Tim Toomey serves as state representative for the 26th Middlesex District, which includes Eastern portions of Somerville and Cambridge, and as a Cambridge city councillor. He was born in Cambridge, raised in East Cambridge and lives on Sixth Street. He …

From the first time I met with Dennis Benzan, I knew he was the candidate I had to support. His vision for community-based decision making is inclusive, visionary and innovative.

Jefferson R. Smith, born in Lawrence, graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and holds a master’s in public administration as well as a master’s in political science from Suffolk University. He worked in Gov. Deval Patrick’s administ …

Denise Simmons, a lifelong resident of Cambridge, is serving her sixth term on the City Council, after starting civic life as executive director of the Cambridge Civic Unity Committee in the 1980s, then serving on the School Committee in the 1990s. In …

Sam Seidel, 46, is a native New Yorker with degrees in the classics from the University of California at Berkeley and public policy from Georgetown. He has been in Cambridge for 15 years and an urban planner for 10, having received his most recent mast …

Kenneth E. Reeves was born and brought up in Detroit, but attended Harvard College and graduated cum laude in 1972 and later attended the University of Michigan Law School. As part of his law school coursework he studied social welfare policy at Arbets …

Lesley R. Phillips, 68, is a native New Yorker who arrived in Cambridge in the 1980s to get a divinity degree at Harvard University. She also has a bachelor’s of arts from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsyl …

A native of Philadelphia, Ron Peden, 53, arrived in Cambridge 15 years ago to attend graduate school. He holds a bachelor’s degrees in business administration and a Juris Doctor. He is the author of “Notes on the State of America: Black to the Future, …

Gregg Moree, 56, was born and raised in Cambridge and attended Cambridge Rindge & Latin School. He is a carpenter who, inspired in part by the lack of good training and jobs for local tradespeople, has run for council in every election since 2007. …

Born in India of Persian ancestry, Mushtaque Mirza has lived in Cambridge since graduating from the University of Connecticut and getting his engineering license in 1973. He began work with the state Department of Environmental Protection in 1977 and r …