If dollars were votes, state Senator Will Brownsberger would be cruising to re-election, Burhan Azeem would be in the driver’s seat for entering the state Senate, state Representative Marjorie Decker would likely be re-elected, while state Rep. Mike Connolly’s race would be too close to call.
That’s what this year’s fundraising totals show with six weeks to go before the Massachusetts primary election on Sept.1. Cambridge and Somerville voters will decide five competitive races for the State legislature, including a rematch of 2024’s dramatic race between Decker and Evan MacKay. (There are no Republican candidates in these districts, so the Democratic primary will effectively decide the winners.)
Dollars aren’t votes, however. In 2024, MacKay raised just over $72,000, less than half Decker’s $165,000-plus, but lost by just 41 votes. Fundraising is closer this year, with Decker pulling in $157,000 so far and Mackay just under $90,000. Meanwhile, Brownsberger has pulled in more than any other candidate in a local race, $265,000, on top of the $198,000 he had at the start of the year. But his opponent Daniel Lander has raised a respectable $117,000 to go with $51,000 he had before the year began. (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.)
Campaign contributions are not a direct indicator of how well a candidate is doing in a race, said Sam Seidel, a former Cambridge city councillor, though it often serves as a proxy for a candidate’s reach. “You raise money to raise awareness, but ultimately, what you have to do as a successful candidate is turn awareness into a vote on election day,” Seidel said.
Seidel also said social media may have changed candidates’ approach to fundraising. “You can do a lot of communication for free,” he noted. “My sense is that candidates who are effective now are effective in that space. There’s a whole other grammar to online and social media. People who figure that out can cover a lot of ground without having to raise or spend a lot of money.”
In Massachusetts, an individual is allowed to contribute up to $1,000 to a political campaign per year. A Political Action Committee (PAC) is allowed to donate up to $500 per calendar year, State Party Committees can pay up to $3,000 per year, and Local Ward committees are allowed to contribute up to $1,000 each year. Registered lobbyists have contributions capped at $200. However, there is no cap on the amount or number of times a candidate can give to their own campaign.
Cambridge Day drew on contribution data from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
24th Middlesex district – Nomita Ganguly vs. David Rogers (incumbent)
In the 24th Middlesex district, residents of northwest Cambridge in Ward 11, precincts 1 & 3, and some residents of Arlington and Belmont will decide between incumbent state Rep. David Rogers or his challenger, Nomita Ganguly.
Rep. Rogers won his election in 2012. This is the second time he has faced a challenger, after defeating one in the 2020 primary. He has received $28,854.96 in contributions, more than double Ganguly’s $13,528.38.
Entering the race with $41,963.70, Rogers is chairperson of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, and has received contributions from several unions and political action committees, include 1199 SEIU MA, a PAC representing healthcare workers across the state focused on electing “pro-labor leaders,” as well as healthcare lobbyists, Boston Carmen’s Union PAC which represents transit employees, as well as two separate real-estate development-based political action committees.
Ganguly is an attorney with a background in legislative advocacy, she began her campaign with no previous campaign money in hand. Her contributions have come entirely from private individuals. Prominent among those who identified themselves are lawyers, managerial staff and business owners.
25th Middlesex district – Evan MacKay vs. Marjorie Decker (incumbent)
In 2024, state Rep. Marjorie Decker fended off challenger Evan MacKay by a mere 41 votes, despite vastly outdistancing them in fundraising.
With six weeks to go before the Sept. 1 primary, Decker again has a substantial though smaller lead in fundraising. MacKay raised about $72,700 in 2024, while Decker raised more than $165,000. By comparison, this year, MacKay started with just under $25,000 on hand and has raised almost $90,000 to bring their total cash to deploy to date to $115,000. Decker, meanwhile, had cash on hand of just over $37,500 and has raised $157,000 so far this year, a total to date of $194,000. But Decker has spent $106,000, or 55% of her funds, so far this year. MacKay has only spent $37,800 of their total campaign treasury.
Of donors who contributed the maximum gift of $1,000, Decker received $71,000 from 65 different individuals, PACs or unions. These 65 donors account for a third of her money raised to date.
Decker, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, has also received $6,000 from executives at Atlas Healthcare, Landmark Management Solutions, Tide Group, Marquis and Athena Health Care Systems.
