Nick Collins concedes to Linda Dorcena Forry in First Suffolk District Senate race

By Adrian Walker, Globe Staff

State Representative Nick Collins today conceded the First Suffolk Senate District election to state Representative Linda Dorcena Forry, a Haitian-American from Dorchester who is now expected to claim a seat long held by Irish-American men from South Boston.

Collins issued a concession statement his morning.With 100 percent of votes tallied, the City of Boston’s unofficial results Tuesday night showed Forry holding a lead of 378 votes over South Boston’s Collins, out of a total of 21,730 votes cast in the three-way race.

“While I am disappointed in the result, I am proud of the campaign that we conducted in the neighborhoods of our district,’’ Collins said in the statement. “Congratulations to our Democratic nominee Linda Dorcena Forry. I look forward to working with Linda once we get her elected in June.”

He did not call for a recount today. Last night’s tally showed Collins received 9,836 votes to Forry’s 10,214.

Both Collins and Forry are expected at today’s Democratic party unity breakfast in downtown Boston. Blogger Maureen Dahill came in third.

As the Democratic nominee in a heavily Democratic district, Forry is the prohibitive favorite to win the so-called “Southie seat” in the general election. She now faces a political unknown, Dorchester native Joseph Anthony Ureneck, in the May 28 election.

If elected, Forry would become the first woman and racial minority to represent the district, which also covers portions of Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park, and the first Haitian-American ever to serve in the state Senate. She would also become the only black lawmaker currently serving in the state Senate.

Forry would replace former state senator John A. Hart Jr., a South Boston Democrat, who resigned in January to take a job at a law firm. Before Hart, the seat was held by US Representative Stephen Lynch and, before that, William Bulger, who represented the district for 25 years.