Primary Night 2018 was a big night for Progressive Massachusetts and our endorsed candidates.
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley defeated incumbent Congressman Mike Capuano by 17%, becoming the first woman of color to represent Massachusetts in Washington.
Rachael Rollins won by 16% and will become the first woman of color to be the District Attorney of Suffolk County. She ran on a strong progressive platform of implementing the recently passed criminal justice reform bill and taking bold steps beyond it to curb mass incarceration and make sure we aren’t criminalizing poverty, illness, and addiction.
And in a strong message to House Leadership, challengers Jon Santiago and Nika Elugardo defeated Assistant Majority Leader Byron Rushing and Ways & Means Chair Jeff Sanchez, respectively.
They will be joined in the House by other Progressive Mass endorsees Lindsay Sabadosa (Northampton), Maria Robinson (Framingham), and Tommy Vitolo (Brookline), all of whom had big wins last night and face no challenge in the general election. Additionally, Berkshire County will now have a progressive reformer District Attorney in Andrea Harrington.
Becca Rausch won big and will go on to face incumbent Senator Richard Ross this November, and Steve Leibowitz will go on to face incumbent Representative Tim Whelan. Christina Minicucci will face a Republican challenger this fall as well. They will all need your help.
As do our endorsees Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey, who are fighting to bring progressive policy back to the Corner Office.
Not all of our endorsed candidates won, but we admire the hard work they put in and commitment to moving Massachusetts in a more progressive direction.
Running for office isn’t easy, especially if you are challenging an incumbent. But primaries are essential in a single-party Legislature that too often quells any actual debate.
Reflecting on her victory, Nika Elugardo said, “We need a new kind of politician. And some of those are already in the State House and waiting for their own personal transformation and they will come to be that type of politician. And some are going to have to be replaced because that’s not what they want or are capable of.”
That has been our mission since Progressive Mass started. We hold elected officials accountable, combining issue advocacy and electoral organizing, in a uniquely powerful combination. And our ability to succeed at that work depends on supporters like you.
