Not exactly. He was first elected (barely) in 1980 when Father Drinan retired. He was not a popular figure at the time, even amongst Democrats. When the ‘80s redistricting for 1982 went into effect, it was Frank who was targeted for defeat by the legislature and DINO Gov. Ed King, who approved placing him in a historically GOP-leaning area with Peggy Heckler. They expected Heckler would defeat him in 1982, but Frank turned the tables and beat her (this was right before the economic figures were released showing Reagan’s plans were working, which cost us a number of GOP seats).
Interesting. Margaret Heckler was a moderate/liberal Republican who was and is prolife on abortions. I wish more of the liberal Republicans were like that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Heckler
I didn’t know Massachusetts had such a conservative Democrat governor at that time. No wonder he later became a Republican.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._King
If Margaret Heckler was the most liberal a Republican could be and if the Democrats were more like Ed King was I think our nation and culture would be a lot better off.