Frank G. Cousins, Jr. (born May 7, 1958, in
Boston, Massachusetts) is an American politician who served as the
Essex County, Massachusetts
Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the eightieth-most populous in the countr ...
Sheriff. Cousins became the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
sheriff in Massachusetts when he was appointed to the position in 1996 by then Massachusetts Governor
William Weld.
Prior to his appointment to sheriff, Cousins had served on the
Newburyport, Massachusetts City Council, and then in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
from 1993 up until he became sheriff. As a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, Cousins has won elections for the sheriff position in 1998, 2004, and 2010 in heavily
Democratic Essex County.
He did not run for reelection in 2016.
References
1958 births
Living people
Politicians from Newburyport, Massachusetts
African-American sheriffs
African-American state legislators in Massachusetts
Massachusetts city council members
Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Sheriffs of Essex County, Massachusetts
Massachusetts local politicians
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people
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