The Mass. primary down-ballot races that matter most
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Deehan here with Spill of the Hill, my column unraveling Massachusetts politics.
While political news in Massachusetts this cycle has centered on marquee races like the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, some of the contests getting the least attention will do the most to shape how power is wielded in Massachusetts.
Why it matters: Three things are happening: DA races are testing prosecutorial power, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is pushing for more clout in the state Senate and disputes over how the Legislature actually operates are dominating down-ballot races.
State of play: In Middlesex County, incumbent District Attorney Marian Ryan faces David Solet, her former cold-case homicide chief.
- It's the rare insider challenge that's all about ties to police unions.
- Ryan refuses police association money, while Solet built support from public safety unions.
In Suffolk County, incumbent Kevin Hayden is defending his seat against ex-DA Rachael Rollins and Linda Champion in a three-way race.
- There's ethical baggage: Hayden paid a $5,000 conflict-of-interest penalty tied to his 2022 campaign and a federal inspector general found Rollins misused her prior post.
- Rollins' return from disgrace to give Hayden a real run for his money means the Boston area could pivot back to the reform policies Rollins brought in nearly a decade ago.
The intrigue: Talk on Beacon Hill this cycle centers on Wu's backing of challengers against two sitting senators.
- Challenger Daniel Lander is facing 14-year Watertown incumbent Will Brownsberger, and Latoya Gayle is charging against South Boston moderate Nick Collins.
- The challenges, and Wu's backing, came after both incumbents opposed the mayor's push to shift more of Boston's property-tax burden onto commercial properties.
- Wu is spending a lot of political capital to remove senatorial roadblocks to her agenda — or at least to ruin those roadblocks' summer.
Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell are backing the incumbents, marking a rare visible split among the state's top Democrats.
In another Senate race, for the open Second Middlesex Senate seat vacated by retiring Sen. Pat Jehlen, four progressives are competing less on ideology than on theory of governing.
- Institutional progressive Rep. Christine Barber is taking on Democratic Socialist Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, while municipal leaders Burhan Azeem and Matt McLaughlin add to the mix.
What to watch: In Cambridge, Marjorie Decker and Evan MacKay are running a rematch of the state's closest 2024 primary.
- Last time, the two were just 41 votes apart.
- MacKay, another progressive outsider, is pushing for transparency reforms that Decker says would prevent the House from actually getting things done.
Between the lines: Nearly every race shares a through line: experience, pragmatism and coalition-building versus urgency and institutional tension.