With just days until the democratic primary election Sept. 1, voters in Cambridge and Somerville have quite a few options when it comes to who they choose to represent them in the legislature.
Cambridge Day has pulled from its reporting during the primary campaign as well as candidate websites and information from public forums to compile a primer about the competitive local races. We chose to highlight candidate stances on the issues of affordability and on transparency in the Legislature, and then at least one other legislative priority.
24th Middlesex District:
The 24th Middlesex district includes those living in North Cambridge in Ward 11, precincts 1 & 3, all of Belmont and parts of Arlington.
David Rogers
Rogers has served as state representative in the 24th Middlesex District since 2013. During his time on Beacon Hill he has worked on legislation ranging from immigrant protection to environmental safeguards. Rogers currently serves as House Chair of the Committee on Higher Education, considered a premium committee, meaning he receives an annual stipend of around $44,860 each year for the leadership role.
Affordability: As chair of the joint committee on higher education, Rogers worked on the legislation that secured more funding for financial aid and scholarships at public universities and made community college free to people in the state. Rogers has also worked to create more affordable housing, notably through helping to create the Office of Fair Housing, which aims at providing more equitable housing across the state.
Transparency in the legislature: Rogers told Cambridge Day that the best way for the legislature to become more transparent is to ensure that representatives are communicating effectively with their constituents. He said the best way he’s found to connect with the community he represents is through his monthly community office hours and via his community newsletter.
Other priorities: Rogers has helped secure funding for environmental protection projects, such as funding improvements at the Alewife Brook Parkway. He also co-sponsored and helped secure state funding for the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative, a legal defense fund that allocates money from the state to pay lawyers to represent individuals facing deportation.
A list of his endorsements can be found here.
Nomita Ganguly
Ganguly, an attorney and Beacon Hill lobbyist, wants to bring new perspectives to the legislature and promote transparency.
Affordability: One of Ganguly’s main focuses is to provide better access to community healthcare for older adults. With a background in nonprofit work dealing with access issues among older adults, Ganguly has said that it is vital that Beacon Hill starts including the voices of the people they’re representing. Based on her previous work in legislative advocacy, she hopes to be a voice for the aging on the statehouse floor.
Transparency in the legislature: Ganguly said she will advocate to make legislative decisions available under the public records law, to make written testimony publicly available and to have legislators put on the record about bills that get referred to study. This will give constituents more information on issues and who is speaking to them.
Other priorities: Ganguly wants to expand Medicaid by raising the asset limits for qualifying individuals to make its programs available to more people. She also wants to see the state provide more funds for nutrition programs to counter cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
A list of her endorsements can be found here.
25th Middlesex District
The 25th Middlesex district includes much of the geographic center of Cambridge, including Harvard and Porter squares: Ward 3, precinct 3A; Ward 4, precincts 2, 2A and 3; Ward 6, precincts 2 and 3; Ward 7; Ward 8; and Ward 10, precincts 1A and 2.
Marjorie Decker
Decker has served in this seat since 2012 and this will be the second time that she has faced MacKay, after winning by 41 votes in 2024. Decker also serves as the House chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health for which she receives an annual stipend of roughly $22,400.
Affordability: Decker grew up in public housing in Cambridge and has been active on anti-poverty issues as well as efforts to maintain affordability. Recently, she cited her work Massachusett’s Earned Income Tax Credit program allowing qualifying individuals to receive a tax refund. Previously, Decker has also worked on legislation such as the expansion of the Affordable Homes Act that allowed disabled low-income individuals who qualify for the program to receive rent assistance, and she has fought to protect the Right to Shelter, which guarantees shelter to vulnerable populations across the state.
Transparency in the legislature: Decker has previously said that transparency begins on the individual level and each person in the legislature should be willing to answer questions and concerns from their constituents. She said that the way to connect with people in your district is to communicate directly, which she said she does through frequent newsletters, forums and open office hours.
Other priorities: During Decker’s time as state representative, she has also pushed for stronger gun restrictions, labor rights, and better reproductive care. Recently, Decker worked on the PROTECT Act that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law, which prohibits discrimination against and protects due process for individuals with immigrant status.
A list of Decker’s endorsements can be found here.
Evan MacKay
MacKay grew up in a family in South Florida that took in more than 100 foster children, which they say has influenced their work as a JD-PhD candidate at Harvard and student advisor. They have also worked as a political organizer, most notably as president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union. They first opposed Decker two years ago and lost in a nailbiter.