MacKay’s largest individual donor is a partner at Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini. They have also received a number of donations from software developers at healthcare and high-tech companies.
26th Middlesex district – Neil Miller vs. Michael Connolly (incumbent)
In the 26th Middlesex district state Rep. Michael Connolly is being challenged by Neil Miller. Residents in the district include East Cambridge, including Ward 1, precinct 3; Ward 1, precincts 1, 2, and 3A; Ward 3, precincts 1, 2, and 3; Ward 4, precinct 1; Ward 5, precincts 1 and 3; and Ward 6, precincts 1 and 1A. Somerville residents in Ward 1, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4, or in Ward 2, precinct 1A, are also in the 26th Middlesex District.
Connolly defeated an incumbent in 2016 and had not faced opposition in an election since. Connolly has received $24,131.80 in contributions to date, less than $500 more than Miller’s $23,787.64. This makes their race the closest in terms of fundraising, although Connolly began the year with more than $43,000 on hand.
Connolly’s campaign has received money from four separate PACs, the Boston Teachers Union, the Int’l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 2222, Mass. & Northern New England Laborers’ District Council, and Mass. State International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agriculture Implement Workers, UAW Co.
Miller’s campaign has so far been funded entirely by private individuals. Miller is a student at the Harvard Kennedy School, but previously worked as a data analyst in the federal government. Several of his donors have identified themselves as working in technology, statistics and science. Additionally, his bid emphasizes canvassing directly in the community.
27th Middlesex district – Ben Ewen-Campen vs. Olivia Gilligan Corsetti
The incumbent in this race would have been Erika Uyterhoeven, but she is running for state senate. Chasing the seat are Ben Ewen-Campen and Olivia Gilligan Corsetti.
Ewen-Campen leads the race in campaign funding with a total of $28,116.98, while Gilligan Corsetti has raised $7,162.29.
Ewen-Campen has served as Ward 3’s representative on the Somerville City Council since 2017. Among his backers are are the Painters District Council #35 PAC, the Boston Teachers Union PAC and Local 509 Service Employees Int’l Union Comm on Pol Ed, Mass. Workers’ Pol Action Comm. He also works as a biology researcher at Harvard Medical School. Among individual contributors are several Somerville municipal employees and higher education workers, he began the race with $22,800.19.
Gilligan Corsetti worked as the campaign manager for Somerville mayor Katjana Ballantyne and previously worked in Governor Maura Healey’s constituent services office. However, Gilligan Corsetti has received money only from private individuals and began the race with no pre-existing campaign funds.
34th Middlesex District – Wilfred Mbah, Christopher Oates and Paul Ruseau
Three candidates are vying to replace state Rep. Christine Barber, who is running for state Senator. The district covers parts of Medford and Somerville’s Ward 4, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4; Ward 6, precinct 3A; and Ward 7.
Wilfred Mbah has raised the most campaign funding of the three, $39,157.92. The sitting Somerville city councilor has been given funds by a number of committees representing other local politicians, including Committee To Elect Calvin T. Brown, James Eldridge Committee, Committee To Elect Burhan Azeem, Jesse Clingan Committee, Ruthzee Louijeune Committee, Joe McGuirk Committee, Chris Dempsey Committee andVivian Birchall Committee. Worker protections are listed as one of Mbah’s campaign focuses, and he has also been given money by SEIU Mass State Council, which represents various healthcare and public service unions, and Mass. & Northern New England Laborers’ District Council, which also unites a network of labor unions.
In second fundraising place is Paul Ruseau, with $27,121.09. Ruseau began the race with no cash on hand. The majority of contributions received by his campaign are from private individuals, though Ruseau has also received funding from the Committee to Elect Miranda Briseno, who ran for Medford City Council last year, and Committee To Elect Nicole Morell, who served on Medford City Council from January 2020 to January 2024. Ruseau has served for nine years on the Medford School Board and also works at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a software engineer.
Political risk consultant Christopher Oates, who also entered the race with $0, has since accumulated $13,358.89. His support has included clusters of people working in software engineering, law and healthcare.
