The race to replace state senator Patricia Jehlen, who represents the Second Middlesex District, gained a second competitor Wednesday in Tom Hopcroft, a Winchester school committee member and climate entrepreneur.
Jehlen announced in early December that she won’t seek re-election this fall after 20 years in the state Senate. Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin soon thereafter declared his candidacy. The Second Middlesex District covers Somerville, Medford, and parts of Cambridge and Winchester.
Hopcroft, educated as a lawyer, primarily has worked as a builder of industry groups that culminated in the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Dedham-based coordinating group for tech executives. Hopcroft was MassTLC’s president and CEO from 2008-2022. In 2023 he left to found the Net Zero Institute, a decarbonization nonprofit based in Winchester.
Hopcroft was elected to the Winchester School Committee in 2021 and was re-elected in 2024.
In announcing his run, Hopcroft positioned his professional experience as a strength. “I bring a unique combination of business expertise, statewide policy experience, climate leadership, and deep local roots,” Hopcroft said in a press release emailed to Cambridge Day.
“This district needs someone who can work across neighborhoods and sectors, build coalitions around our shared values, and deliver results that benefit people across our communities,” the message continued.
The release came from Castle Point Partners, a Boston political consulting firm that has done work for dozens of Massachusetts political figures.
McLaughlin, 44, was elected to the Somerville City Council in 2013, where he represents the city’s eastern neighborhoods in Ward 1. He posted a statement to Instagram Dec. 9 saying “I’m running for State Senate because the cost of living is pushing working people out of Massachusetts. I spent my entire adult life fighting for affordability and giving voice to people who are often overlooked by those in power.”
His focus on affordability echoes broader trends in Somerville’s 2025 elections, which toppled an incumbent mayor and ushered in a new city charter.
McLaughlin was raised in Somerville, leaving in 2003 to join the army, serving two tours in Iraq. While on City Council he’s also worked for the federal Department of Labor in veterans’ services and as an aide to then-Cambridge City Councillor Dennis Carlone. He helped draft Cambridge’s 2020 Welcoming City Ordinance, which mirrors a 2019 ordinance passed in Somerville.
Both candidates have ties to Jehlen. McLaughlin was campaign manager for her 2016 re-election campaign and told Cambridge Day that she’s been “a mentor for many years.”
Jehlen nominated Hopcroft for the Massachusetts Senate’s Citizens’ Legislative Seminar, a two-day program for education on the state legislature, in 2024.
Hopcroft and McLaughlin will be able to pull nomination papers on Feb. 10, which they’ll need to have certified by April 26 in order to formally enter the race. Registered voters from the district will cast their ballots for the seat in the primary Sept. 1. The general election is Nov. 3.
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