Massachusetts 2026 Primary Preview Part I
Hi, everyone—the Massachusetts preview is so long that I have to break it up into two, because many email providers won't be able to do it all as one email. (There's only so much I can do to keep it brief when there are more than 50 races to cover.) The first half will cover federal races, district attorneys, and the Governor's Council, an obscure quasi-legislative body that mainly confirms judges, as well as the state Senate. The second half will cover the state House.
A note to keep in mind: Massachusetts does not number its state legislative districts sequentially the way other states do. It numbers them by county, which is maddening. As such, I will be going in alphabetical order by county and numerical order within each county (i.e., you will read about the 16th Essex House race before the 10th Middlesex House race.)
And this will be the last non-paywalled primary preview, for real this time.
MA-Sen
Ed Markey (i) vs. Seth Moulton
Total IEs: $7,734,916.10
Anti-Markey: $3,329,004.93
Pro-Markey: $17,917
Anti-Moulton: $2,222,460.33
Pro-Moulton: $2,165,533.84
Progressive Sen. Ed Markey should have retired this year. At 80, he is honestly too old for another six years in the Senate; Massachusetts additionally does not lack for potential progressive successors. (Ayanna Pressley is right there, man.) However, when the alternative is North Shore Rep. Seth Moulton, I—and progressives writ large, and a seeming majority of Massachusetts Democrats—have no fucking patience for the challenger and want him to go away. Why? Maybe it’s Moulton’s vagueness on policy, or his tepid stances on the Trump administration. Maybe it’s his more-than-flirting with transphobia against defenseless children. Maybe it's his bizarre and false allegation that Markey is connected to Jeffrey Epstein somehow. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s just plain unlikable. Maybe it’s all of the above! (It’s all of the above.)
Together, these factors have combined to lead Moulton to apparently fumble an eminently winnable race. The congressman has trailed by double digits, with Markey holding a comfortable majority, in every poll released since the end of June. This came after Moulton spent the spring and early summer close to Markey in the polls, with the senator consistently under 50%, and after PACs allied with Moulton spent millions promoting the congressman and attacking the senator. It sure appears as if voters were open to the idea of replacing Markey before they heard from Moulton—and when people finally heard from Moulton over the summer as advertising ramped up and voters started tuning in to their primary contests, it seems to have just pissed them off. Much of the Massachusetts Democratic establishment is responding similarly, embracing Markey and being palpably annoyed with Moulton—a rare point of agreement between the establishment and progressives here. While I was worried about Markey before August (and to some extent I still am), the 80-year-old incumbent seems in a surprisingly good position to win another term, all because his only primary challenger just sucks that bad.
MA-01
Springfield and the Berkshires | Harris+13.6
Richard Neal (i) vs. Jeromie Whalen
Total IEs: $24,612
Pro-Whalen: $24,612
Rep. Richard Neal has faced primaries before, turning back underfunded attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud 71-29 in 2018 and scandal-tarred Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse 59-41 in 2020. The why is simple: he’s the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, he’s an anti-tax fiscal conservative who’s also in the pocket of the for-profit tax preparation industry, and he’s a creature of the Springfield establishment through and through, previously serving as the city’s mayor before ascending to Congress in 1989. If he wins this year and serves out the term, Neal will extend his service to the forty-year mark—but first, he must defeat high school communications teacher Jeromie Whalen.
