Accusations of lies, distortions and personal attacks have escalated in the late stages of the rematch between state Rep. Marjorie Decker and her challenger Evan MacKay for the 25th Middlesex District seat. Flash points include personal finances, campaign finance and past political histories. Cambridge Day asked both candidates to clarify the record before voters head to the polls on Tuesday.
Personal finances
Decker has pointed out in debates that MacKay’s residence in Harvard dorms and lack of a utility bill is in contrast with her own life experience. “Unlike Evan, I have to actually pay a utility bill every month. And I have to pay a mortgage, to work, to put food on my table,” Decker said. “I don’t come from wealth. And I haven’t lived at Harvard in the dorms,” she added.
MacKay works for Harvard as a residential tutor for undergraduates, Nina Eichner, MacKay’s campaign manager, confirmed. The role requires them to live on campus and be “physically proximate in circumstances of emergencies having to do with student safety and well-being.”
MacKay has previously noted their work as an organizer for Harvard’s Graduate Student Union — HGSU-UAW. They said working with the union has taught them to “stand up to retaliation, bullying, intimidation, harassment,” an experience they plan on drawing on if elected. They have also said they would leave their PhD program if elected. “We only get one state representative, and it is my commitment to be fully focused to this role,” they said.
When asked, MacKay disclosed they earn $13,150 per semester as a sociology teaching fellow and $9,862.50 per year as a sociology concentration advisor. Their work as a residential tutor only covers room and board without compensation, bringing their total salary up to $36,162.5 per year.
Decker has frequently mentioned her upbringing in affordable housing in Cambridge, and has insinuated MacKay grew up under wealthy conditions. Eichner wrote that MacKay’s parents are a teacher and gastroenterologist, two “helping professions,” and the discrepancy between the pay of these two professions is “one of the reasons that Evan has fought for educators to receive fair pay” and “universal healthcare and confronting healthcare for profit.”
Decker’s salary at her second job, with the Boston law firm Berman Tabacco, has been a point of contention since her face-off with MacKay in 2024, and has received a level of scrutiny to which other local incumbents have not been subjected. It is common for legislators to have outside work; the Boston Globe revealed in 2024 that half of Massachusetts legislators have second jobs. “Over 100 legislators have second jobs. And just like all of them, I meet the letter of the law,” Decker said. “There’s no conflict of interest. I disclose that.”
MacKay, however, has suggested Decker’s reticence to reveal her actual salary, time commitment and workload lacks transparency. For Decker, the conversation around salary only distracts the conversation from her long legislative record.
Some of MacKay’s campaign materials refer to Decker making “millions” from her second job.
Decker said this is not true and disclosed she will make $180,000 this year when asked by Cambridge Day. She said she disclosed the number because she “believe[s] deeply in transparency.” Previously, Decker had disclosed her outside employment on her annual statement of financial interest (SFI), and listed her salary at Berman Tabacco as greater than $100,001 a year since 2016; the “greater than $100,001 a year” is the maximum disclosure requirement required of candidates for office, state officials and public employees.
Decker has also petitioned a bill this February, which then went to study in March, that would require legislators to disclose outside earnings to the nearest $10,000, rather than the current broad ranges. The bill would “make the disclosure freely downloadable online because the public deserves clearer financial disclosures,” Decker wrote in a statement.
She recently shared that her role at Berman, director of community affairs, is to “help people connect with attorneys to stand up to big corporations.” Decker did not disclose her specific time commitment to the firm, stating that it varies week to week, maintains that the work contract “has not once, not one day” affected her ability be an effective legislator, and cited a Vanderbilt study
The Berman Tabacco earnings bring her total annual income this year to $307,300, including her base salary as a legislator of $82,000, a leadership stipend of $22,400 for her work chairing the Joint Committee on Public Health, and a separate travel allowance of $22,400.
Money from outside sources
MacKay has brought up what they called an “unprecedented” amount of money that has been funneled in support of Decker’s campaign, especially in the last two weeks. A recently formed independent expenditure political action committee (IEPAC), Progressive Cambridge, disclosed that it had raised $120,000 since July 29. In the last two weeks, it spent $116,000 of that money in support of Decker in the form of direct mailers, digital advertisements, a mobile billboard truck and staff time of a Cambridge political communications strategist called Amplify Power. Amplify received $78,000 for mailers and staff time.
The biggest donors to Progressive Cambridge are two union-related groups and an IEPAC: Local 509 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) based in Marlborough, Massachusetts State Council SEIU based in Boston, and another IEPAC called Boston Opportunity. IEPACs are exempt from campaign donation limits, but cannot legally collaborate with candidates.
