Spill of the Hill: The state's most progressive district wants to push Beacon Hill further left
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The real fight to represent one of the most progressive parts of the state isn't about left versus moderate — it's about how progressives actually get things done on Beacon Hill.
Why it matters: Four Democrats are competing for an open state Senate seat in Somerville, Medford and parts of Cambridge and Winchester.
- The 2nd Middlesex District isn't like most Massachusetts areas, where staunch progressives battle it out with more moderate liberals.
- In this race, there aren't any moderates, so voters have to evaluate how effective the candidates can be in the Senate.
State of play: A four-way debate Saturday, moderated by yours truly, showed the candidates agree almost entirely on big problems and big goals — housing, transit, climate — but sharply disagree on strategy.
- State Reps. Christine Barber and Erika Uyterhoeven, along with Cambridge Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem and Somerville City Councilor Matt McLaughlin, are the four very left-of-center Democrats running to replace retiring Sen. Patricia Jehlen.
- No Republican or independent qualified, so the Sept. 1 primary decides the seat outright.
Between the lines: All four say they want a system less deferential to Democratic leadership.
- Only Barber is explicitly betting her strategy on working within it. The other three, in different ways, are betting on friction.
Barber is betting voters want results over rhetoric.
- She's pointing to her role in passing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, a new abortion access bill and a long list of additional legislative wins as evidence that she can build coalitions inside the existing power structure to make progressive goals reality.
Instead of working the inside game, Uyterhoeven's positioning herself as the Beacon Hill disruptor, pushing to make committee votes public and casting the affordability crisis as a product of a Democrat-led legislature that answers to donors before constituents.
Azeem, the lone Cantabrigian in the race, is leaning on his record of rezoning Cambridge for triple-deckers and expanding pre-K.
- He's also arguing for the kind of big and ambitious policy changes Massachusetts Democrats shy away from these days.
- Beacon Hill's allergy to open conflict is the real obstacle to big change, according to Azeem.
McLaughlin's a veteran, former janitor and long-time Somerville city councilor.
- He's putting his lived experience and local grit forward, framing his fights with Somerville mayors over the years as proof he'll take on power when it matters.
Reality check: The Massachusetts State House runs a top-down model where handpicked committee chairs and leadership stipends can reward loyalty to the Senate president over independence.
- Most of these candidates are betting that refusing to play that game can shape debate and force votes into the open.
- Uyterhoeven's public-committee-vote push is one example. But turning transparency positions into actual law is almost impossible without leadership's cooperation.
Bottom line: Voters here aren't choosing between progressive and moderate. They're choosing a philosophy of power — whether the inside game or outside pressure is what actually moves Beacon Hill's centrist Democrats.