Whalen is a definite underdog, and financially outgunned by more than 10 to 1. However, he’s raised and spent about $300,000, which is not nothing. Furthermore, he’s assembled a coalition of progressive groups around the district, as well as a surprising number of elected officials and even some labor unions, most prominently his own, the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He’s also wisely reserved the money he does have for advertising, putting at least $50,000 into radio and TV advertising, likely more (I just can’t verify exact sums before the next FEC report given the poor functionality of the FCC’s Public Files website.) He’s also paid for a fair amount of digital advertising, and has maintained an aggressive schedule of in-person campaigning on the doors and at events throughout the district for months. Neal joined him on the airwaves in July shortly after running a poll, and Neal has spent at least $237,000 on TV and radio advertising—again, likely more, but again, I can’t verify exact sums yet. Neal isn’t as scared as he could be—he’s not spending all he has or anywhere near it—but he is at least mildly concerned about his margin of victory. Someone aligned with the congressman even seems to have gone to the trouble of digging up apparently sealed court records to plant a story in the New York Post about Whalen’s college drinking problem—it’s really the only explanation I have for a right-wing New York paper reporting on a longshot Massachusetts primary candidate who isn’t even backed by the big-name national progressive groups the Post loves to hate. Secretly desperate, or just playing dirty and going negative on a schoolteacher for the love of the game? We’ll find out tomorrow night.
MA-04
Fall River to Newton and Brookline | Harris+19.7
Jake Auchincloss (i) vs. Jason Poulos
Total IEs: $189,527.60
Pro-Auchincloss: $189,527.60
Centrist Rep. Jake Auchincloss has aggravated the Massachusetts left dating back to his days on the Newton City Council, where he was best known as a former campaign operative for Republican Gov. Charlie Baker who was curious about the Confederate flag. Winning an open House seat with less than a quarter of the vote in 2020 only intensified the distaste for him, but despite years of chatter, a primary challenge failed to actually materialize until this cycle. Independent researcher Jason Poulos is an AI skeptic critical of the tech industry (Auchincloss is a fan) and the Israeli government (ditto), also supporting a generally left-wing slate of policies—he even has the Massachusetts Teachers Association because Auchincloss is too friendly to charter schools for their liking. He is, however, too broke to pose a real threat to Auchincloss. Auchincloss could easily underperform quite badly, but it’s hard to see him actually losing to Poulos or coming particularly close.
MA-05
Affluent suburbs and college towns north and west of Boston | Harris+45.2
Katherine Clark (i) vs. Jonathan Paz vs. Tarik Samman
Neither former Waltham City Councilor Jonathan Paz nor Harvard workers union organizer Tarik Samman ever got off the ground here, so their combined vote share will simply serve as a measure of voter anger with Rep. Katherine Clark (and House Democratic leadership writ large, especially due to Clark’s role as the second-ranking House Democrat.)
MA-06
North Shore | Harris+20.7
Bethany Andres-Beck vs. John Beccia vs. Dan Koh vs. Tram Nguyen vs. Jamie Zahlaway Belsito (vs. Mariah Lancaster)
Total IEs: $2,439,521.15
Pro-Koh: $1,760,631.33
Pro-Nguyen: $678,889.82
This race is simultaneously a mess and a relief—a mess because of the actual contours of the race, a relief because at least Seth Moulton is leaving the House behind one way or another come January. The frontrunners are Dan Koh, a former candidate for the neighboring MA-03 in 2018 who served as chief of staff to Marty Walsh; Tram Nguyen, a state representative from Andover; and John Beccia, a self-funding rich centrist who I expect to fizzle out in the actual results because Democratic voters aren’t huge fans of self-funders. Former state Rep. Jamie Zahlaway Belsito is attempting to appeal to progressives but isn’t being given the time of day by progressive groups, and democratic socialist Bethany Andres-Beck started out as a primary challenger to Moulton before deciding to stay in the race after he went for Senate. (Mariah Lancaster, who had the endorsement of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and a little bit of money, dropped out and endorsed Nguyen over the weekend.) Progressives were already beginning to consolidate around Nguyen before Lancaster dropped out, so Nguyen seems likely to do best with late deciders. (Progressives can’t stand Koh for his ties to Walsh, who was a moderate as mayor of Boston, and for his extensive financial backing from just about every industry you probably dislike.) So what’s the catch?