Though Decker is not in communication with Progressive Cambridge, she finds it “not surprising” the funders are from “progressive unions I have worked with.” Decker cited her amendment last year preventing layoffs of Department of Mental Health workers and her advocacy on behalf of Harvard’s custodial union during negotiations as examples of her work with unions. DMH workers are a part of the local 509 SEIU chapter, but Harvard’s custodial union is with 32BJ, a different SEIU chapter.
Boston Opportunity IEPAC contributed the most money to the IEPAC with an $85,000 donation. The Boston Opportunity IEPAC was formed in 2021 and supported current or former Boston city councilors, among them Erin J. Murphy, Ruthzee Louijeune, Ed Flynn, Michael Flaherty, Annissa Essaibi George, Lydia Edwards (now a state senator), Elizabeth Breadon and Tania Fernandes Anderson (who was convicted of public corruption charges in 2025). However, the IEPAC has no specific donor or expenditure records since then, including in 2026, despite records showing a contribution to Progressive Cambridge IEPAC. Cambridge Day has reached out multiple times to Progressive Cambridge and received no response.
Decker said, “I’m perfectly capable of communicating why I’m a strong legislator with a strong record on my own. But just like Evan has organizations spending money on Evan, I do, too. The same reasons I have these progressive unions fighting for me, Evan has the MTA [Massachusetts Teachers Association IEPAC].”
The numbers in IEPAC spending are starkly different, though. The MTA has spent $8,000 on digital advertisements from a Washington, D.C.-based advertising company called The New Media Firm Inc on behalf of MacKay’s campaign, a fraction of what Progressive Cambridge has spent on Decker’s campaign.
MacKay has previously criticized Decker for not signing the People’s Pledge requiring candidates to not accept PAC money or in some cases agree to donate the equivalent or some part of contributions made by IEPACs on their campaign’s behalf, meant to de-incentivize IEPAC spending.
The MacKay campaign shared that the People’s Pledge only becomes “activated” if both candidates were to take the agreed upon pledge, meaning both candidates would donate IEPAC-related contributions to “dissuade outside IE PAC spending.” A representative from MacKay’s campaign has stated that they would be “open to donating from our campaign account to a charity of Rep Decker’s choice,” but only if Decker also agreed to donate to a charity of their choice from her campaign account.
Voting records
Both candidates have accused the other of bad faith when it comes to their voting records.
MacKay has put Decker’s voting record on blast, specifically Decker’s vote against an amendment to house rules in the 2017-2018 legislative session to make recording all House committee votes mandatory along party lines. The amendment, proposed by three Republican representatives (O’Connell, Diehl, and Lyons), failed, receiving votes from only seven Democrats, one of whom was current State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. Instead, the joint rules passed a more restrictive rule requiring roll call be requested by two committee members and available to the public only upon request.
“I had voted against a Republican-led rules change on this, but, since then, after the 2022 non-binding ballot that was in our district, I have understood and appreciated that people want more disclosure,” Decker said. She maintains her committee votes have always been public upon request before the 2025 rule change mandating roll calls be published on the state’s website. Decker also opposed a rule in 2019-2020 making committee votes digitally available to the public and similar rules in 2021-2022, voting along majority Democratic lines. Public digitally available committee votes were passed in 2025.
On the other side of the aisle, Decker has questioned MacKay’s political affiliation, asking why MacKay was a registered Republican when they lived in Florida. MacKay has said they registered as a Republican to vote on ballot questions in closed Florida primaries lacking Democratic candidates. MacKay’s father, Gregory, ran as a Republican in 2016 for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives, but finished third in a primary of four candidates.
To back up their record working in Democratic institutions, MacKay shared that they previously organized (in an unpaid capacity) for the Black Lives Matter movement in Florida and volunteered with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group combatting felony disenfranchisement.
Decker’s campaign retracted a statement it made about MacKay not voting in the 2024 election.
In a recent conversation on CCTV with Pete Septoff, Decker has also claimed MacKay said they would have voted against the PROTECT Act, which MacKay said was false. Decker has frequently brought up her connections with the Black and Latino Caucus and her work with the caucus to develop the PROTECT Act, posing the question back to MacKay in an email to the Day about how they would have protected immigrants as a “sole legislator,” putting into question their ability to collaborate with other legislators given their strong critiques of her legislative record.
MacKay wrote back to the Day that they would work with “allies inside the legislature and outside organizations” to end 287G agreements which allows the U.S. Department of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to collaborate with state, tribal or local law enforcement. Even more, they affirmed that their grassroots campaign means having a wide base of supporters throughout Cambridge and Massachusetts. Decker has defended the 287G agreement as a harm reduction strategy to protect against collateral arrests by ICE in Massachusetts neighborhoods and homes.
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