A healthier, safer and more united Cambridge is the goal of Peter Hsu, a doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center running for a City Council seat for the second time.
Hsu is the first challenger to declare a candidacy for one of the nine council seats that will be decided Nov. 4 – slightly earlier than the first challenger declaration in the previous municipal election (Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler announced June 8, 2023) but far behind the action two elections ago (Theodora Skeadas announced Feb. 19, 2021). In neighboring Somerville, which had a sleepy election season in 2023, there are already nine newcomers seeking one of the Somerville City Council’s four at-large positions, and others who have declared to run in its wards.
In Cambridge, where all seats are at-large, formal nomination papers become available July 1 and must be submitted by July 31.
To Hsu, creating a healthier, safer and more united city means fighting for measures such as expanding addiction medicine and mental health services, modernizing the city’s sewage system and promoting policies that support working-class families.
Hsu said he was inspired to run for council while treating a patient struggling with a substance disorder. When his patient was discharged, he confided in Hsu that he was afraid he’d relapse because he didn’t have the resources to quit successfully.
Heartbroken, Hsu said he decided to go into local politics to help vulnerable people like his patient.
“We needed a system that worked beyond the hospital walls and really took care of the community, and to hopefully eliminate some of these inadequacies,” he said.
Hsu credits the city for its progress in public health initiatives, applauding the city’s Community Assistance Response and Engagement Team, which works in place of police officers to deescalate nonviolent crises.
Despite this, Hsu said that the city still has more work to do.
Used needles near playgrounds, the lack of safety around Central Square at night and the rising cost of housing are just some of the areas where the city is failing its residents, Hsu said.
If elected, Hsu said he’d prioritize community engagement, using the most of his office hours to understand residents’ needs.
While studying to be a physician, he lived in California, Ohio and Tennessee before settling in East Cambridge in 2019. He has a wife and two children. His first run for council was in 2023, pushing for similar measures as he’s proposing now.
But Hsu said in that race he was ill-prepared, and called his run a “last-minute effort.” Juggling his schedule as a physician with campaigning only made his initial run harder.
“I was very uncoordinated,” he said. “I’m going to admit, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Following his first political loss, Hsu said he received a wave of heartwarming letters and messages that encouraged him to give public service another shot.
After spending months going door-to-door talking with residents, Hsu has a deeper understanding of the key issues he wants to focus on.
“The passion is the same, it’s just that this time, I am way better planned and prepared than last time,” he said.
The background of the feature image for this story (which is not the photo above) was altered in a digital retouching process: The far left and right of the gray background was added to, and a portion of the subject’s shoulder, and are not real. The face and rest of the body were photographed and are real.
This post was updated June 5, 2025, to correct the candidate’s biography; he was a pediatric oncologist only until 2023, and the previous version said he remains one.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.