MARTY WALSH, President Biden’s former labor chief and a former mayor of Boston, recently wed his longtime partner during a trip to the Caribbean.
Walsh and Lorrie Higgins, who have been together for about two decades, quietly married in March, almost a year after he left public service for the private sector, according to their marriage certificate. A local justice of the peace performed the ceremony. Both Walsh and Higgins and further details were not immediately available.
They first met at the State House when he was a Dorchester state representative and she was an aide to Chelsea state Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty. In his victory speech the night he won the 2013 race for mayor, Walsh called Higgins “the love of my life.”
The 56-year-old Walsh, who was also a top labor labor leader at the same time he was a State House lawmaker, is currently the head of the NHL players union, while the 51-year-old Higgins, known as someone who prefers to stay out of the spotlight, works as a nonprofit fundraising consultant. They’ve lived together in a home close to Boston’s border with Milton since 2015.
When Walsh became mayor of Boston, succeeding Tom Menino, the Boston Globe called Higgins the “first girlfriend,” and Walsh the “first bachelor to win the mayor’s office in more than 60 years.”
Walsh was gearing up to run for a third four-year mayoral term when Biden tapped him as labor secretary in 2021. Walsh left the Biden administration in February 2023 to take the post at the NHL Players Association.
Even with a multimillion-dollar job in the private sector, Walsh is still widely viewed by local observers as a political animal who has another campaign in him, such as one for the governor’s office. He briefly weighed running for governor when Gov. Charlie Baker, a Walsh friend, decided against a campaign for a third term.
Walsh’s political campaign account, left over from his time as mayor, has $3.7 million. He has been steadily spending down that account since he left City Hall in March 2021, when the account held just over $5 million.
In the last several months, Walsh has donated $25,000 to the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, which is headed by fellow Dorchester resident and former mayoral candidate Annissa Essaibi George; $10,000 to the Massachusetts Democratic Party; and $5,000 to the Irish Cultural Centre.
Walsh has also remained enmeshed in local politics, headlining fundraisers for state lawmakers and endorsing candidates for City Council, including John FitzGerald, whose late father served with Walsh in the state Legislature.
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