One Month Until Primary Day: Our New State Legislative Endorsements

The Massachusetts state primary is just one month away: Tuesday, September 1st. And the general election just three months and two days.

The basics for getting prepared for the next month:

But beyond just being registered, we want you to be informed. Read questionnaires from candidates running for State Legislature across the state here.

There are a lot of questionnaires, so we decided to break up our endorsements into multiple batches as in years past.

Our Elections Committee reviewed questionnaires, spoke with allies, and made recommendations for our second round of endorsements, and then our members voted.

And we’re proud to endorse the following candidates, who will be progressive champions in the MA House and Senate.

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SENATE 

NorfoBlk, Bristol & Middlesex: Becca Rausch

Becca Rausch is a first-term senator and a progressive champion. We endorsed Becca in 2018, and she’s been one of our strongest allies in the Senate, with a perfect score on our 2019 scorecard. She’s been a tireless fighter for health equity, civil rights, and strengthening our democracy, and we need more senators like her.

Learn more at https://www.beccarausch.com/.

Where’s the District?: All or parts of Attleboro, Franklin, Millis, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, North Attelborough, Plainville, Sherborn, Wayland, Wellesley, and Wrentham

Norfolk, Bristol & Plymouth: Jarred Rose

Jarred Rose is a Town Meeting Member in Stoughton, a member of the Stoughton Cultural Council, and a former policy adviser in the MA Senate. He is running to fight for a Massachusetts Green New Deal, affordable housing for all income levels, and a more equitable and inclusive commonwealth.

Learn more at https://www.jarredrose.com/.

Where’s the District?: All or parts of Avon, Braintree, Canton, East Bridgewater, Easton, Milton, Randolph, Sharon, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater

Plymouth & Norfolk: Meg Wheeler

Meg Wheeler is the founder of One for Women, an online community and marketplace devoted to connecting and empowering women. She is running to fight for universal child care, a more aggressive response to climate change, and an economy that works for all, not just those on the top.

Learn more at https://www.megwheeler.com/.

Where’s the District?: Cohasset, Duxbury, Hingham, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Scituate, and Weymouth

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HOUSE

1st Essex: Amber Hewett

Amber Hewett is an environmental advocate who has advanced offshore wind policy in a number of states at the National Wildlife Federation. She’s ready to continue the fight for bold policies to mitigate climate change and address the intersectionality of the climate crisis with inequality and systemic racism.

Learn more at https://www.amberhewett.com/.

Where’s the District?: Amesbury, Newburport, and Salisbury

2nd Essex: Christina Eckert

Christina Eckert is a community advocate who has worked for Merrimack River Watershed Council, Masconomet Education Foundation, and the Community Giving Tree. She is running to fight for environmental protection and housing security and address the district’s status as public transit desert.

Learn more at https://www.eckertforrep.com/.

Where’s the District?: All or parts of Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Merrimac, Newbury, and West Newbury

8th Norfolk: Andrew Flowers

Andrew Flowers is an economist and the chair of Walpole’s affordable housing committee. He is running to fight for greater investments in public transit, make Massachusetts a more welcoming state for all, and strengthen democracy in the State House and the state as a whole.

Learn more at https://andrewflowers.com/.

Where’s the District?: All or parts of Mansfield, Sharon, Stoughton, and Walpole

16th Suffolk: Joe Gravellese

Joe Gravellese is former legislative director and mayoral aide and has the hands-on experience of crafting policy. He’s running for office in order to fight for greater investment in public transit, solutions to our affordable housing crisis, and an accelerated transition to 100% renewable energy.

Learn more at https://www.joegrav.com/.

Where’s the District?: Parts of Chelsea, Revere, and Saugus

Fight for Housing Justice & Immigration Justice

On Monday, the House voted on key housing amendments to its economic development bill.

State reps overwhelmingly ignored housing justice activists, voting AGAINST allowing municipalities to impose real estate transfer fees to combat speculation and raise money for affordable housing, AGAINST allowing municipalities to pass rent-stabilizing regulations, and AGAINST making it easier for municipalities to pass inclusionary zoning ordinances.

Some of these state reps — embarrassingly — voted against the text of bills they co-sponsored earlier in the session.

The Senate will be taking up its version of an economic development bill tomorrow, so that means there is another opportunity to fight for housing justice and immigration justice.

Can you call your senators in support of the following amendments? 

