If you are a JPP member: It is time to participate in our endorsement process for 15th Suffolk State Rep, 2nd Suffolk State Senator, State Auditor, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor.
Voting members should have received a voting email already!
A recap of our process:
JP Progressives’ endorsement process involves a candidate questionnaire (Progressive Mass) and forum or discussion, a community conversation to discuss our opinions as a group, and a recommendation from the JPP Steering Committee on which candidate to endorse.
JPP’s voting members–those who have volunteered at least once or attended at least three of our events in the past year–now get to vote on our final endorsement decision, with a 60% threshold of those voting required to endorse a candidate. We will be using ranked choice voting: You may rank all candidates or as few candidates as you would like. “No endorsement” IS an option.
Check your email if you are an eligible voting member. If you think you should be eligible to vote but did not receive the VOTE email, contact moreinfo@jpprogressives.com. We genuinely would like your feedback on this process!
ONCE YOU HAVE SUBMITTED THE FORM, THE LINK TO THE BALLOT WILL APPEAR ON SCREEN IN YOUR CONFIRMATION. SHOULD YOU ENCOUNTER ANY DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BALLOT, PLEASE EMAIL moreinfo@jpprogressives.com.
Voting ends on June 18, 2022.
Please remember that we have already endorsed Tanisha Sullivan for Secretary of State (read that full endorsement here) and Ayanna Pressley for the MA-07 district in the House of Representatives (full endorsement available here).
15th Suffolk State Representative
Candidate Forum for 15th Suffolk State Rep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TZm2saT0A
The JP Progressives Steering Committee unanimously recommends the endorsement of Samantha Montaño for the newly drawn 15th Suffolk State Representative seat. A queer, gender non-conforming (she/they) Latinx, Sam brings nearly a decade of community-centered, tenant-focused organizing on issues of housing and equity to Jamaica Plain. This is unique not just to this district, but to the legislature as a whole. Their experience is special, but what takes it to the next level is their deep knowledge of housing legislation and thoughtful policy proposals at a time when housing affordability feels particularly crushing.
Beyond housing, Sam has been a community leader: As co-chair of the JP Neighborhood Council and its Public Services Committee, as a board member at the Hyde Square Task Force, as an advisory board member of the Southern JP Health Center, in their testimony before the state legislature, and now serving as the Organizing Director at the environmental justice organization Greenroots. We were particularly impressed with their approach to the challenge of pushing state leadership on progressive policy, with an eye towards coalition building, transparency, and public engagement on core progressive issues.
We are always grateful for people with the courage to put their names on the ballot. In particular, we have seen remarkable growth from Roxanne Longoria and hope we get to know her better in JP in the coming years. Most notable to us, though, was the gap between her and Sam in their work within the district, perhaps most readily symbolized by fundraising data. As of May 31, we could find only a single donation (her own) Roxanne had received from within the district. Sam, in contrast, has 64 donations from within the district.
We urge our membership to get to know Sam as we have, because we think you’ll be as excited about them as we are.
2nd Suffolk State Senator
Candidate Forum for 2nd Suffolk State Senator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2TuYbnQogM
The Steering Committee of the JP Progressives recommends endorsing Nika Elugardo for State Senator for the 2nd Suffolk District. We were early supporters of Nika’s 2018 campaign for the 15th Suffolk House District representing Jamaica Plain and have been deeply impressed with how she has served as a champion of progressive policies while also showing up to meet the everyday needs of her constituents. We believe Nika’s unique style of leadership and her focus on policies that will lead to lasting structural change in the Commonwealth are exactly what we need at this critical point in time.
Nika’s track record in the House speaks for itself: In the current session she sponsored more than 28 bills and cosponsored more than 275. Many of the bills she sponsored address the affordable housing crisis in our state, including bills that would remove barriers to local implementation of rent control or leverage state-owned land for the construction or financing of new affordable housing. Nika has also focused on dismantling structural racism and inequities across different systems, from healthcare to economic development to education. Yet while she is known for thinking big and working to address root causes of inequity, Nika is equally focused on bread-and-butter support for her constituents, consistently showing up to support residents at risk of eviction at the Forbes Building and securing millions of dollars in earmarks for district entities and regional organizations.
