There’s a campaign kickoff tonight in Medford for state representative Christine Barber, running in a hotly contested primary to replace retiring state senator Pat Jehlen in the 2nd Middlesex District. This means stepping away from the safety of a 34th Middlesex District seat Barber has held since 2015, which is now being sought by four-term Somerville city councilor Will Mbah and, as of Feb. 25, Somervillian Christopher Oates. (Barber is up against Cambridge city councillor Burhan Azeem, Tom Hopcroft, Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin, Cambridge entrepreneur Neheet Trivedi and state representative Erika Uyterhoeven.)
The Barber kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. at the Great American Beer Hall, 142 Mystic Ave., Medford, part of the district she seeks with Somerville and parts of Cambridge and Winchester. “I’m excited to bring everyone together to share more about my campaign, build momentum and continue growing the support this campaign needs,” Barber said.
New candidates file
Two people with experience behind the scenes in politics are moving to the dais:
Nomita Ganguly, a Gregory & Associates expert on legislative and administrative advocacy for nonprofits, filed Feb. 2 to run for the 24th Middlesex District House seat held by Dave Rogers, which includes parts of North Cambridge and Arlington and all of Belmont. Ganguly, a Belmont resident, has Beacon Hill experience from the 1990s, when she was an analyst for the House Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, associate counsel for Senate Ways and Means and legislative director for state senator Mark Montigny, according to her LinkedIn profile. “With programs under attack and a state budget under pressure, we need a representative who can fight effectively from day one,” Ganguly said on her campaign website. Rogers has been in the office since 2013.
Chris Oates, a Somerville political risk analyst and historian, has joined the race for the Somerville-Medford 34th Middlesex District House seat held by Christine Barber since 2015 as she eyes a state Senate seat. He will face Somerville city councilor Will Mbah in a primary. Oates, who filed Feb. 25 for the race, teaches a graduate course on political risk analysis at Boston University, advises at or runs consultancies and even hosts a podcast on the “History of Voting” for the organization One Nation Every Vote, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2020 he founded Legislata, an AI-powered software platform to track policy information.
Azeem fundraising
Cambridge city councillor Burhan Azeem, running for state Senate in the 2nd Middlesex District to replace the retiring Pat Jehlen, said Saturday that he was excited to see from state reports that he’d outraised his fellow challengers: state representative Christine Barber, Tom Hopcroft, Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin, Neheet Trivedi and state representative Erika Uyterhoeven. Azeem pulled in $60,418 (followed by Barber at $56,943 and Uyterhoeven at $44,385). Azeem has been focused on in-person door knocking achieved by walking the district, which includes the cities of Somerville and Medford and parts of Cambridge and Winchester. “It’s not called a race for nothing,” he said on Saturday, his third day traversing Medford, where he walked 26 miles. “For the next few weeks, I’ll be canvassing for 10 to 12 hours a day.”
Lander endorsement
Mass Alliance, a statewide coalition of labor unions and progressive organizations, gave its endorsement April 7 to Daniel Lander, a 34-year-old aide to Boston mayor Michelle Wu who is in his first race to unseat state senator Will Brownsberger in the Suffolk and Middlesex district covering West Cambridge, Belmont, Watertown, Allston, Brighton and the Fenway. This is Brownsberger’s first contested primary since 2011. Mass Alliance, with member organizations including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, 350 Mass Action and Reproductive Equity Now, said Lander was a proven progressive champion and an experienced campaigner and coalition builder with a strong record of innovative, equity-centered policy. “His commitment to workers’ rights, housing, climate and social justice, combined with his strategic thinking, will make him an effective co-governing partner with the progressive movement to deliver real solutions,” said Vanessa Snow, executive director of Mass Alliance, in a press release. In Q1 fundraising results, Lander raised $54,281 to the $170,809 pulled in by the incumbent. Brownsberger’s total is the highest among Senate candidates for the quarter.
MacKay endorsements
Evan MacKay, in his second run for a state House of Representative seat in the 25th Middlesex, picked up endorsements from three groups announced March 29 at a rally ahead of the Trans Day of Visibility on the following Tuesday: Our Revolution Cambridge, the UAW Region 9A union and Progressive Victory all back MacKay for a “bold, forward-looking vision for Cambridge amid federal attacks on community members,” the MacKay campaign said. The labor group was cited as representing the most people living, working and voting in the 25th Middlesex of any union; Our Revolution Cambridge is the first Cambridge organization to endorse in the race between MacKay and incumbent Marjorie Decker.
“We support Evan because they stand for the rights of working people, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, low-income residents, unions and, really, all of us who are not billionaires. Evan is a grassroots candidate who doesn’t take any money from developers and lobbyists. We can trust Evan because we know that they haven’t been bought off,” said Kathy Watkins, of Our Revolution Cambridge. Siobhan McDonough, a Cantabrigian with the UAW chapter, said a new type of representative was needed in the State House because “the political establishment in blue states like Massachusetts has failed to meet the moment to protect trans people.” Progressive Victory is an online community “dedicated to pushing the Democratic Party to the left.”
Somerville City Council
Derrick Rice, a resident of Spring Hill, Somerville, filed organization papers with the state March 27 as a candidate for a City Council seat. The next election is in November 2027.
About the race districts
The 2nd Middlesex (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 24th Middlesex (a state House seat held by Dave Rogers, in the office since 2013) includes parts of North Cambridge and Arlington and all of Belmont. Sought by: Nomita Ganguly
The 25th Middlesex (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 (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 (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 (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, Christopher Oates
The Suffolk and Middlesex (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
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