The Massachusetts primary is just over two weeks away. We’ve made some endorsements already this spring and summer, and we’re ready to announce a few more.

Do you have questions about voting safely this fall? Check out SafeElectionsMA.org.

MA Legislature

Adam Gomez for Hampden Senate District

Adam Gomez is the Vice President of the Springfield City Council, where he serves as chair of Economic Development, and holds positions on the committees for Casino Oversight, Finance, and Environment and Sustainability. Adam is running to build a community where everyone has a good-paying job they can get to, where everyone has a home in a safe and healthy neighborhood, and where everyone sends their children to a world-class school. 

District: Parts of Chicopee, Springfield, and West Springfield

Learn more about Adam Gomez’s campaign here.

Orlando Ramos for 9th Hampden House District

Orlando Ramos is the chair of the Public Safety Committee of the Springfield City Council, where he has spearheaded the passage of one of the first ordinances to ban facial surveillance technology, and a member of United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 336. He is running to continue the fight for police accountability and to ensure that cities like Springfield aren’t left behind, especially when it comes to equitable education funding.

District: Parts of Springfield and Chicopee

Learn more about Orlando Ramos’s campaign here.

Governor’s Council

The Massachusetts Governor’s Council is composed of eight individuals elected from districts, and the Lieutenant Governor who serves ex officio. The eight councillors are elected from their respective districts (consisting of five State Senate districts) every two years. The Council meets weekly to record advice and consent on warrants for the state treasury, pardons and commutations, and recording advice and consent to gubernatorial appointments such as judges, clerk-magistrates, public administrators, members of the Parole Board, Appellate Tax Board, Industrial Accident Board and Industrial Accident Reviewing Board, notaries, and justices of the peace.

Helina Fontes for Governor’s Council – District 6

Helina Fontes is a community organizer and an experienced human services and mental health program director. She is running to ensure that judges and parole board members are representative of the communities they serve, understand the unique challenges of those communities, and have demonstrated a personal commitment to jail and prison diversion, community integration, and racial justice.

Cities and Towns in District 6: Cambridge, Everett, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Marblehead, Medford, Melrose, Nahant, Reading, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Swampscott, Wakefield, Winchester + parts of Boston (East Boston, Charlestown, North End, West End, Downtown, Beacon Hill, and parts of the South End and Allston/Brighton)

State Senators’ Districts within D6: Brendan Crighton, Joe Boncore, Sal DiDomenico, Pat Jehlen, Jason Lewis

Learn more about Helina Fontes’s campaign here.

Paul DePalo for Governor’s Council – District 7

Paul DePalo is an attorney, former special education teacher, and member of the Worcester Planning Board. He’s running to ensure that the Parole Board has more mental health professionals and that Massachusetts judges protect women’s rights, workers’ rights, and civil rights for everyone in our inclusive Commonwealth. ​

Cities of District 7: Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, and Worcester; Towns of District 7: Ashburnham, Ashby, Athol, Auburn, Barre, Bellingham, Berlin, Blackstone, Bolton, Boylston, Brimfield, Brookfield, Charlton, Clinton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Hardwick, Holden, Holland, Hopedale, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leicester, Lunenburg, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Monson, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Northborough (Pcts. 1, 2, 4), Northbridge, Palmer, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sutton, Templeton, Townsend, Upton, Uxbridge, Wales, Ware, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield, Westminster, Winchendon

Learn more about Paul DePalo’s campaign here.

Sheriffs

Bill Phelan for Norfolk County Sheriff

Bill Phelan comes with the background of a former mentor for at-risk youth, former mayor, and current defense attorney. He is running to provide a continuum of services before, during, and after incarceration delivered with compassion and dignity in a safe environment and to foster a culture of racial equity and respect for all.

Learn more about Bill Phelan’s campaign here.

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:

• Make sure that you are registered to vote at your current address.
• Register to vote or update your registration.
• Find your polling location and districts.
• Send in your application to vote early by mail! (Or download one here.)

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

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

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

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).