Affordability: A critic of how the state has handled solutions to the housing crisis, MacKay has said they believe the legislature lacks urgency when it comes to passing bills to encourage affordability. MacKay said in a forum last month that the state tends to approach affordable housing as something to be solved down the road, rather than addressing issues as they arise.
Transparency in the legislature: MacKay is a fierce critic of the lack of transparency in the legislature. They have called out Decker as part of the status quo on Beacon Hill. They have called out Decker as part of the status quo on Beacon Hill, which has perpetuated opaqueness.
Other priorities: Areas of interest include immigration protections, healthcare affordability, gun safety and preventing climate problems. They have also expressed hopes to spur investment in public education, create more worker protections, and create a more fair tax model by taxing the rich.
A list of MacKay’s endorsements can be found here.
26th Middlesex District
The 26th Middlesex district includes residents of East Cambridge in 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. It also includes Somerville residents in Ward 1, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4, or in Ward 2, precinct 1A.
Mike Connolly
Connolly has been state representative for this district since 2016 and has not faced a challenger since being elected. Connolly also serves as the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Intergovernmental affairs and receives a stipend of $7,776.
Affordability: Connolly says housing is a human right. He supports rent control and eviction protections for residents. He extends affordability beyond housing, pointing to his work on the Green Line extension, which expanded MBTA services into Somerville and Medford, as an example of creating less expensive options for transportation.
Transparency in the legislature: He bucked his party to vote against legislation to limit the scope of legislative audits and advocates for more transparency in the legislature. On his campaign site, he said that is also in favor of the 2026 ballot question that will expand access to public records for the legislature and the governor’s office. He also wants to remove barriers to voting and to see stipend reform for leadership positions in the legislature.
Other priorities: Connolly believes healthcare to also be a human right. He worked on legislation to expand abortion protection, opposed legislation that would increase the price of prescription drugs, and plans to push for better access to healthcare programs.
A list of Connolly’s endorsements can be found here.
Neil Miller
Miller previously worked for the federal government as a data scientist and is now a student at Harvard Kennedy School. Miller also served as chair of the Cambridge Ward 5 Democratic Committee.
On Affordability: An outspoken affordable housing advocate, Miller spoke at a forum last week hosted by the Cambridge Democratic City Committee where he called out exclusionary zoning and pushed for reforms on zoning across the state. Previously, Miller criticized the state for lack of forward movement on affordability since the Affordable Homes Act was passed in 2024, calling for the legislature to do more to mobilize legislation rather than just pass it.
Transparency in the legislature: A supporter of improving access to public records, Miller has called for more transparency within the legislature on several different occasions.
Other priorities: According to Miller’s campaign site, his top priorities aside from affordable housing and transparency include reliable public services like transportation, make efforts to mend the climate crisis, and creating a more equitable healthcare system in the state.
A list of Miller’s endorsements can be found here.
27th Middlesex District
Voters in the 27th Middlesex District include Somerville residents in Ward 1, precinct 4A; Ward 2, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4; Ward 3; Ward 4, precinct 2A; Ward 5; and Ward 6, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4. This seat is open because it was vacated by Erika Uyterhoeven, who is running for state senate.
Ben Ewen-Campen
Ewen Campen has served as a Somerville City Councilor since 2018. He grew up in Cambridge and works at Harvard Medical School as a researcher.
Affordability: With housing justice being a priority for Ewen Campen in Somerville, he has previously worked to allow multi-family housing in areas affected by zoning changes as part of the MBTA Communities act, petitioned for rent stabilization in the city and voted in favor of projects that created more affordable housing.
Transparency in the legislature: Ewen-Campen has previously supported measures to make different organizations within Somerville more transparent, like his leadership role at the Somerville Redevelopment Authority where he made meetings accessible via audio recording, but has not said much about his plans for the state level. He currently sends a newsletter to his constituents.
Other priorities: Ewen-Campen has previously made efforts to limit the use of surveillance technology in his community, opposed real-estate developers by creating a transfer tax on high-value transactions, and advocated for climate justice.
A list of Ewen-Campen’s endorsements can be found here.
Olivia Gilligan-Corsetti
A native of Somerville, Gilligan-Corsetti served as campaign manager for former Somerville mayor Katjana Ballantyne. She has also been a teacher and an environmental advocate.
Affordability: Gilligan-Corsetti’s top priority if elected to the legislature is to create more affordable housing. According to her campaign site, she is a Somerville native motivated to protect her neighbors who she has seen priced out of the community. Her plans include expanding rental assistance, pushing to lower utility costs, and trying to limit the amount of house flipping that happens, which can push out long-term residents.
