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Beacon Hill circled the wagons in 2024 around Cambridge Rep. Marjorie Decker, who faced a Democratic primary challenge from a democratic socialist. She ended up eking out a 40-vote win.
A rematch is now in full swing, as Evan MacKay, a former Harvard University labor leader, has launched another campaign for the seat. It could be another expensive bout: Two years ago, Decker spent $66 per vote, totaling nearly $250,000, while MacKay spent $19 per vote.
MacKay has already pulled in nearly $50,000 since the start of the year, while Decker raised just over $40,000. She has roughly $66,000 in cash on hand, according to the latest campaign finance filings.
MacKay, who goes by “they/them” pronouns, has also teamed up with Diana DiZoglio, who is waging her own battle against State House leaders while running for another term as a populist auditor. The pair recently appeared together in an online video encouraging people to support a ballot question to place the governor’s office and the Legislature under the state’s public records law.
But there appears to be a renewed effort to lift up Decker, particularly among unions, which remain a powerful Democratic Party constituency.
At the ironworkers union hall last week, Gov. Maura Healey brought Decker up to the microphone to help tout the replacement of a bridge near North Station which connects Boston and Cambridge. Decker received a round of applause and some inside the hall shouted, “Reelect Marjorie.”
After House lawmakers passed an energy affordability bill in February, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Climate Jobs Massachusetts Action coalition praised the bill, which has come under fire from environmental advocates, joined by MacKay, over cuts to the Mass Save program. MacKay was in the House gallery amid the debate, according to CommonWealth Beacon.
The coalition’s release also featured Mass. AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch singling out Decker for “her tireless work on behalf of union members and working families” and pointing to the inclusion of labor standards for thermal energy network projects. The union hasn’t officially endorsed in the race but it’s widely expected to throw its support to Decker, who won their backing in 2024.
That may be an effort to counter the labor credentials of her opponent, who served as president of Harvard’s graduate student union. But how much of an impact that will have among Cantabrigians is to be determined. Look to see if Decker’s campaign will draw more of a contrast between her and MacKay this time around, as MacKay again seeks to criticize her closeness with Beacon Hill leaders.
She is sure to get support, as she did last time, from her fellow top lawmakers. House Speaker Ron Mariano defended her after she survived the 2024 Democratic primary. Ways and Means chairman Aaron Michlewitz had personally hit the campaign trail for her.
Historically, Democratic leaders haven’t liked the idea of a backbencher failing to return to Beacon Hill. The possibility of a House leader, who grew up in public housing and now represents deeply liberal Cambridge, going down is likely an unsettling one they’d prefer to avoid even more.
Sounds like I’ll be splitting my campaign trail time this year between Cambridge and South Boston (more on that one below). As Murray Kempton once wrote, “I walk wide of the cosmic and settle most happily for the local.” What other House and Senate primaries are worth checking out? Let me know: [email protected].
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HAPPENING TODAY
9:00 | Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll visits the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds to sign up for the Registry’s free Property Fraud Watch program and “encourage Massachusetts residents to protect their homes from deed fraud.” | 100 Cummings Center, Suite 206-C, Beverly
10:00 | Gov. Maura Healey speaks at a celebration of Big Y Foods, Inc. which turns 90 and plans to open six new stores. | 357 Broadway, Saugus
10:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu holds a press conference on a funding announcement and “ongoing efforts across the City of Boston to respond to critical needs facing Boston immigrant communities.” She’ll be joined by City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, Boston Foundation President and CEO Lee Pelton, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay President and CEO Marty Martinez, among others. | Eagle Room, City Hall, Boston
10:00 | The Center for Women & Enterprise holds an event to celebrate the role women-owned businesses play in the economy, part of the group's recognition of Women’s History Month. Senate President Karen Spilka and Zenobia Moochhala, undersecretary of business strategies, will give remarks. The group will also present Women’s Economic Leadership Awards to Sen. Robyn Kennedy and Rep. Carole Fiola, and other awards to 17 women identified as "Women Entrepreneurs Who Lift Up Massachusetts." The program will also feature a tribute to the legacy of the late Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante. | Senate Reading Room, State House, Boston
11:00 | The Joint Committee on Ways and Means holds a fiscal 2027 budget hearing focused on the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Executive Office of Transportation and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. It's chaired by Sen. Jo Comerford and Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, both of whom are from Northampton. Gov. Healey's budget proposes $2.8 billion in total transportation funding, a 4% increase over fiscal 2026. | UMass Amherst, Campus Center, Amherst Room, 1 Campus Center Way, Amherst | Livestream
12:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appears on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio.” | wgbh.org
6:30 | Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks at the Leominster Democratic Caucus. | 307 Whitney St, Leominster
AROUND TOWN
Jessicah Pierre, who worked as City Hall’s chief communications officer during Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s first term, has landed with the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University as its senior director of communications and engagement.