Nguyen transferred six figures from her state campaign committee to the Save America Fund shortly before launching her congressional campaign. The Save America Fund is a super PAC that has been spending on Nguyen’s behalf. If you read this newsletter, there’s a good chance you know it’s illegal for candidates to directly coordinate with super PACs, one of the only real campaign finance rules left standing these days. I asked the Nguyen campaign for comment last week, and got this response this week (along with an apology for their delay in responding):
So you are aware, Tram has never had any coordination with any outside groups, period. The Save America Fund supports trailblazing women of color, like Congresswoman Ansari and Senator Alsobrooks, who Tram admires and have fought and won competitive races across the country. Tram did not give the money to support her campaign and we have had nothing to do with their activities. We have a problem in our elections where unlimited personal and corporate spending are flooding races and amplifying wealthy interests while weakening the public’s trust in government. Tram is committed to making sure that doesn’t happen.
Hm. Not sure how I feel about that one.
MA-08
Boston, Brockton, suburbs in between | Harris+26.4
Stephen Lynch (i) vs. Patrick Roath
Total IEs: $508,521.96
Anti-Lynch: $213,720.83
Pro-Roath: $294,801.13
Rep. Stephen Lynch is exactly who you’d expect if given the information that he’s a 71-year-old ironworker-turned-lawyer who came up through South Boston politics in the 90s. He stubbornly clung to a social conservative streak a mile wide well into the 2010s, and until he largely dropped the social conservatism it was grafted onto idiosyncratic labor-tinged moderate liberalism with some peculiarly Irish-American sensibilities—idiosyncratic enough that he voted against the ACA sort of from the left; moderate enough that he voted for the decently infamous resolution to thank ICE and the Laken Riley Act; Irish-American enough that Lynch, despite not being progressive at all, is genuinely pretty good on Palestine. Overall, he’s a congressman out of time—someone who you would expect to have quietly retired in the Obama years, to be replaced by someone twenty years younger and only half as frustrating. People have tried to take him on from the left before—but in 2018, things went nowhere because the candidate who took up all the oxygen was Brianna fucking Wu, and in 2020, Dr. Robbie Goldstein didn’t get the help from outside groups he would have needed to give Lynch a real scare in 2020, which had a much more pro-incumbent national mood than we’ve faced so far this year.
Maybe Lynch started to feel confident, safe even, after he went uncontested in 2022 and 2024—so when a restive Democratic base started getting angry at the beginning of Trump II, Lynch felt comfortable mouthing off to a crowd of angry constituents at a public event in February 2025. The constituent asked him to commit to not voting for any Republican legislation (not really asking for much there), but he demurred, saying “you know what? I got elected,” and imperiously explained that of course he had to consider the “best interest” of the entire district (implying that Republicans are particularly numerous in this district; you can see the Harris numbers at the top of this item. They’re not.) At that point, someone interjected that voting against Republican legislation was “in the best interests of our country and our democracy,” and that set Lynch off: the congressman barked “I get to decide that! I get to decide that! I get to decide that, I’m elected! I get to decide that! You want to decide that, you need to run for Congress. Okay?” Attendees, and the voters of the district, were left to chew on that, as Lynch awkwardly concluded his remarks and left the event (a rally outside of a Boston VA medical center.)
Two and a half months after that confrontation, attorney Patrick Roath, an alumnus of former Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, filed with the FEC to run against Lynch. Roath spent the next year and change building a coalition including everyone from Gov. Patrick (his moderate former boss), to the Boston and statewide teachers’ unions, to progressive groups like Indivisible and Progressive Mass, as well as a whole lot of local elected officials from all over the district—not just in Boston, which despite being Lynch’s home is also likely to be relatively strong for Roath. Roath is a progressive, attacking Lynch for his general conservatism and in particular his ICE-friendly House votes, but he’s also making a generational change argument; at 39, he’s a little over half Lynch’s age. The combination of the two has attracted a fair amount of outside spending supporting Roath and attacking Lynch from Leaders We Deserve, the PAC founded by David Hogg (full disclosure: I have consulted for LWD in a past election cycle.) According to an internal poll from LWD conducted in early August, it might be working: LWD's internals show Roath quickly closing in on Lynch, with the congressman sliding from 54% in a previously unreleased July internal to 50% in August, while Roath climbed from 32% to 43%. The internal also shows Lynch with frankly quite poor favorability ratings among Democratic voters in his district; a third of likely Democratic primary voters dislike him outright, which is quite high—higher, the polling memo claims, than the share of respondents who disliked some other Democratic incumbents who went on to lose their primaries. (While that’s believable for sure—33% is in the ballpark of the share of Democrats who disapprove of Chuck Schumer, with the exact number depending on which pollster you ask—I couldn’t easily find an example to check whether they’re right.)
