State senate candidate Mike Barrett, D-Lexington, has picked up an early endorsement in the race to succeed Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, in the Third Middlesex Senate seat.

Carol Amick, a former state senator who represented most of today’s Third Middlesex District from 1977 to 1989, is backing Barrett in his attempt to return to the state senate, where he served from 1987 to 1994 before launching a failed gubernatorial bid.

“Mike is far and away the best choice for the district,” Amick said in a press release. “He and I served together in the State Senate. Mike is smart, progressive, hardworking and always challenged the old insider politics at the State House. Given his years of experience in the public and private sectors, I could not have created a candidate with credentials better matched to the district.”

Reached by phone on Thursday, Amick, a Bedford resident, confirmed her endorsement of Barrett and said she has no reservations about backing a candidate when others continue to emerge following Fargo’s recent retirement announcement.

“I just happen to believe this guy is really honest and decent and honorable,” Amick told Patch. “And I’m not saying the other candidates aren’t, but I think he would do really well in the state senate. You know, it goes beyond just the votes, but how you use positions to frame policy debates. Mike Barrett is the kind of guy who on is own was able to elevate issues in the past and get attention on those issues.”

In a press release, Barrett said he was honored to have the endorsement of Amick, whom he considered a role model to him when he entered the State Senate in 1987.

“She was the environmental conscience of the Massachusetts Legislature in a time of high oil prices and complicated policy choices,” Barrett said. “I intend to follow in her tradition of environmental leadership and I’m honored to have her endorsement.”

Amick’s endorsement of Barrett for the Third Middlesex seat comes as the field continues to form.

Though Barrett declared his intentions to run long before Fargo made public her plans not to seek re-election after her current term, several other candidates emerged following Fargo’s Feb. 10 announcement.

Barrett’s democratic competition includes Concord resident Mara Dolan and Joe Mullin of Weston. Republican candidates include Concord Selectman Greg Howes and Sandi Martinez of Chelmsford, both of whom declared before Fargo bowed out. 

This week also saw a few potential candidates cross their names off of the list as Waltham Police Det. Sgt. Tim King and state Rep. Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington, both told Patch they mulled runs but decided against it.