House · Democrat
Margaret R. Scarsdale
Data through FY2026; built October 19, 2026.
Residence
Pepperell
First elected
House 2022
Prior public offices
Pepperell Select Board, 2019-2022 / Chair 2021-2022
Occupation
Public servant
| Session | Chamber | District | Lines | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 193rd (2023–24) | House | 1st Middlesex | 2021 lines | |
| 194th (2025–26) | House | 1st Middlesex | 2021 lines |
Posts and stipends
No stipend payments to Margaret R. Scarsdale are recorded for 2016–2026.
| Session | Posts | First year | Second year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 193rd (2023–24) | No post recorded | $0 | $0 |
| 194th (2025–26) | No post recorded | $0 | $0 (to date) |
Posts: the Legislature’s leadership and roster records as compiled for this project; where those name no post, the member’s committee chair, vice-chair and ranking roles from the Legislature’s member profiles. Stipends: additional compensation in the Comptroller’s payroll data (CTHRU dataset 9ttk-7vz6), 2016–2026; 2026 is the year to date. Stipends for 2015 are not available. Base salary is not included.
The district
1st Middlesex on its 2021 lines: 6 cities and towns, 43,291 residents (2020).
Pepperell · Townsend · Lunenburg · Groton · Dunstable · Ashby
Percentages are each place’s share of the district’s 2020 residents; for a town split between districts, the share of the town inside this one follows.
Population-weighted Fairness Index of the district’s cities and towns: 49 for all state aid and 40 for discretionary money (50 is a fair share).
Local earmarks are counted three ways. District money uses the first, clauses that name a place in the district; the second table adds organizations located in the district (placed in the district) and state facilities located there (everything placed). Three ways to count a local earmark.
| Session | District | Dollars | In corrective clauses | Per resident per budget, rank | Without corrective clauses, rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 193rd (2023–24) | 1st Middlesex | $772,000 | $0 | $8.91 · 60th of 160 | $8.91 · 60th of 160 |
| 194th (2025–26) | 1st Middlesex | $517,000 | $0 | $11.95 · 33rd of 160 | $11.95 · 32nd of 160 |
District money is where enacted earmarks land, by the place a clause names, mapped to districts by 2020 population; it is not attributed to the member and does not include leadership’s base-text money that names no place. Ranks are of district money per resident among the chamber’s districts, 1 = most. “In corrective clauses” is the part carried by a Ways and Means chair’s corrective amendments, which is leadership’s money; the last column gives the per-resident figure and rank without it. Sessions are labeled by the General Court that enacted each budget. Per-resident figures use the district as drawn for each session (2011 lines through the 192nd General Court, 2021 lines from the 193rd), so they will not equal a session’s dollars divided by the resident count above.
| Session | District | Placed in the district | Per resident per budget, rank | Everything placed | Per resident per budget, rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 193rd (2023–24) | 1st Middlesex | $772,000 | $8.91 · 79th of 160 | $772,000 | $8.91 · 84th of 160 |
| 194th (2025–26) | 1st Middlesex | $517,000 | $11.95 · 48th of 160 | $517,000 | $11.95 · 53rd of 160 |
Budget amendments
Margaret R. Scarsdale sponsored 27 budget amendments in FY2017–FY2026, asking for $27.7 million in all.
Amendments sponsored
27
FY2017–FY2026 budgets
Adopted, known outcomes
39%
9 of 23
Chamber rate, same ask sizes
64%
expected at the chamber’s rates
Of the 23 with a known outcome, nine were adopted (39%). At the chamber’s adoption rate for amendments of the same size, about 15 (64%) would have been.
| Year | Amount | Enacted budget text (excerpt) | Amendment |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | $50,000 | “a new emergency vehicle for the fire chief in the town of Dunstable” | H3900 #420 |
| FY2025 | $45,000 | “updates to the Dunstable police department” | H4600 #416 |
| FY2026 | $40,000 | “the town of Lunenburg for security system upgrades in the Lunenburg public schools” | H4000 #184 |
| FY2026 | $35,000 | “the Pepperell council on aging for new kitchen equipment and security upgrades to the reception area” | H4000 #189 |
| FY2026 | $30,000 | “the town of Townsend for the completion of the fitness court project” | H4000 #176 |
Strong matches: 9 enacted items, $305,000 (the member’s share where several amendments claim one clause). House attribution is inferred throughout, because the House adopts most amendments inside consolidated amendments.
22 outcomes are inferred by matching amendment text to the House’s consolidated amendments, because the House records most amendments only as “Consolidated A–G.” Ask size is the larger of the earmark dollars and the line-item change an amendment requests; bands: no dollar amount, under $50,000, $50,000–$250,000, $250,000–$1 million, $1–5 million, $5 million or more. Leadership’s unattributed base-text and corrective-amendment money is never assigned to a member. The comparison describes outcomes; it is not a measure of merit.
Bills sponsored
Margaret R. Scarsdale filed 35 bills as lead sponsor in these sessions; six were enacted on their own. In completed sessions, 36% of their lead bills were enacted on their own, against a chamber median of 4% for the same sessions.