To win, Roath needs to run up the score in Boston, winning progressive neighborhoods like Jamaica Plain by enough to outvote more moderate West Roxbury and South Boston (though doing well there would help, too.) He also can’t lose the suburbs too badly—this district is mostly suburban, and any suburban strength for Roath reduces the margin he needs to win Boston by. Redistricting has shifted this district slightly further into densely-populated, left-leaning neighborhoods of Boston since the last time Lynch faced a primary in 2020, so the geographic composition of the electorate should be tougher than anything Lynch has faced before.
MA-09
South Coast, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard | Harris+10.8
Bill Keating (i) vs. Craig Swallow
Local Indivisible activist Craig Swallow has raised little money and is mostly drawing on his network of Indivisible friends and fellow organizers. He’s clearly running to the left, however, and his performance against low-profile Rep. Bill Keating will serve as a good barometer of how angry Democratic voters are in Cape Cod, New Bedford, and the Boston exurbs.
Governor’s Council District 3
Boston: Allston-Brighton, Fenway; Brookline, Newton, Marlborough, Billerica | Harris+46.9
Mara Dolan (i) vs. Margie Palladino
Progressive public defender Mara Dolan ran as a primary challenger two years ago, looking to add another progressive voice (and the only public defender’s voice) to the Governor’s Council, an obscure quasi-legislative body which has authority over certain spending decisions and, more importantly, over judicial nominations. She unseated a longtime conservative incumbent and quickly got to work—but not without creating some new enemies. Dolan voted to confirm a judge who had previously run a controversial family court program that forced DV victims to work with their abusers, earning the ire of victims’ advocates and prompting former supporter Margie Palladino to run; Dolan says the criticisms of the program don’t bear on the qualifications of the judge whose job was simply to carry out the program’s court-required mandate, which is simultaneously fair and unsatisfying. However, Dolan is unquestionably a member of the obscure body’s growing progressive bloc, and Palladino may not be, which is why progressive groups and many local electeds have stuck with Dolan in this race. (However, state Auditor Diana DiZoglio, an iconoclastic Democrat who isn’t a progressive but often finds herself aligned with the progressive camp due to their shared support for an audit of the state legislature, has endorsed Palladino.)
Governor’s Council District 4
Boston: Dorchester, South Boston, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain; Quincy, Weymouth, Walpole, Marshfield | Harris+34.8
Christopher Iannella (i) vs. Ronald Iacobucci
Ronald Iacobucci challenged Christopher Iannella unsuccessfully in 2024, placing third with 11%. He’ll likely do similarly this time.
Governor’s Council District 6
Boston: Beacon Hill, Charlestown, East Boston; Cambridge, Somerville, Revere, Lynn, Malden | Harris+40.1
Terrence Kennedy (i) vs. Diann Mary Baylis
Legal aid immigration attorney Diann Mary Baylis, a former candidate for state House, is now trying to primary longtime Governor’s Councilor Terrence Kennedy. (No relation, as far as I’m aware; a state this Irish is just going to be lousy with guys named Kennedy.) She’s gotten very little in the way of money or endorsements, but does seem to be running a bit to Kennedy’s left with the intent of taking a closer look at judicial nominations; this district does contain enough firmly left-wing turf that a moderate Democrat can never completely breathe easy. Kennedy should still coast, though.
