Heading into a Sept. 3 primary set to decide who represents Somerville’s 27th Middlesex District in the state Legislature, challenger Kathleen Hornby has won the endorsement of the Somerville Democratic City Committee over incumbent state Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, who called the results “out of step” with her constituency.
Voting by the committee’s 220 elected members followed an Aug. 8 debate among the candidates at which they made efforts to distinguish themselves despite holding similar progressive stances on many issues. Voting closed late Thursday.
The final result was 92 votes for Hornby, 51 for Uyterhoeven and 10 members voting “present,” according to a committee press release on Friday. Nearly two-thirds of committee members cast a ballot for one of the two candidates. In the 2020 primary in which Uyterhoeven won her seat over Catia Sharp – another case in which the candidates seemed to have more similarities than differences – there were 14,471 votes cast, with Uyterhoeven taking 62 percent. She took 86 percent two years ago against Jason Daniel Mackey when 8,149 votes were cast.
Also endorsed by the committee are U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, state Sen. Pat Jehlen and state Reps. Mike Connolly and Christine Barber.
Uyterhoeven has held her seat since 2021. Hornby announced her candidacy in February after serving nearly a decade as a staffer at the State House, most recently for Cambridge state Rep. Marjorie Decker.
“Somerville Democrats want someone on Beacon Hill who can get things done for our city. Kathleen Hornby clearly made the case to Somerville Democrats that her commitment to public service and our community is what Democrats want in our nominee. She earned this endorsement because party committee members know we can trust her to represent the whole of the Democratic Party as a member of our delegation,” committee chair Jack Perenick said in the press release. “We don’t take this step to endorse the challenger to an incumbent lightly.”
It was an honor to get the vote of confidence from Somerville Democrats, Hornby said, and “I’m running to give the community I love the representation that it deserves.” She noted her work on reproductive rights, access to shelter and reliable public transportation.
“I’m proud of my track record and accomplishments and the bold progressive policy platform that I’m running on and ran on in 2020,” Uyterhoeven said, calling her work a reason she has the support of Pressley, reproductive justice advocates and Planned Parenthood, climate advocates, progressive groups and organized labor. “The Somerville Dems endorsement is an anomaly in this race. Some members of their board are out of step with the clear progressive values of this district. This outcome to me has more to do with insider politics.”
The results from the committee members were “contradictory to what we’ve seen in terms of prior election history and how this campaign is going so far.”
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Erika Uyterhoeven has made it a point to side with the extremist views of Somerville for Palestine – which – incredibly- has refused to condemn Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 mostly unarmed civilians last Oct 7! Nor has she spoken out against this group’s complicit silence over Hamas taking more than 250 hostages and committing numerous rapes that very same day. Voters in Somerville deserve far better representatives on Beacon Hill than someone like Uyterhoeven.
Uyterhoeven was endorsed by Ayanna Pressley who I like.
Hornby was endorsed by the local Democrats and was an aide to Decker in Cambridge, both of whom I dislike.
Despite their seemingly similar policy stances, this seems like a clear choice to stay with Uyterhoeven for me.
Genocidaire’s for Hornby is all the more reason to vote for Uyterhoeven.