Chris Oates has spent several years analyzing some of the information that flows out of Beacon Hill. Now he wants to take a look under the hood from inside.
Oates, founder of the data analysis startup Legislata, has jumped into the race to replace Somerville Rep. Christine Barber, who is leaving her House seat to run for state Senate.
The dominoes started falling when 82-year-old Pat Jehlen announced in December that she wasn’t running for another Senate term, and her pending departure has helped make the Somerville-Medford-Cambridge area something of an electoral hot spot this cycle.
Barber, a six-term state rep, threw her hat into the race for the Senate seat, as did fellow Somerville Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven. That seat has also drawn a handful of other candidates.
Barber’s House district, aside from Somerville, includes part of Medford. Oates, who has degrees from Brown University and the University of Oxford, opened up a campaign account in late February.
Other Democrats who have filed paperwork to set up a campaign include Somerville City Council’s Will Mbah, Medford attorney Micah Shalom-Kesselman, and Medford School Committee member Paul Ruseau, according to publicly available filings.
When Barber decided to go for Jehlen’s seat, Oates said he came to the conclusion that “I could run and have the chance to get inside Beacon Hill, inside the Legislature and push from there. I felt at the very least I should try and offer the voters a choice.”
He moved to Somerville in 2019, when he was working on a campaign to bring about ranked choice voting. He has a four-year-old with his wife, Sarita.
When asked about issues and topics he plans to talk about, he mentioned his support for “regional rail” – touted by transit advocates as a way to ease commutes in and out of Boston by making the commuter rail more like the subway – and universal childcare.
He brought up the region’s housing shortage and said he backs zoning and permitting reforms. “That is where a lot of things get bogged down,” he said. “It’s legal to build and people will build but it takes an extra year or two to actually build it.”
Asked about rent control, which could end up on the ballot in November, Oates said “rent stabilization” could work, but the central housing problem is supply. “I will let the ballot question play out,” he said. “But I want to focus my campaign on how we fill the shortage.”
As for Legislata, his four-year-old company, Oates said he would look for someone to take it over if he wins the seat this fall. It’s a one-man operation, though Oates counts Jeffrey Sanchez, the former House Ways and Means chairman, as an adviser.
Oates has already pulled back on analytical pieces for Massachusetts during the campaign, to avoid the perception of a potential conflict between the company and the campaign. Weekly roundups will continue, since they don’t carry opinions, he said.
But he also plans to bring a startup mindset to his state rep campaign, seeking to be transparent about his moves and strategies, and possibly offer up a playbook for others interested in politics at the local level. “No matter what happens, it can produce something of value,” he said of his run.
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HAPPENING TODAY
8:00 | Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll attend the Irish American Partnership’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. The event is closed to press. | Intercontinental Boston, 510 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
9:00 | Senate President Karen Spilka attends MetroWest Food Collaborative's annual Food Access Summit. | Framingham State University, Framingham
10:45 | Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speak at the Evacuation Day 250 event. | Dorchester Heights Monument, 95R G St, Boston
11:00 | The Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions holds its hearing on the initiative petition advancing towards November's ballot that would change the method for calculating stipends paid to some state legislators on top of their base salaries (H 5010). | Room A-1, State House, Boston | More Info and Livestream
2:00 | Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Irish Consul General Sighle FitzGerald meet with Helen McEntee, the Irish foreign minister and minister of defense. The meeting is closed to press. | Governor’s Ceremonial Office, State House, Boston
2:00 | The Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions holds a public hearing on the proposed rent stabilization measure (H 5008). It would limit the annual rent hike from exceeding the annual rise in the Consumer Price Index or 5% -- whichever is lower. | Room A-1, State House, Boston | More Info and Livestream
4:00 | Gov. Maura Healey and Energy Secretary Rebecca Tepper meet with Peter Borg, Greenland’s minister of fisheries. The meeting is closed to press. | Governor’s Ceremonial Office, State House, Boston
AROUND TOWN
Malaika Lucien, a Healey administration aide, has signed up with Benchmark Strategies as the firm’s senior director of public affairs. Before joining Benchmark, she served as STEM policy director within Gov. Maura Healey’s Executive Office of Education and as legislative affairs liaison in the governor’s office. She also worked for Annissa Essaibi George’s 2021 mayoral campaign and Healey’s 2022 run for governor. A daughter of Haitian immigrants and raised in Hingham, she now lives in Boston.
Joe Rull has revived his own consulting firm after working as an executive vice president for Shawmut Strategies Group. He started his firm, MJR Consulting, in 2015 and closed it when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. With the firm’s reopening, the South Boston native plans to focus on government relations, real estate development and local permitting. He has previously worked under MayorTom Menino and served as Mayor Marty Walsh’s chief operating officer.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley has found her 2026 reelection campaign manager in Eddie Rupia, a Dorchester resident. She didn’t have to look far: He recently worked as her senior adviser and deputy district director. In a statement, Pressley (D-Boston) said he was a “proven advocate and strategist.” He has also worked in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office and for Democrats in New Hampshire.
Mike Kennealy, one of the three GOP candidates for governor, rolled out more than a dozen endorsements from current and former local officials.Arthur Vigeant, who served as the mayor of Marlborough from 2012 to 2023, and John Olds, chair of the Cambridge Republican City Committee, were among them.
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.
FROM BEACON HILL
POWER PLAY: A new executive order from Gov. Maura Healey directs the state to pursue 10 new gigawatts – enough to power 8.2 time-traveling DeLoreans – by 2035. The order calls for it to come from a range of energy resources, such as solar, storage, wind, gas, nuclear and geothermal. – Boston Business Journal
BARRING DOOR: The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that it would not jump into setting pay rates for bar advocates, saying it’s up to the Legislature under the state’s constitution. “Judicially ordered rates for bar advocates raise separation of powers concerns,” Chief Justice Kimberly Budd wrote. – CommonWealth Beacon
HAITIAN TPS: Attorney General Andrea Campbell and other state prosecutors filed amicus briefs asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Trump administration from ending the Haitian temporary protected status program. – Eagle-Tribune
SHUTDOWN MEMORIES: Two lawmakers, Sens. Bill Driscoll and Jo Comerford, recall the declaration of a state emergency six years ago as the pandemic hit, and states and restaurants closed. – GBH News
NEWS NEXT DOOR
FIFA THREAT: During the fight over funding Foxborough’s security costs for hosting the World Cup matches in June, FIFA acknowledged it weighed pulling out and picking another venue. Money finally started flowing from the Kraft Group shortly after a March 10 call between the chair of the select board and billionaire Robert Kraft. – Boston Globe
CHAMBER MERGER: Brookline’s chamber of commerce plans to shift its programs and members to the Charles River Regional Chamber, citing post-pandemic headwinds. – Brookline.News
SKYROCKETING COSTS: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s chief financial officer warned city councilors that health insurance rates for employees are set to increase by nearly 23% in the coming fiscal year. The Wu administration is pushing to limit coverage of GLP-1 weight loss medications as costs are rising. – Boston Globe
HOUSING COURT: Bidding is open for a vacant court building in Lowell. State officials hope to convert the building into new housing units. – Boston Business Journal
MARSHFIELD OVERRIDE: Town officials are prepping for a Prop 2 ½ tax override to cover a budget deficit ranging between $5 million to $7.4 million. – Patriot Ledger
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