With a declaration Saturday that he hopes to fill the emptying City Council seat in Ward 3, resident Derrick Rice launched Somerville’s special elections season.
“I am not willing to wait for progress to be convenient and comfortable. We can do a lot more, particularly for those left behind and on the margins. We deserve a government that is responsive to community needs,” said Rice, a resident of Craigie Street on Spring Hill. “I am running for City Council because I know that bringing neighbors together to fight for solutions can be truly transformative.”
Ward 3 is represented by Ben Ewen-Campen, who is leaving at the new year because on Sept. 1 he won a Democratic primary for the 27th Middlesex state representative seat, which Erika Uyterhoeven is leaving to fill a state Senate seat.
There is another year in Ewen-Campen’s two-year term when he steps down, and city laws say there must be a special election for ward council seats empty more than 180 days before the end of a term. Specific dates are not likely to be determined until the seat is formally vacated, Rice’s campaign said.
Serena Taylor of Prospect Hill in Ward 3 filed with the state Aug. 24 for a council run. Taylor is president emeritus and director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
There doesn’t have to be a special election run to replace at-large councilor Will Mbah when he leaves to represent the 34th Middlesex District as a state representative. Mbah won in his primary Sept. 1 to fill a seat being vacated by Christine Barber. Based on election results in 2025, he is likely to be replaced by labor leader and former mayoral candidate Marianne Walles.
But city councilor JT Scott announced Sept. 3 that he will step down Dec. 31 as representative for Ward 2, timed to be part of the special election taking place in Ward 3. (Emily Doran, co-chair of the Union Square Neighborhood Council and a member of the team that negotiated community benefits for development at Somernova, has expressed interest in Scott’s seat.)
In a press release Saturday, Scott said he supported Rice, saying he “has the experience, conviction and creativity necessary to help move Somerville forward. I’m excited to see him step up to the challenge.”
Rice described himself as a community organizer and activist on a range of issues, including street safety, racial justice, workers’ rights, housing and affordability, but said he was best known for his work on public safety, including policies around the body-worn cameras approved for police in July. Rice cited council president Lance Davis as crediting him for the work: “We would not be here with even a reasonable question before us if not for the work, frankly, that members of the public did,” Davis said. “I’ll particularly call out Derrick Rice.”
Rice’s run has been in the works for months: He filed organizational papers with the state March 27. He said he works in the public interest on user data privacy and security and has been a union organizer and nonprofit board member.
“In the 22 years that I’ve called Somerville home, I’ve had many occasions to be proud of my city. But I have also seen how frustratingly slow progress is, even on widely popular or urgent issues like street maintenance, vacant properties, civilian oversight of police, and sidewalk snow clearing. Good things should be happening faster,” Rice said, explaining his run.