#2 (Crighton): Work and Family Mobility, which eliminates immigration status as a barrier to obtaining a driver’s license

#6 (Crighton): Tenant’s Right of First Refusal, which guarantees the right of refusal for tenants when a large building is up for sale or foreclosed

#47 (Boncore): Promoting Housing Opportunity and Mobility through Eviction Sealing (HOMES), which seals evictions when they are pending, until and unless an allegation is proven; seals all no-fault evictions, and seals all evictions after 3 years

#57 (Cyr): Compromise local option transfer fee on high cost home sales to support low and middle income housing, which enables municipalities to impose a real estate transfer fee on sales above $1 million, with money going to affordable housing

#96 (Collins): City of Boston Inclusionary Development Policy and Linkage Fees, which incorporates Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy (requires affordable units within new residential projects) and Linkage Fees (requires payments from large commercial developments to fund affordable housing and job training) into Boston’s zoning code and allows for future rate adjustments 

#175 (DiDomenico): Tenant Right to Counsel Pilot, which establishes a right to counsel pilot program to provide full legal representation to eligible individuals vulnerable to evictions

#249 (Jehlen): Supporting Affordable Housing With A Local Option For A fee To Be Applied To Certain Real Estate Transactions, which enables cities and towns to impose transfer fees on real estate sales with appropriate exemptions (e.g., for low- and middle-income homeowners)

Massachusetts House Votes Down Proposals to Help Renters, Promote Affordable Housing

When Governor Charlie Baker sent an economic development bill to the MA Legislature, he included his “Housing Choices” legislation, which had been stalled as a standalone bill. The “Housing Choices” bill addresses one aspect of Massachusetts’s affordable housing crisis: the fact that new construction is relatively rare in the suburbs due to the prevalence of single-family zoning. If you can only build one housing unit per lot, it makes it more difficult to respond to a growing population or growing demand. Currently, zoning changes (such as those that would approve multifamily housing construction) require a 2/3 approval from local government. Baker’s bill, which the MA House retained in their economic development package, would lower that to a simple majority.

The need for more supply, though, is just one part of the problem. There is no guarantee that the new supply would be affordable, nor that the new supply would not push up rents for current tenants, thus running the risk of displacement. There isn’t even a guarantee that any new housing will be built at all (it’s a removal of a barrier rather than promise of new construction).

That being said, as an MIT researcher recently noted in CommonWealth Mag, all this means is that we need to think comprehensively when we approach the affordable housing crisis: we do need zoning reform, but we also need stronger protections for existing tenants. Tenant protections will not address the need for supply: only new construction can. Zoning reform will not address displacement: you need tenant protections for that. This was also an essential takeaway of the book Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty on the housing crisis in San Francisco.

Unfortunately, the MA House voted down efforts at striking such a balance.

Rep. Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge) filed and roll-called three amendments to strike a better balance.

First was his amendment 34, which would have enabled municipalities to impose transfer fees on real estate transactions to fund affordable housing. Cities like Boston, Somerville, and Nantucket have filed home rule petitions in order to be able to do so because state law prohibits them from doing so on their own. To be clear, this amendment would simply allow municipalities to pass their own laws to address the affordable housing crisis–and to craft whatever exemptions to the transfer fee’s application as they see appropriate.

The House voted 130 to 29 against it. 9 state reps endorsed *the very same bill* but voted NO here: Barrett, Driscoll, Garballey, Gonzalez, Keefe, Khan, Livingstone, Miranda, and Santiago.

The only argument put forth against it on the floor was from Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford), who said that there is already enough money for affordable housing (false) and that a transfer fee would hurt low and middle-income homeowners (also false, given the allowance of exemptions).

He also filed and roll-called an amendment that reflected the text of his Tenant Protection Act, which would remove the prohibition on rent control and enable municipalities to pass other tenant protections, such as just cause eviction ordinances or limitations on condo conversions. Again, simply allowing municipalities to pass their own laws in response to the affordable housing crisis.

The House voted 136 to 23 against it. Five legislators who co-sponsored the very same bill voted against the amendment: Devers, Hawkins, LeBoeuf, Miranda, and Santiago.

7.27.20 House Vote on RC

Finally, Connolly filed and roll-called an amendment to lower the threshold for approval of inclusionary zoning ordinances to a simple majority. Inclusionary zoning, i.e., the requirement that a certain percentage of new construction meet an affordability threshold, was not included in the list of zoning changes that would no longer need a supermajority.

Given that many suburbs don’t want to build housing at all, there is likely not a rush to adopt inclusionary zoning, but if a suburb were so forward-thinking, it should be able to.