2nd Middlesex District – Burhan Azeem, Christine Barber, Tom Hopcroft, Matt McLaughlin and Erika Uyterhoeven
With the most candidates of this year’s races in Cambridge and Somerville, the 2nd Middlesex district includes Cambridge residents in Ward 7, precinct 1; Ward 8, precinct 1; Ward 10; Ward 11 and all of Somerville.
The 2nd Middlesex district race has seen some of the highest spending by candidates in comparison to the other races. Each candidate began the race with money already in their campaign accounts, however, many of them have raised a significant amount since Jan 1.
Beginning this race with the least amount of cash on hand but now leading the candidates in campaign fundraising for this year is Burhan Azeem, the current vice mayor of Cambridge, with a total of $136,954.80. Beginning the race with just over $2,000, he has received a number of contributions from other local politicians’ committees, and from two labor union umbrella PACs, the Mass. & Northern New England Laborers’ District Council and SEIU Local 32BJ United American Dream Fund MA Green, Teamsters and others.
Azeem has also received funds from people employed by Anthropic and other AI-focused companies.
State Rep. Christine Barber has raised a current total of $104,754.08. One of Barber’s legislative priorities has been investing in better access to healthcare. Among her donors are several medically-focused PACs including Physical Therapy PAC, Mass. Optometric PAC, Mass. Podiatric PAC, Massachusetts Nurses PAC, and Mass. Family Medicine PAC. Of the five candidates, Barber received the most committee donations with a total of 45. Barber began the race with $112,811.52.
State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven has raised $92,281.03. Uyterhoeven advocated for the “Fair Share Amendment,” which invested in public schools and directly invested in the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Her campaign has received contributions from groups like the Boston Teachers Union PAC and Voice of Teachers for Education (VOTE) PAC. Upon entering the race, Uyterhoeven had 91,714.62 in pre-existing campaign funds.
Somerville City Councilor Matt McLaughlin has raised $54,482.36 to date, beginning with $48,488.85 McLaughlin’s campaign received two committee contributions, one from Somerville City Councilor Jesse Clingan and the other from former Cambridge City Council candidate Joe McGuirk. According to his campaign site, McLaughlin was previously an employee of the US Department of Labor assisting veterans find employment and also worked for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 948. McLaughlin has also received support from the following labor unions: Heat and Frost Insulator Local 6, Ironworkers Local 7, Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 17, Teamsters Local 122, and Somerville Firefighters Local 76.
Winchester School Committee Member Tom Hopcroft has raised $28,104.37 for his campaign. Each of Hopcroft’s contributions have come from private individuals. Many of the listed donors have occupations in venture capital, the wine industry and technology. He entered the race with $10,807.80.
Suffolk and Middlesex District – Daniel Lander vs. William Brownsberger (incumbent)
The Suffolk and Middlesex district represents Belmont, Watertown, West Cambridge and the Boston neighborhoods of Allston, Brighton and Fenway.
In the Suffolk and Middlesex district, Incumbent state senator William Brownsberger has nearly doubled opponent Daniel Lander’s fundraising. At the start of 2026, Brownsberger had nearly four times as much cash on hand as Lander. Since then, Lander has reduced that difference but still lags in fundraising overall. Brownsberger has raised $265,435.76, and Lander has raised 117,740.53
Contributors to Brownsberger’s campaign include funding from many PACs, candidate committees of other Massachusetts politicians and private individuals in the greater Boston area.
Most notably, earlier this year he received contributions from Mass. Assoc. of Realtors PAC (MA-RPAC) and National Association of Industrial and Office Parks MA Commercial Real Estate Development PAC, both grassroots political action committees that opposed a ballot initiative on rent control, which was struck from the ballot by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In the past, Brownsberger has voted against rent control.
Lander’s campaign has received money from the Int’l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 2222 PAC and four different elements of the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local 202, which mainly supports technical and clerical employees in workers’ rights-based bargaining agreements. Total NAGE support to date is $3,250.
Otherwise, Lander’s campaign has received funding almost entirely from private individuals. Lander has notably received more donations from out-of-state residents than Brownsberger, but each campaign has been majority funded by Mass. residents.
Brianna Earle is reporting this summer for Cambridge Day as part of a partnership with the Brandeis University journalism program. Jennifer Chen contributed to this story.
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