Will Brownsberger is one of the most powerful politicians on Beacon Hill. Daniel Lander had never run for office before deciding to challenge Brownsberger, who was elected to the state Senate in 2014 after six years in the House.
Both are campaigning on the need to invest in affordability, not just for housing but also transportation, healthcare, and access to jobs.
They differ on what those investments should look like, but broadly agree the district needs better access to consistent transportation, affordable housing and access to things like clean parks and recreation areas to improve quality of life.
Where they diverge, sharply, is on issues of the government efficiency and transparency in the legislative process.
Read on for more about what motivates Brownsberger, the incumbent, and his challenger Lander. (Disclosure: Lander’s mother, Lori Lander, is on the Local News Fund Advisory Board at the Cambridge Community Foundation, which has given financial support to Cambridge Day.)
William Brownsberger: More Transparency, Challenging Perceptions of Legislative Efficiency
Brownsberger, 69, said he’s running because “public service is a calling for me … it feels like a real privilege.”
Transparency in government, or its lack, has been under a spotlight in this election. But Brownsberger cited with pride his efforts to reform the state’s legislative procurement process to create a “see through” system that allows people “to see every last penny, where it’s spent in the state, whether it’s spent in an agency or by the legislature,” he said.
Brownsberger takes umbrage at the widespread perception that the Massachusetts Legislature is perhaps the least productive in the country. “I completely reject that narrative,” he said, emphasizing it was “completely false.” He said criticism of the state legislature’s efficiency is based on bad statistics, which are driven by how many bills it passes. Brownsberger noted these statistics do not take into account omnibus bills. These omnibus bills include a number of pieces of legislation that could be stand-alone bills, which means “Massachusetts gets misjudged,” he said.
He also took pride in being involved in reforming the state’s criminal justice system, working to reduce the number of inmates in the prison system, and in creating police reforms. “We created the police accountability system,” he said, in reference to An Act relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth, which created an independent commission that could investigate police departments. “We really have the best, or one of the best, police reforms in a police accountability regime in the country, a very strong centralized police accountability agency.”
As concerns over affordability rise in Massachusetts and on the national level, Brownsberger emphasized that if re-elected he will continue to invest in making education, healthcare and housing more affordable — just don’t ask him to support rent control. He said He is not opposed to holding down rents and making sure landlords are unable to fix prices, but he said the proposal of rent control is a “disaster.”
He said he will continue to vote for more investment in early and secondary education. He also said he is likely to vote for anything that creates more affordable housing, except rent control.
Brownsberger said he’s enjoyed facing a challenger for the first time since he was elected. elected. “It’s a great thing because people are paying attention,” Brownsberger said. “I’m really glad to have the conversations that I’m having to say what I’m doing and talk about the things I’m not doing … I’m someone who feels best when people know who I am.”
Brownsberger has been endorsed by Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Attorney General Andrea Campbell, as well as other state and district officials.
Daniel Lander: Opposing the Beacon Hill Status Quo
Lander, 34, is running for office for the first time. He was a senior aide to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu until January after announcing his campaign for senate.
Lander explained that part of the reason he is running for this position is because of his frustration about the lack of efficiency and transparency in the current legislative process. He said, “Massachusetts has become this place where good idea, after good idea, after good idea, dies every single year on Beacon Hill without a vote.” Lander explained that he voted for the legislative audit for this specific reason and said that he plans to push for reform on legislation surrounding access to public records.
If elected, Lander outlined two initial goals. In the short term, he wants to extend MBTA bus services to 24 hours. “So many people in this district in particular work at our hospitals at Mount Auburn and/or Longwood and those who work at bars and restaurants or at Fenway Park cannot get home because the T shuts down,” he explained. “Their only choice is to spend a bunch of money either parking or taking an expensive late night Uber ride…the T already has enough buses and enough bus drivers to do this. It is a question of priorities.”
Longer term, he wants to continue tackling affordability issues, as he did while working for Mayor Wu. He cited his leadership of a public land audit looking for city-owned land across Allston that could be used to develop affordable housing. He said this had led to the development of two-family or triple-deckers and turning parking lots into “hundreds of units and new public space.”
Lander also wants to provide specific boosts to Cambridge by passing legislation that will protect the science and innovation economy in the area. “Grant cuts last year and then new federal rules that are coming down recently will gut our innovation economy and biotech research,” he said. “We’ll really cause a lot of pain for scientists at labs, at Harvard and MIT, and elsewhere. Despite this, our legislature has done nothing.”
[Editor’s note: Lander’s father is Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute, a biomedical research center in Cambridge.]
Lander said protecting innovation was a top priority “because we need to make sure that the lifesaving cures that come out of places like Moderna and elsewhere are continuing to happen, and that the thousands of people that they employ, these companies employ, continue to be able to build a good life here.”
In recent weeks, Lander received notable endorsements from Wu as well as US Senator Elizabeth Warren. Lander served on Warren’s 2020 campaign for president.
The Suffolk and Middlesex District includes parts of Belmont, Watertown, East Cambridge and the Boston neighborhoods of Allston, Brighton and Fenway.
The primary election will take place on Sept. 1.
Brianna Earle is reporting this summer for Cambridge Day as part of a partnership with the Brandeis University journalism program.
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