Latoya Gayle, a Dorchester community activist looking to knock out South Boston Sen. Nick Collins in September’s Democratic primary, has brought on Maccon Bonner as her campaign manager. Bonner comes from Boston City Hall’s Office of Neighborhood Services, which has historically served as the in-house political operation of Boston mayors. Bonner served as Mayor Wu’s neighborhood liaison for Fenway, Beacon Hill and Back Bay and had also worked for Councilor Sharon Durkan. Collins, in the Senate since 2018, played a key role in killing Wu’s property tax shift proposal on Beacon Hill.
NeighborHealth, the community-based primary care health system, has hired Kathleen Patrón as its director of business development, marketing and enrollment for their senior care program. Patrón previously worked as Cape and Island Sen. Julian Cyr’s chief of staff and as executive director of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. NeighborHealth serves 130,000 people and has 2,000 employees.
The Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM) has relaunched NetZeroMA.org, a website the organization calls a “public accountability tool” to track the state’s laws calling for decreases in gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. “Climate implementation is unfolding across dozens of partnerships, agencies, and processes, making it nearly impossible to follow without a centralized resource,” Amy Boyd Rabin, ELM’s vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
FROM BEACON HILL
GOV SCHEDULE ANALYSIS: Gov. Maura Healey pulled back on the number of official events in 2025 by 20% than when she first took office, according to a Globe analysis. – Boston Globe
CASINO CASH: Gov. Maura Healey’s slow-growth budget includes a 20% increase for regional tourism councils and marketing, as she proposes to spend more of the money coming from the state’s casinos on those line items. Economic development chief Eric Paley said the councils are underfunded. – GBH News
LIVE NATION SUIT: Attorney General Andrea Campbell plans to join her counterparts in two dozen other states in continuing with their own antitrust suits against Live Nation, calling the Department of Justice settlement with the entertainment company “wholly inadequate.” – State House News Service
JAIL-BASED VOTES: As part of an agreement with legal groups, Secretary of State William Galvin’s office will offer up reports on how many people in jails and prisons requested and received ballots in 2024. The Lawyers for Civil Rights and the Campaign Legal Center in D.C. filed the lawsuit seeking the reports. – Boston Globe
Join Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Senate Majority Leader Creem, Event Hosts Senator Payano, and Representatives Consalvo, Garballey, and Williams, other leaders of legislature, advocacy,and medicine for Virtual 17th Annual Prostate Cancer Awareness Day, held on March 24th, 10 am to 2 pm. You will take part in expanding a Massachusetts model of national leadership in prostate cancer awareness, medical education, research and reducing health disparities. You will learn about the cutting-edge advances in prevention, diagnosis and treatment – and Prostate Cancer Resource Project, bringing the best available quality care to Massachusetts men and supporting them every step of their medical journey. This event is organized by AdMeTech Foundation, in cooperation with the Prostate Cancer Action Council.
NEWS NEXT DOOR
BIGGEST OVERRIDE: Brookline could be asked to approve what may be the biggest tax override in state history. Superintendent Bella Wong appeared before the school committee to detail the impacts if they don’t receive $24 million over three years: more than 200 positions, cuts to music programming and the elimination of middle school world language courses. – Brookline.News
GRADUATION RECORD: Boston Public Schools set a graduation record last year, with 81.3% of eligible students earning a high school diploma. That’s 400 more than last year, but still behind the 89.3% statewide average. – WBUR
FRAUD PLEA: Tom Clasby, the city of Quincy’s former elder services director, pleaded guilty to federal charges of fraud and theft. He was accused of embezzling more than $144,000, which he allegedly spent on steak tips, a Prius and a recording studio session. – Patriot Ledger
‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’: David Golden, Plymouth’s select board chair and a candidate for state representative, used the recent blizzard to offer up information from the town’s emergency operations center and helped residents. But his efforts, laid out on his campaign Facebook page, irked his colleagues on the select board, who wanted a more coordinated effort. – Plymouth Independent
BUS STOP: Real estate developers of a Boston Seaport neighborhood project have discussed extending F Street and potentially expanding the MBTA’s Silver Line. Hold on, a MBTA spokesperson said, since the developers haven’t talked to the transit agency about their idea, and there aren’t any Silver Line extension plans for the area. – GBH News
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Director of Finance and Operations, Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Director of Decarbonization and Energy Transition, Boston Green Ribbon Commission
Director of Advancement, Strategies for Children
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