Transparency in the legislature: In a response to a candidate survey conducted by Ballotpedia, a digital encyclopedia for American politics, Gilligan-Corsetti said that transparency is the core responsibility of an elected official. She thinks visibility in the community goes hand-in-hand with transparency – she said there are people who don’t know who their state representatives are, which elected officials should strive to address. .
Other priorities: Gilligan-Corsetti’s two other major focuses are investing in education and increasing environmental protections.
A list of Gilligan-Corsetti’s endorsements can be found here.
34th Middlesex District
Those living in Somerville Ward 4, precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4; Ward 6, precinct 3A; and Ward 7 and some parts of Medford will be voting in the 34th Middlesex District. This seat is open because it was vacated by state Rep. Christine Barber, who is running for state senate.
Will Mbah
Mbah has been a Somerville city councilor since 2018, except for the 2021 term, when he ran for mayor and lost to Ballantyne.
Affordability: Having served as the Somerville Council’s representative to the Affordable Housing Trust and on the Somerville City Council’s Committee on Housing and Community Development, Mbah is a proponent of creating and maintaining affordable housing.
Transparency in the legislature: According to Mbah’s campaign site, he plans to “demystify” legislation for constituents by allowing access to information and by communicating often with his constituents within the community.
Other priorities: His other major focuses include investing in infrastructure like public transportation, and improving public education.
A list of Mbah’s endorsements can be found here.
Christopher Oates
Oates previously worked in political risk assessment consulting. He is running for office in part to help create a more responsive legislature.
Affordability: Oates’s approach to affordability includes calling for statewide housing reform to bring down housing costs, expanding commuter rail access to connect more communities, and investing in cleaner and cheaper energy.
Transparency in the legislature: Oates founded a startup, Legislata, to promote more transparency in the legislature, in part by using artificial intelligence to transcribe public meeting notes. He sees better journalism is part of creating transparency, so he is proposing a $250 tax credit for donating to local media organizations.
Other priorities: He also plans to create better regulation on AI, ban gambling ads from live sports, and protect immigrants in the community and the workforce.
A list of Oates’s endorsements can be found here.
Paul Ruseau
Ruseau has served as a member of the Medford School Committee for nine years and is a software engineer at Dana-Farber.
Affordability: According to his campaign site, Rousseau is in support of Medicare for All, creating more social housing, letting cities create rent stabilization programs and promoting fair wages across the board.
Transparency in the legislature: Ruseau wants more transparency in the legislative process, including removing the governor’s exemption from the public records law. Additionally, he wants to create a Legislative research bureau so that each legislator is properly equipped with independent research, and can be more efficient.
Other priorities: On his site, Ruseau also outlines several specific plans to reform the state’s criminal justice system, unionize statehouse employees, and make sure vulnerable communities like older adults and young children have the proper access to respective programs.
A list of Ruseau’s endorsements can be found here.
State Senate
2nd Middlesex District
The 2nd Middlesex District includes voters in all of Somerville and Cambridge residents in Ward 7, precinct 1; Ward 8, precinct 1; Ward 10; and Ward 11. State Sen. Pat Jehlen has held this seat for 20 years and is now retiring.
Christine Barber
Barber currently serves as the state representative in the 34th Middlesex District, a seat she has held since 2015. Before being elected Barber was a health policy analyst and advocate. She is chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, which includes a stipend of $22,431.
Affordability: During Barber’s tenure as state representative she has worked on legislation that pushes for more affordable housing and access to healthcare. This includes opposing cuts to MassHealth and pushing to eliminate copays for lifesaving drugs such as insulin. Aside from healthcare, Barber has proposed bills in the past to promote fair housing by preventing discrimination against affordable housing and has also helped sponsor affordable housing projects.
Transparency in the legislature: In a recent forum with her opponents, Barber said she supports public record reform in the legislative process. However, she voted in support of a bill in that was passed in early June that aims at limiting the scope of the legislative auditor.
Other priorities: According to her campaign site, one of Barber’s top priorities is investing in public education to ensure that students are able to find good jobs once they graduate. Additionally, she said she will work to make sure older adults are not displaced or left without housing if they choose to downsize later in life.
A list of Barber’s endorsements can be found here.
Burhan Azeem
Currently a Cambridge City Councillor serving as Vice Mayor.
Affordability: If elected, Azeem plans to create more housing and improve public transit. Co-Founder of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, an organization created to address the housing shortage in the state and help promote more affordable and accessible housing. As a councillor in Cambridge he helped usher in zoning reforms aimed at getting more housing, an dmore affordable housing, constructed, in part by raising concerns about zoning issues that make it hard to create affordable housing.