Governor’s Council District 8
Western Massachusetts | Harris+23.8
Tara Jacobs (i) vs. Michael Fenton
Four years after losing the open Western Mass seat on the Governor’s Council to progressive Tara Jacobs, Springfield City Councilor and former council president Mike Fenton is going for a rematch. Jacobs, who was the only councilor brave enough to stand in opposition when Gov. Maura Healey nominated her ex-girlfriend to the state’s highest court, has cross-endorsed with Jeromie Whalen and is firmly aligned with Massachusetts progressives, acting as a rare check on moderate Gov. Maura Healey.
Fenton, as a point of professional annoyance, uses “Attorney” as if it’s a formal title; he even makes endorsers refer to him as “Attorney Mike Fenton” and puts it on his campaign signs. I don’t care if you’re a Supreme Court litigator (and he’s not, merely someone still riding the high of having made law review), that’s just tool behavior. Please let this guy lose.
Cape and Islands District Attorney
Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard
Rob Galibois (i) vs. Michael Giardino
Rob Galibois is the first Democratic DA for Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard in quite some time after defeating Republican nominee Dan Higgins for an open seat in 2022, and career prosecutor Michael Giardino is totally not mad about it. Oh, wait, Giardino proudly admits he voted for Higgins, and currently works for the last Republican DA in Massachusetts—having left the Cape and Islands DA’s office for the Republican Plymouth DA’s office shortly after Galibois took over. Gross, no thanks! Giardino, who only became a Democrat recently to run, is pretty clearly running to bring back Republican control, but with a blue coat of paint. His attacks on Galibois’s management style ring extremely hollow when he is, to be frank, clearly lying about his own politics and partisan allegiances.
Middlesex County District Attorney
Marian Ryan (i) vs. David Solet
Marian Ryan is a bad, punitive prosecutor known for multiple botched prosecutions and a habit of withholding evidence from the defense. It says a lot about her challenger, David Solet, that he has the police unions in his corner; he’s running on increasing prosecutors' ability to detain accused offenders pretrial. However, it may very well be about competence and Ryan's perceived lack thereof, rather than ideology; Ryan has made headlines for all the wrong reasons time and time again, from multiple prosecutions under the controversial and arguably discredited Shaken Baby Syndrome theory to seemingly flouting public records requests.
Norfolk County District Attorney
Jim Barakat vs. Greg Connor vs. Adam Deitch vs. Robert Jubinville vs. Macy Lee vs. Craig MacLellan vs. Djuna Perkins
In the wake of the disastrously botched prosecution of Karen Read, which spawned additional prosecutions and ended the careers of multiple police officers, longtime DA Michael Morrissey is stepping aside after 16 years in office, and there’s a broad consensus that the DA’s office needs change in this affluent liberal suburban county south of Boston. The least change-minded candidate is obviously Greg Connor, a top deputy to Morrissey who resigned in March to seek his boss’s job; Connor has worked for the office for 25 years and has gotten donations from much of the Norfolk County legal establishment. He’s also almost the financial leader—but that distinction belongs to former federal prosecutor Adam Deitch, who specialized in public corruption cases before resigning to run for DA. Deitch has been sharply critical of Morrissey, calling for his resignation and touting endorsements from individuals and families who feel they have been wronged by Morrissey’s office; he seems like a pretty standard prosecutor type otherwise, though that’s still very arguably an upgrade from Morrissey. Close behind Connor and Deitch in the money race is self-funder Robert Jubinville, a former member of the Governor’s Council; most of Jubinville’s fundraising has been out of his own pockets. (On the other end of the financial spectrum, public defender Jim Barakat has absolutely no money and can be safely counted out.) Macy Lee is running more to the right, winning the endorsement of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and criticizing the DA’s office for not going harder in its controversial recent cases. Defense attorney Craig MacLellan is running up the middle, striking a compromise tone and raising a little bit of money. The best choice is likely Djuna Perkins, a former prosecutor turned private practitioner endorsed by lots of Norfolk County politicians and progressive groups. Perkins wants to investigate corrupt police departments in the county—which has seen a number of disturbing police scandals in recent years, both related to the Read case and not—and overhaul the office’s relationship with police departments. She also has the most money of anyone outside the top three, so hopefully her network of organizational support will get her over the finish line.
