in a mayoral preliminary against 7-term incumbent Kevin Dumas, handing Dumas his first political defeat.[14] On the day of the preliminary election, Heroux was featured by several media outlets for being bitten by a dog the day before while campaigning for mayor, his sixth dog bite in 5 years.[15] On 7 November 2017, Heroux defeated 7-term incumbent Kevin Dumas with 54% of the vote.[16]

In November 2019, Heroux defeated Republican challenger and city council vice president Heather Porreca 67% to 32% for the race for mayor.[17]

During Heroux's tenure as mayor, he has taken many decidedly pro-environmental positions. These include purchasing the bankrupt privately owned Highland Country Club and turning it into the city owned Highland Park[18] and putting a monarch butterfly population in the new park,[19] making all city government buildings 100% wind powered,[20] changing all of the city street lights and city building lights to LED lights,[21] moving the city fleet of vehicles to hybrids where possible,[21] putting solar panels above city owned parking lots,[21] making Attleboro a Green Community,[22] banning single use plastic bags,[23] banning the intentional releasing of balloons into the air,[24] banning the distribution of plastic straws, the sale of fluorescent light bulbs containing mercury and bee killing insecticides containing neonicotinoids,[25] and submitting an ordinance proposal that would ban body and face washes that have plastic exfoliating beads, plastic and Styrofoam take away cups and containers from restaurants, single use plastic water bottles, and plastic miniature alcohol bottles.[26]

As mayor, Heroux has also pushed the redevelopment of the city center,[27] prioritized business support,[28] prioritized education spending by repairing roofs that leaked for 20 years,[29] boosted education funding and created a special education stabilization fund,[30] maintained the city's AA bond rating despite hard financial times inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic,[31] and promoted advanced training in unconscious bias and de-escalation training for city police officers,[32] made sure that every firefighter has two sets of protective fire gear for the first time in city department history,[33] made news across the country when he implemented a strict zero tolerance policy for people who leave dogs in hot cars,[34][35][36][37][38][39] and made city hall pet fiendly so that animals don't need to be left in a car when residents visit city hall.[40]