Transparency in the legislature: Azeem hopes to bring more transparency to the legislature. Azeem has said that if he had the opportunity to vote against the bill that would shorten the scope of the auditor, he would’ve voted no. He has also mapped out how he plans to make public records easily available, track legislation, and allow for the audit if he is elected.
Other priorities: Other issues that are on Azeem’s priority list include creating proper regulation on artificial intelligence, fighting federal funding cuts from the Trump Administration by creating more resilient legislation, and investing in clean technology to protect the climate.
A list of Azeem’s endorsements can be found here.
Erika Uyterhoeven
Uyterhoeven currently serves as state representative in the 27th Middlesex District; she was elected to the seat in 2020. Prior to running for office she co-founded Act on Mass, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing transparency in the legislature.
Affordability: Previously Uyterhoeven wrote and was able to pass the bill that made broker fees in the state illegal, helped secure more funding for local affordable housing initiatives, and backed fare-free public transportation.
Transparency in the legislature: The desire for more tansparency has driven Uyterhoeven’s political career. She also voted in favor of narrowing the scope of the legislative audit, saying that the speed of the legislative process is the issue with the votes to make changes to the audit and that she would like the audit to happen. She has previously voted in favor of making legislative decisions accessible via public record.
Other priorities: Uyterhoeven has previously focused on protecting residents from ICE, advocating for two separate pieces of legislation that would provide barriers between individuals and ICE.
A list of Uyterhoeven’s endorsements can be found here.
Matt McLaughlin
As the longest serving City Councilor in Somerville, holding the position for 12 years, McLaughlin is looking to expand his potential impact by joining the state senate. In 2016 he was campaign manager for current Sen. Pat Jehlen. He emphasizes his experience as a member of the working class.
Affordability: A strong advocate for affordable housing in Somerville, McLaughlin hopes to bring his plans to fruition on a larger scale. In addition to expanding affordable housing to more people, he also plans to protect working class families by creating worker protections and finding the best way to ensure job stability.
Transparency in the legislature: Like Azeem, McLaughlin would have voted against narrowing the scope of the audit on the state legislature. In Somerville, he worked to modernize the city government and make its records and motions more transparent by overhauling the city’s charter. According to his campaign site, the government works most efficiently when its constituents see how and why decisions are made.
Other priorities: Moving forward, McLaughlin said that investing in the younger generation is the best way to mend pre-existing issues in the legislature. According to his campaign site, he plans to promote and invest in community mentorship programs that will provide children access leadership and “success pathways.”
A list of McLaughlin’s endorsements can be found here.
Suffolk and Middlesex District
The Suffolk and Middlesex District includes voters in parts of Belmont, Watertown, East Cambridge and the Boston neighborhoods of Allston, Brighton and Fenway.
William Brownsberger
The current incumbent senator, Brownsberger will be defending the seat that he has served in since 2014. Before that, he served in the state house for six years.
Affordability: Brownsberger told Cambridge Day that his plan for re-election includes continuing to invest in education, affordable housing, and healthcare, which he believes will lead to easing the national affordability crisis. However, Brownsberger believes that the future of affordability in the state does not include rent control, which he previously voted against.
Transparency in the legislature: To Brownsberger, transparency in the legislature already exists but needs to be tightened. For example, he worked to create a “see-through system” that allows individuals to see the fiscal breakdown of where all of the money in the state is spent. That includes money spent by agencies and the legislature.
Other priorities: Other priorities for Brownsberger include protecting Massachusetts residents from attacks by the Trump Administration, bringing down energy costs, and supporting local government.
A list of Brownsberger’s endorsements can be found here.
Daniel Lander
Previously a senior aide to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Lander announced his challenge to Brownsberger bid for state senate in December.
Affordability: Previously, Lander worked on legislation in Boston that promoted affordable housing and affordable programs throughout the city. He is in support of creating more affordable housing, making buses run 24 hours and fare-free for those who work and commute late at night, and free childcare.
Transparency in the legislature: Lander has been outspoken about his frustration with lack of transparency in the Legislature. He told Cambridge Day it was a significant factor in deciding to run for state senate. To promote transparency, he plans to push for reforms to increase access to public records.
Other priorities: In addition to fare-free bus transit and extended service hours, Lander also wants to expand the MBTA system and make it more efficient by creating more routes and stations. He has also called for more investment in and funding for science and research.
A list of Lander’s endorsements can be found here.
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