A seat encompassing East Cambridge and East Somerville is getting its first race since 2016, when Mike Connolly beat out longtime state representative Tim Toomey. Now it’s Connolly facing a Democratic primary challenge for the 26th Middlesex District from housing advocate Neil Miller, who filed organizational papers Friday with the state.

Connolly said he has a decade’s worth of work and accomplishments to talk about, and with “so much more to do,” he was excited to campaign on it.

In a call on Saturday, meanwhile, Miller listed the frustrations with public services and goals for improvements that motivated him to run. They included such things as navigating the bureaucracy of the MassHealth system to keep a family member’s life from being thrown into disarray and wrestling with “one of the slowest unemployment systems in the country,” as well as the slow pace of a Massachusetts Turnpike redesign and getting stuck in traffic repeatedly on an MBTA bus.

As an advocate and organizer with the pro-development group A Better Cambridge for the past several years, Miller cited housing issues as part of his message as a candidate and political résumé.

“Rent keeps getting higher. People are still competing with each other, and landlords are profiting from that. Cambridge and Somerville have shown a way forward to start addressing the housing crisis, and I want to represent what we’ve done in the Legislature,” said Miller, a Central Square resident, data scientist and grad student at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He pointed to the “1,000 new affordable homes” going up around Cambridge and the end of parking mandates and exclusionary zoning.

“I have not seen that the Legislature has taken the action that we need,” Miller said. “There’s a disconnect between the rhetoric that people hear and the results that they see, and that’s how people lose trust in state government.”

Legislative activity

Connolly, of The Port neighborhood, isn’t the only city Democrat facing a primary challenge. Evan MacKay seeks for the second time to unseat Majorie Decker in the 25th Middlesex District after losing in a 2024 recount by 41 votes. Daniel Lander is taking on Will Brownsberger in the Suffolk and Middlesex District, saying the state senator in office since 2009 is part of the body’s “inaction and inertia” that last year saw “one of the least productive legislative sessions on record,” with only 67 bills passed – and only three with statewide import.

On Sunday, though, Connolly rattled off accomplishments of his own and by the Legislature that lasted 20 minutes.

The list included passing the “largest housing bond bill in state history and the largest housing policy bill in state history all at the same time,” the Affordable Homes Act, which allows accessory dwelling units to be built as of right and for eviction records sealing, ends forced broker fees for tenants and opens the door for social housing; advocating for transit improvements including the MBTA green line and Community Path extensions, tearing down McGrath Highway and putting a second orange line headhouse in Assembly Square, which adds a footbridge across the Mystic River; police reform and cuts to the state’s prison population; and new transparency in the Legislature to make committee testimony and votes public.

“Those are some of the quick highlights,” Connolly said.

There are policy overlaps between the candidates, including agreement on the need to stand up to federal hostility toward constitutional rights, immigrant populations and their allies. Massachusetts need to “respond forcefully,” Miller said, and Connolly assured that the issue is “top of mind … I’ve been leading efforts on Beacon Hill to make the case that we have to prohibit cooperation between our state and local law enforcement and federal civil immigration enforcement.”

Local transit, national stature

Disagreements came from experience and perspective.

Miller cited problems with mass transit as helping inspire him to run for office. “We’ve gotten used to the T not working,” he said, citing sitting in traffic on the 47 bus as a crystallizing moment. “I used to live on Pearl Street, and at the bottom of Pearl Street the bus gets stuck in traffic for what can be up for an hour at rush hour. That shouldn’t happen.”

Connolly cites a recent turnaround at the MBTA as a victory for state government. “We’ve ended slow zones on the red line for the first time in two decades. I’m now regularly using the red line to get to Beacon Hill,” he said. “It’s now the fastest way up there.”

Massachusetts is “falling behind so many other states in New England, at least,” when it comes to housing policy, Miller said, noting the number of friends getting pushed out of Cambridge, Somerville and the state.

Connolly had a different take on where Massachusetts lands in the spectrum of nationwide policy, recalling his reaction to the last U.S. election, when Tim Walz was chosen to run as vice president, exciting progressives with the list of Minnesotan accomplishments such as free school meals and strong reproductive rights. “I remember saying, ‘Wow, you know, we’ve done all that in Massachusetts,’” Connolly said. “There are programs in our state that don’t compare to anywhere.”

Making a case to voters

The Legislature’s tendency to group bills instead of pass them individually might obscure some of its work, Connolly said.

“The Legislature passes many omnibus bills,” Connolly said. “That can create some difficulty in assessing what happens.” He pointed to consideration two weeks ago of a large energy affordability bill that included many proposals – from legislators, committees and the governor – “all converging into one large piece.” There were numerous roll call votes for amendments that added or removed items, but “at the end of the day, there’s one final vote.”

When making his case to the voters of the 26th Middlesex, Miller said he plans to lean on his experience running campaigns for ABC, with one last year involving more than 60 volunteers who knocked on thousands of doors and talked with 10,000 people citywide. More political experience has come from volunteering on campaigns such as for the Fair Share Amendment and a ballot question in 2022 to license drivers regardless of immigration status. His campaign is only kicking off officially March 29, when Miller plans to walk from one end of the district to the other, Cambridgeport to East Somerville, then “spend the summer knocking on every door in the district, hopefully multiple times,” with volunteers.

Connolly doesn’t plan to do much differently from when he campaigns without a challenger, he said.

“I’m always eager to engage with the community,” Connolly said. The coming months will be “a good opportunity to both talk about the work we’ve done and another good opportunity to hear from constituents.”

About the race districts

The 2nd Middlesex District (a state Senate seat held by Pat Jehlen, in the office since 2005 but is retiring) includes the cities of Somerville and Medford; and parts of Cambridge and Winchester. Sought by: Burhan Azeem, Christine Barber, Tom Hopcroft, Matt McLaughlin, Neheet Trivedi, Erika Uyterhoeven

The 25th Middlesex District (a state House seat held by Marjorie Decker, in the office since 2013) includes the central slice of Cambridge, following Massachusetts Avenue from Central Square through Harvard Square and just past Porter Square. Sought by: Evan MacKay

The 26th Middlesex District (a state House seat held by Mike Connolly, in the office since 2017) includes East Cambridge and East Somerville. Sought by: Neil Miller

The 27th Middlesex District (a state House seat held by Erika Uyterhoeven, in the office since 2021 but running for Jehlen’s state Senate seat) includes much of Somerville. Sought by: Ben Ewen-Campen

The 34th Middlesex District (a state House seat held by Christine Barber, in the office since 2015 but running for Jehlen’s state Senate seat) includes parts of Somerville and Medford. Sought by: Will Mbah

The Suffolk and Middlesex District (a state Senate seat held by Will Brownsberger, in office since 2009 and running for reelection) includes the cities of Watertown and Belmont and parts of Cambridge and Boston. Sought by: Daniel Lander