Suffolk County District Attorney
Kevin Hayden (i) vs. Linda Champion vs. Rachael Rollins
It's kind of crazy that Rachael Rollins is running for her old job as Suffolk County DA so soon after resigning in disgrace as US Attorney for Massachusetts in 2023. That year, a federal ethics probe accused her of “egregious” ethical violations, including leaking confidential government information to aid an ally’s 2022 campaign against Kevin Hayden, Rollins’s successor as DA, a former darling of the police union who has fallen out of favor with them in part because he’s actually prosecuting a cop for the use of excessive and ultimately lethal force.
The findings of the federal probe into Rollins later led to a formal reprimand from the Massachusetts bar, and yet Rollins is unrepentant—resorting to whataboutism about a fine paid by Hayden for improper use of official resources in that same 2022 campaign that ultimately derailed the last phase of Rollins’s career. And Linda Champion is somehow even worse than Rollins or Hayden, running as the police unions’ candidate. Unfortunately, one of these three candidates has to win.
2nd Middlesex Senate
Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Winchester | Harris+61.7
Burhan Azeem vs. Christine Barber vs. Matt McLaughlin vs. Erika Uyterhoeven
State Rep. Christine Barber is the only candidate running who’s outwardly friendly to state legislative leadership—maybe not the best message in an open race in a district composed entirely of lefty college towns, but when you consider the money she has to work with and the endorsements from Gov. Maura Healey and outgoing state Sen Pat Jehlen, it’s easy to see a path to a plurality for Barber.
Running the hardest to the left is state Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, a democratic socialist from Somerville. Uyterhoeven has butted heads with state House leadership over secret committee votes (yes, those are real, Massachusetts House committees operate in private), and her pitch is that she’ll bring the same confrontational attitude and left-wing policy instincts to the state Senate. Many progressive groups and left-leaning labor unions are backing Uyterhoeven here, and this is a district where those groups have serious pull.
The YIMBY candidate in this housing-scarce, renter-heavy chunk of Greater Boston is Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, who has also raised and spent the most money and benefited from hefty outside expenditures from YIMBY groups. Azeem also says he wants to pick fights with legislative leadership, and faults the legislature’s aversion to open conflict for its failure to advance much progressive policy in recent memory.
It’s hardest to see a path for Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin, who has the least money and has been boxed out of the establishment lane by Barber, the left lane by Uyterhoeven, and the YIMBY lane by Azeem.
5th Middlesex Senate
Malden, Melrose, Reading, Wakefield | Harris+31.8
Kate Lipper-Garabedian vs. Carey McDonald vs. Ryan O’Malley
State Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian is a clear favorite for this open state Senate seat north of Boston, with endorsements from lots of unions and prominent politicians including Gov. Maura Healey and outgoing incumbent Jason Lewis, as well as a hefty financial advantage thanks to good fundraising and a preexisting balance in her campaign account from prior state House campaigns. Two progressive Malden City Councilors are nevertheless seeking to stop her. Further to the left, and also seemingly more viable, would be Carey McDonald, who leads the third candidate in this race, their colleague Ryan O’Malley, in both fundraising and endorsements. McDonald, a nonprofit executive, would be the first nonbinary state senator and a crucial addition to the progressive bloc in the legislature, but O’Malley has the energetic backing of the teachers’ union, could outperform on that basis, and would also be a crucial addition to that progressive bloc.
