THE STORY OF THE
PLYMOUTH COUNTY DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE

The Plymouth County Democratic League is one of the oldest continuous political organizations in Massachusetts, founded in 1934 when Plymouth County was a Republican stronghold. Back then, the county was a hotbed of anti-immigration sentiment. Most residents were the descendants of old British colonists who resented the Irish, Italian, and Eastern European immigrants that had come to Boston and were beginning to move out of the cities.

 

By the 1960s, Plymouth County’s growing population and the popularity of John F. Kennedy made the county politically competitive. By 1970, there were more Democrats elected to the state legislature than Republicans. Since then, the party’s strength in the area has ebbed and flowed, but the county has elected prominent Democrats like Michael Brady, Josh Cutler, and Joan Meschino.