The House voted 139 to 19 against allowing that. Again, five representatives who co-sponsored *the same bill* voted against it: Gentile, Hawkins, Hendricks, LeBoeuf, and Livingstone.

7.27.20 House Vote on Inclusionary Zoning

Four Weeks Left….

Unless anything changes, four weeks from today — Friday, July 31st — the formal part of the 191st Legislative Session of the Massachusetts General Court will come to an end.

That means that there are four weeks for the MA Legislature to up its game on pretty much every single front.

Four weeks for them to take action in support of immigrants’ rights, such as passing the Safe Communities Act and the Work & Family Mobility Act.

Four weeks for them to take action in support of reproductive justice by passing the ROE Act.

Four weeks for them to tackle the systemic racism in policing and the criminal legal system.

Four weeks for them to tackle our affordable housing crisis (and just over a month for them to take action before the eviction moratorium passed earlier this year expires).

Four weeks for them to take action to address climate change because Mother Nature doesn’t care about self-imposed deadlines.

Four weeks for them to pass Emergency Paid Sick Time so that workers don’t have to choose between their health and their job security in a global pandemic.

Four weeks for them to pass a budget that lives up to our values by raising progressive revenue to avoid deep, harmful cuts in public services.

None of this will happen unless your legislators hear from you — loud and clear — that they can’t keep procrastinating. That they can’t keep punting issues to later and later in the session until each session runs out. And then the cycle of excuse-making and delay continues.

Can you call your legislators to demand action in these final four weeks?

Find their contact information here, and then save it for next time.

Two Months Until Primary Day

The Massachusetts state primary is two months from today: Tuesday, September 1st.

The basics for getting prepared for the next couple months:

But beyond just being registered, we want you to be informed. Read questionnaires from candidates running for State Legislature across the state here.

There are a lot of questionnaires, and we will break up our endorsements into multiple batches as in years past.

Our Elections Committee reviewed questionnaires, spoke with allies, and made recommendations for a first batch, and then our members voted.

And we’re proud to endorse the following candidates, who will be progressive champions in the MA House.

17th Essex: Marianela Rivera

About the District: Precincts 2, 3 and 4, of Andover, precincts 1, 2 and 3, of ward C, ward D, and precinct 1 of ward E, of Lawrence, and precinct 2 in Methuen

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Marianela Rivera is a special education professional, Coordinator of the Greater Lawrence Education Justice Alliance, and the Vice Chair of the Lawrence School Committee, where she has fought for greater equity and community empowerment. She is running to fight for equity and justice in education, health care, and our response to climate change.

Learn more at https://www.riveraforstaterep.com/.

17th Middlesex: Lisa Arnold

About the District: Precinct 4, of Chelmsford, ward 1, precinct 3 of ward 2, precincts 2 and 3 of ward 4, and wards 10 and 11, of Lowell

Lisa Arnold

Lisa Arnold is a quality systems manager, founding member of Solidarity Lowell, and member of the Lowell Bike Coalition. She is running to fight for increased access to care for mental health, bold and immediate climate action, improved public transportation, and solutions to the affordable housing crisis.

Learn more at https://lisaforstaterep.com/.

27th Middlesex: Erika Uyterhoeven

About the District: Precincts 2 and 3 of ward 2, and wards 3, 5 and 6, of Somerville

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Erika Uyterhoeven is an antitrust economist, organizer, and the founder of Act on Mass, where she has worked to activate grassroots organizers and voters to hold the Massachusetts State House accountable on progressive issues. She is running to fight for progressive revenue, a Massachusetts Green New Deal, and increasing investments in public schools and public housing.

Learn more at https://www.electerika.com/.

29th Middlesex: Steve Owens

About the District: Ward 9, precinct 3 of ward 10, and precinct 2 of ward 11, of Cambridge, and precincts 1–9, of Watertown

Steve Owens

Steve Owens is a community activist, member of the Watertown Transportation Task Force, and transportation consultant, helping public sector clients use data-driven analysis to develop freight transportation plans. He is running to fight for bold action to reduce the impact of climate change, greater investment in public transit, and expanded access to sustainable and affordable housing.

Learn more at https://votesteveowens.com/.

2nd Suffolk: Damali Vidot

About the District: Ward 2 (Charlestown), of Boston, and Wards 1 and 2, precincts 1 and 3 of ward 3, and precincts 1 and 4 of ward 4, of Chelsea

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Damali Vidot is a community activist, youth mentor, and Chelsea City Councilor. She has fought for affordable housing, environmental justice, community empowerment, transit equity, and a more equitable economy in her role on the City Council and is running to continue that fight in the Massachusetts State House.