1st Suffolk Senate
Boston: South Boston, Dorchester | Harris+48.5
Nick Collins (i) vs. Latoya Gayle vs. Juwan Skeens
Conservative Democratic state Sen. Nick Collins would make a lot more sense if his district was just South Boston, the traditionally middle-class Irish neighborhood east of downtown Boston. However, his district also includes much bluer, Black-majority neighborhoods on the city’s southern and eastern border, and South Boston itself is gentrifying. Collins, in other words, is a weird fit for his district. Perennial candidate Juwan Skeens isn’t Collins's problem this cycle; it’s nonprofit executive Latoya Gayle, who is backed by Mayor Michelle Wu in retaliation for Collins’s vote to kill Wu’s proposal to shift property tax burdens towards commercial property owners. Gayle’s support doesn’t stop at the mayor’s office, however; progressive groups, left-leaning labor unions, and abortion advocates are eager to see Gayle replace Collins, a conservative who first elbowed his way into the legislature with the backing of anti-abortion groups. Collins has spent like mad to hold on to his seat, outspending Gayle more than 5 to 1 despite Gayle not exactly being broke. However, demographics (Gayle is Black while Collins is white) could work in Gayle’s favor in this heavily Black district. If Gayle wins, progressives will have a high-profile trophy to show off—and the legislative math in the state Senate will shift meaningfully, since the body only has 40 members in total.
Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol Senate
Milton to Bridgewater | Harris+20.2
William Driscoll Jr. (i) vs. Tony King vs. Michael F. Zullas
Conservative Democrat Bill Driscoll Jr. won with a large plurality over two more progressive Democrats in 2024, and once again, his opponents can’t get their act together. Local businessman Tony King is probably headed for third place, but he’s convinced some union locals to dump the incumbent for him—running a unionized print shop probably doesn't hurt. Most progressives are going with Mike Zullas, an attorney and former Milton Select Board member, including both of the progressives who lost to Driscoll in 2024 as well as the broad constellation of progressive groups that get involved in Massachusetts state legislative primaries. Zullas has nearly kept financial parity with Driscoll, and I’d feel a lot better about his chances if he was the only Driscoll challenger—however, if progressives see downballot success in the outer Boston suburbs, I think it’ll be here before anywhere else.
Norfolk and Suffolk Senate
Boston: Roslindale, West Roxbury; Dedham, Walpole, Norwood, Westwood | Harris+34.4
Mike Rush (i) vs. Persis Yu
State Sen. Mike Rush was wise enough to back Wu’s plan to tax commercial property more, and that was enough to ward off a Wu endorsement of his challenger—but not enough to actually ward off the challenger, because Rush, the majority whip in the state Senate, is an otherwise conservative Democrat with a particularly terrible record on abortion. Consumer attorney Persis Yu, who I am practically bound to support as a fellow consumer attorney, is that challenger. Yu, whose professional background is focused on defending debtors and consumers from predatory and abusive lenders and collectors, is also a down-the-line progressive—very much unlike Rush. Progressive groups and certain unions like the Massachusetts Teachers Association and UAW (which in Massachusetts primarily represents legal aid workers and grad students) are backing Yu’s challenge for that reason: Rush might be more willing than some of his similarly conservative colleagues to play ball with the left, but he’s still a conservative Democrat. Yu has raised good money and forced Rush, who has generally gone uncontested in past elections, to campaign aggressively to keep his job—and it’s not hard to see Rush going down in this district, which takes in many of Boston’s most left-leaning neighborhoods like Roslindale and Jamaica Plain.
Suffolk and Middlesex Senate
Boston: Allston-Brighton, Fenway; Belmont, Cambridge, Watertown | Harris+61.6
William Brownsberger (i) vs. Daniel Lander
Rounding out the slate of progressive Senate primaries is former Wu aide Daniel Lander, who (like Gayle) is backed by Wu, as well as a wide array of progressive groups. Incumbent Will Brownsberger was a key roadblock to Wu’s plan to shift more of Boston’s tax burden to commercial property owners to help alleviate the burden on homeowners—and he’s also the second-ranking member of the state Senate, below only Senate President Karen Spilka, making him an incredibly attractive target for progressive groups, who know their friendliest voters reside in places like Allston-Brighton and Cambridge. Lander is also backed by elected officials like Elizabeth Warren and labor organizations up to and including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, showing that dissatisfaction with the direction of the legislature runs deep enough that a candidate with ties to a well-liked figure like Wu can drum up real support against a relatively uncontroversial incumbent.
