In 2013, Linda Dorcena Forry was engaged in a bitter special election battle against a fellow state representative, Nick Collins, for a suddenly vacant state Senate seat. She won by a mere 378 votes.

Five years later, it’s Forry who is leaving the seat in the middle of a state Senate term, prompting a special election for her successor. And, instead of being rivals, she was poised Thursday night to take the stage in Dorchester to endorse Collins at his campaign kickoff.

Forry said an interview that she didn’t plan to endorse a successor — especially when it looked like Collins would face state Representative Evandro Carvalho, a Dorchester lawyer, in a primary in the heavily Democratic district.

But earlier this week, Carvalho announced he would instead run for district attorney of Suffolk County, effectively leaving the field to Collins.

Forry she said she has worked well with Collins, who continued to serve as a representative while she was in the Senate.

“We have worked together on so many issues, and he will make a great senator,” Forry said.

The First Suffolk District of the state Senate stretches from Mattapan north to the Seaport and includes South Boston and Dorchester. The special election is May 1.

 

This article originally appeared in the Boston Globe on March 2, 2018, by James Pindell