Learn more at https://www.votedamali.org/.

14th Suffolk: Gretchen Van Ness

About the District: Precincts 9–20, 22 and 23 of ward 18, precincts 3, 8 and 9 of ward 20, of Boston

Gretchen Van Ness

Gretchen Van Ness is a civil rights lawyer who has litigated and advocated against all forms of discrimination and recently served as General Counsel and Legislative Director for progressive State Senator Becca Rausch. She is running to fight for an accelerated transition to an equitable green economy, fully funding our public schools, and health care as a human right.

Learn more at https://www.gretchenvanness.org/.

17th Suffolk: Jordan Meehan

About the District: Precincts 3, 5–12 and 15 of ward 21, and precincts 2, 3, 6, 9 and 10 in ward 22, of Boston (Allston/Brighton)

Jordan Meehan

Jordan Meehan is a lawyer, environmental activist, and the Policy Coordinator for the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, where he advocates for policies to help homeless youth, reform our juvenile justice system, and build safe and supportive school environments. He is running to fight for housing justice, transit equity, and a Green New Deal for Massachusetts.

Learn more at https://www.jordanforma.com/.

12th Worcester: Ceylan Rowe

About the District: Berlin, Boylston, Clinton, Lancaster, precincts 2 and 4 of Northborough, and precinct 2 of Sterling

Ceylan Rowe

Ceylan Rowe is a small business owner, community activist, and Commissioner on the MetroWest Commission on the Status of Women, where she has fought for legislation to support women and girls. She is running to fight for bold solutions on climate, local economic development, gender equity, and educational opportunity for all.

Learn more at https://www.roweforrep.com/.

Supporting Black Lives on Juneteenth (and Every Day)

Black Lives Matter

Today is Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union army general Gordon Granger announced federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming that all slaves in Texas were now free.

Juneteenth honors Black freedom and Black resistance. And it serves as a reminder that, despite our country’s founding rhetoric, many were excluded from that promise of freedom — and, indeed, that promise has yet to be fully realized.

Racism, both individual and systemic, remains a pervasive problem in society, especially in policing and the criminal-legal system.

However, as Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley says so well, if policy created these injustices, we need policy to undo them.

An Act to Save Black Lives by Transforming Public Safety

We still have work to do in Massachusetts to address the structural inequities. An Act to Save Black Lives by Transforming Public Safety, introduced by Representative Liz Miranda (HD 5128) and Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (S.2968), will take important steps in the effort toward equity and justice. This legislation establishes:

  • Strengthened use of force rules
  • New investigatory requirements within Attorney General’s Office
  • Creates a “Duty to intervene” when an officer witnesses abuse of force
  • Establishes that unnecessary use of force by an officer violates someone’s civil rights
  • Data collection and reporting processes to prevent hire of abusive officers
  • Prohibition on no-knock warrants
  • Prohibition on the use of choke holds, tear gas, and other dangerous “less than lethal” weapons and tactics
  • Public records of police misconduct investigations and outcomes

Massachusetts needs to pass HD5128/S2968 to save Black lives and transform our public safety system.

Can you email your state legislators in support?

Investing in Communities, Not the Carceral State

But reform can only go so far.

As budget season nears, the Legislature will have the opportunity to put words into action and craft a budget that shows that they actually mean it when they say that Black Lives Matter.

What would that look like?

Our allies at Families for Justice as Healing are calling on Governor Baker, Senate President Spilka, and Speaker DeLeo to commit to the following: 1) No capital bond money for new jails or prisons 2) Cutting the budget for the Department of Corrections 3) Cutting the budget for sheriffs 4) Increasing funding for communities, which means housing, healthcare, community-led organizations, and community-led economic development

In short, we should be spending on communities not on criminalization.

Can you email Baker, Spilka, and DeLeo in support?

Want to do more? Of course you do! Families for Justice as Healing also has an ongoing week of action, where you can find new things to do each week to advance a more humane, just, and equitable society.

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter

The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and Rayshard Brooks have served as a tragic reminder of the epidemic that is police brutality in the United States. 

Over the past few weeks (indeed, over the past few years), we keep seeing more video evidence of how widespread, how dehumanizing, and how fatal police violence is and how disproportionately such violence is used against the Black community. Some say the current wave of protests is a historic turning point; we need to make it one.