Most bills die in every legislature, and many policies pass inside other bills; the chamber median for the same session is the fair comparison.
| Session | Chamber | Lead bills | Enacted | Folded into an enacted bill | Sent to study | Reported favorably, then died | No action | Pending (session open) | Enacted rate | Chamber median | Cosponsored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 193rd (2023–24) | House | 14 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 36% | 4% | 423 |
| 194th (2025–26) | House | 21 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5%* | 1% | 367 |
Enacted bills as lead sponsor
- H3728 (193rd): An Act approving the Townsend special act charter · Chapter 229 of the Acts of 2024
- H3884 (193rd): An Act merging certain voting precincts in the Town of Groton · Chapter 45 of the Acts of 2023
- H3911 (193rd): An Act authorizing the town of Lunenburg to establish a means tested senior citizen property tax exemption · Chapter 333 of the Acts of 2024
- H4194 (193rd): An Act relative to the charter in the town of Groton · Chapter 225 of the Acts of 2024
- H4244 (193rd): An Act changing the board of selectmen in the town of Dunstable to the select board · Chapter 208 of the Acts of 2024
- H4795 (194th): An Act amending the charter for the town of Groton · Chapter 234 of the Acts of 2026
Outcomes are the furthest point each bill reached in the record. “Folded into an enacted bill” means the history names the enacted bill that absorbed it. “Passed both branches; no chapter recorded” means the bill was enacted by both branches and laid before the Governor, with no chapter or veto in the history; in the 194th General Court such bills are shown as laid before the Governor (pending). The 194th General Court is in session until January 2027, so its open bills are pending, not dead, and its rates (*) are not comparable with completed sessions. Chairs and leaders control the calendar, which raises their rates. Source: malegislature.gov bill histories.
Recorded votes on accountability measures
Margaret R. Scarsdale cast 20 yes-or-no votes on the 20 accountability roll calls in this file (six yes, 14 no).
| Date | Measure | Vote | Chamber result |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2023 | Amendment 7.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Time to review technical/ perfecting amendments | No | Yeas 23, nays 130 |
| February 1, 2023 | Amendment 12.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Review of Consolidated Amendments | No | Yeas 23, nays 130 |
| February 1, 2023 | House rules (H2023), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 153, nays 0 |
| February 1, 2023 | Amendment 3.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Local Aid Resolution | No | Yeas 23, nays 130 |
| February 1, 2023 | Amendment 9.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Hearing Schedule | No | Yeas 24, nays 129 |
| February 1, 2023 | Joint rules (H2025), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 153, nays 0 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 2.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Roll Calls | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 3.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Formal Session Notification | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 4.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): General Court Audits | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 5.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Opinion of the Justices | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 6.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Polls | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 7.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Poll Notification | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Joint rules (H2026), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 128, nays 23 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 18.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Time to Review Legislation | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 17.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Audit by State Auditor | No | Yeas 24, nays 127 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 2.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Polls | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | Amendment 3.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Poll Notifications | No | Yeas 23, nays 128 |
| February 25, 2025 | House rules (H2024), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 128, nays 23 |
| June 26, 2025 | Joint rules (conference report) (S2545), rules package: on acceptance (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 147, nays 2 |
| June 3, 2026 | Engross H.5469 (public records law applied to the Legislature). Reform advocates split (contested meaning) | Yes | Yeas 125, nays 28 |
Votes marked “contested meaning” are rules-package and public-records passage votes; reform advocates were on both sides of them. Descriptions are the project’s plain summaries of each question, or the question as recorded for rules-package roll calls; the official record is on malegislature.gov. Votes are facts; no score is computed.
Campaign money in
Margaret R. Scarsdale’s committee reported $175,000 in contributions of $250 or more in years the member served, 2023–2026.
| Year | Contributions |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $23,000 |
| 2024 | $85,000 |
| 2025 | $23,000 |
| 2026 | $43,000 |
| Kind | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals | $141,000 | 81% |
| Political committees and PACs | $29,000 | 16% |
| Unions and associations | $4,800 | 3% |
| Employer reported | Share |
|---|---|
| A named employer | 31% |
| Self-employed | 12% |
| Retired | 1% |
| Not employed | 53% |
| Not reported or withheld | 3% |
Not counted as contributions: $4,000 in other receipts of $250 or more in the same years (candidate loans and the candidate’s own money, transfers, refunds, bank interest and aggregated small receipts).
The same committee also reported $56,000 in years the member was not in the Legislature (2021, 2022), for example while running for another office. Those receipts are not in the totals above.
| Employer or organization | Kind | Total | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| MA DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE | committee or PAC | $15,000 | 4 |
| COLUMBUS ROOFING | individuals, by employer | $4,000 | 4 |
| RIVERBED TECHNOLOGY | individuals, by employer | $2,900 | 6 |
| TOGETHER FAMILY CHILD CARE | individuals, by employer | $2,500 | 5 |
| SOMOS | individuals, by employer | $2,500 | 3 |
| GROTON SCHOOL | individuals, by employer | $2,000 | 2 |
| MGH INSTITUTE | individuals, by employer | $2,000 | 3 |
| TOWNSEND COMMUNITY ACCESS MEDIA | individuals, by employer | $1,900 | 7 |
| GROTON DUNSTABLE REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | individuals, by employer | $1,750 | 4 |
| LARGO | individuals, by employer | $1,600 | 2 |
Source: Office of Campaign and Political Finance, itemized receipts of $250 or more since 2015; OCPF filer record: Scarsdale Committee (CPF 17168). Individuals are grouped by the employer they reported; no individual contributor is named, and an employer field that is a person’s name is withheld. Massachusetts bars business contributions to candidates. Employer shows affiliation, not instruction.
Sources
Every figure traces to a public record.
- Massachusetts Legislature, members, districts and roll calls
- Budget amendments and enacted budgets, FY2017–FY2026
- CTHRU payroll, Office of the Comptroller (stipends)
- Office of Campaign and Political Finance
- District lines: Acts of 2011 and 2021; Census 2020 block populations
- Official profile (prior offices, occupation)
- Election statistics (first elected, residence)
Facts only: posts, stipends, sponsored amendments, enacted items, roll-call votes and district money. No score or grade is computed. Associations shown here are not evidence of cause. Method.