It is important to recognize that the graphic imagery of police brutality is just one of the many violent manifestations of systemic racism and white supremacy. The underfunding of schools in communities of color is a form of violence. The denial of health care access is a form of violence. Exclusionary housing policies are a form of violence. The environmental injustices of siting pollution near communities of color is a form of violence. 

The statistics of systemic racism in Massachusetts are clear. 

Systemic racism is why the incarceration rate among our Commonwealth’s Black population is almost seven times that of the white population (while the population is nine times smaller). 

Systemic racism is why the median wealth for a Black household in Greater Boston is $8, whereas the median wealth of a white household is nearly $250,000. 

Systemic racism is why Black women in Greater Boston make 52 cents for every dollar that white men make.

Systemic racism is why air pollution increased in Black communities in the Commonwealth while falling statewide. 

We are happy to see that our national elected officials like Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley have already filed legislation to increase accountability for police officers. 

Beyond such important reforms, we need to fundamentally rethink what public safety means. Bloated and militarized police budgets and ever-expanding budgets for prisons and jails are not what keeps communities safe; indeed, communities are less safe because of them. 

What keeps communities safe are investments in schools, in housing, in health care, and in community-led development. Our budgets need to reflect these priorities, and our policymaking should stop being hindered by the constant box-checking desire to have a police endorsement for any piece of legislation around public safety. 

Massachusetts could be leading, but we have not. The Governor and Legislature have known about these problems and the many other ways in which systemic racism manifests itself. Progressive legislators, especially progressive legislators of color, have filed legislation to advance racial equity, only to see bills dismissed in committee. The Governor and legislative leadership allow session after session to pass without meaningful action.

We are grateful to legislators who are reviving past bills and crafting new ones to address systemic inequities and racism. We are talking with our allies inside and outside the State House (as well as on the national and municipal level) about how to best amplify and support their work.

As Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley so often eloquently states, it was policy that created these injustices, and we need policies to undo them. We call on the Massachusetts Legislature, our Congressional delegation, and municipal electeds to listen to the communities who have been most impacted and to start legislating as though they actually believe that Black Lives Matter.

🗳️ENDORSEMENT ALERT🗳️: Alex Morse for CD-01, Robbie Goldstein for CD-08

The pandemic has revealed time and time again the systemic inequalities across Massachusetts (and the country) as well as the need for elected officials who are willing to be bold, progressive leaders and not wait for others to take action.

We need elected officials who will fight for Medicare for All because, as this pandemic shows, our health is connected, and no one should have to go broke to access the care that they need.

We need elected officials who will fight for the rights of immigrants and all marginalized communities.

We need elected officials who understand that the 2020s will be the decade in which we decide whether or not we can have a livable planet — and that we need a response to climate change that meets that urgency.

And we need elected officials who are willing to think creatively and to help chart what a progressive vision looks like for the country (and how we get out of the mess of the past four years).

Our members voted and overwhelmingly said that Alex Morse and Robbie Goldstein are the type of elected official we need, with each securing more than 95% of the vote.

(Stay tuned for more Congressional and down-ballot legislative endorsements in weeks to come.)

Alex Morse for CD-01

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At age 21, Alex Morse became the youngest and first openly gay mayor of Holyoke. In his role as mayor, he has helped make Holyoke a more just and prosperous city. He closed the state’s last coal power plant and replaced it with the state’s largest solar field, doubled the school system’s graduation rate, and implemented a needle exchange program to fight the opioid epidemic. Under Alex’s leadership, Holyoke became one of the first sanctuary cities in the country in 2014, and welcomed hundreds of Puerto Rican families displaced by Hurricane Maria in 2018.

Alex has the experience and vision to continue this fight in Congress on issues such as universal health care, reforming our broken immigrant and criminal justice systems, and greening our infrastructure. Learn more at www.alexmorseforcongress.com/.

Robbie Goldstein for CD-08

Robbie Goldstein

Dr. Robbie Goldstein is a physician and graduate of Tufts University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, MD, and a PhD in cancer genetics. After he completed his PhD, he joined Massachusetts General Hospital for medical training and eventually joined the faculty. He now works as a primary care doctor and an infectious disease specialist, and created the hospital’s first Transgender Health Program. Robbie has spent his career in medicine focused on caring for those left out of the system.

He seeks to address our nation’s public health issues by enacting healthcare for all, substance use support services, common-sense gun violence prevention measures, and a Green New Deal. Learn more at www.robbieforchange.com.

While We’re Talking about Elections

The Legislature needs to take action to make sure that we can have high-participation elections in September and November while protecting public health. Email your state legislators today if you haven’t already (and even if you have).