We also praise Nika’s leadership in working to shift the culture on Beacon Hill. She has been a tireless advocate for transparency and accountability, standing for roll call, advocating for changes to the House rules that keep committee votes secret, and expanding the amount of time lawmakers have to review bills before voting. Unlike others, Nika has proven that she is unafraid to challenge leadership and to stand for her convictions. Yet, also unlike others, she has subsequently been given seats on powerful committees, including the budget-wielding Ways & Means Committee and the Committee on Housing because she is an effective leader who wins influence through data, storytelling, and persuasion.
We were impressed with all the candidates for the 2nd Suffolk, who we’ve had the opportunity to engage through the questionnaires and our recent forum. We are deeply appreciative for the commitment each one has for advancing progressive policies and for their public service. We believe Nika is the candidate for this moment, a time when passing groundbreaking legislation requires thinking creatively about solutions to our resource constraints, building coalitions, winning over reluctant lawmakers, and operating with the fierce urgency of now. We are excited by what Nika will be able to do in the Senate with more resources and an elevated platform.
State Auditor
State Auditor is a job synonymous with scrutinizing the finances and processes of peer state agencies so they function more reliably, efficiently, and equitably. Chris Dempsey has shown a rare talent for scrutinizing complex systems. As a citizen, he skillfully led a grassroots coalition questioning the shaky premise underlying Boston’s bid for hosting the 2024 Olympic Games. In contrast, while serving as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Governor Deval Patrick, he innovated on the inside by pioneering the development and launch of smartphone applications alerting MBTA-riders when their train or bus will arrive. This impressive record equips Chris to deliver on his signature idea — to be the first auditor in the country to utilize carbon accounting.
The delegate vote at this weekend’s Democratic Convention was fairly close between Chris and the other candidate on the ballot, State Senator Diana DiZoglio (Dempsey 53%, DiZoglio 47%). Senator DiZoglio has confronted the still-patriarchal culture of Beacon Hill and exposed the systems of silence sanitizing sexual harassment committed under the Gold Dome, and we respect this work. However, her voting record is distinctly unprogressive, with a history of voting even to the right of leadership. She is particularly anti-transparency, has not supported gun control legislation, and has consistently voted to make it more difficult for people to access support systems, including EBT and public housing.
The JPP Steering Committee recommends endorsing Chris Dempsey for his consistent embrace of progressive policies as well as his organizational qualifications.
Lieutenant Governor
Despite the large field of Lieutenant Governor candidates, Tami Gouveia has stood out. She has been a consistently strong and progressive voice in the state legislature, with a particular emphasis on creating greater transparency, defending and expanding reproductive justice and rights for women and LGBTQ+ people, and advocating for criminal justice reform. In her time as state representative for the 14th Middlesex, she earned an A on the Progressive Mass scorecard, scoring no lower than an astonishing 96%.
Her background as a social worker and as a single mother who relied on assistance after losing her job in the 2008 recession means that Tami understands more than most how close many people live to the line, and it’s given her a deep sense of urgency around providing necessary and accessible government support to those in need. During the pandemic she earned her doctorate in public health, making her particularly well-suited to guiding Massachusetts through this pandemic and our necessary recovery. In support of this goal, she recently announced her Declaration of Rights for Health, Well-Being, and Dignity for All, a shared vision of how to create policies that will support healthcare, economic security, housing, education, and more for everyone in the Commonwealth. She also has a robust environmental platform, including support for expansion of rail transit, transitioning to 100% renewable energy, and using an environmental justice lens for all policies.
The JPP Steering Committee recommends endorsing Tami Gouveia, the right candidate to meet this moment, for Lieutenant Governor.
Governor
The JP Progressive Steering Committee unanimously recommends endorsing Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz for Governor.She has spent the last 13 years in the State Senate fighting to address the biggest challenges we face as a state. Sonia wrote, championed, and won landmark education funding reforms to provide $1.5 billion in new aid to K-12 districts across the state. She led the charge for criminal justice reform and repealing racist sentencing rules when Governor Baker and Beacon Hill insiders were ready to look the other way. She also sponsored and won multiple protections for trans Bay Staters, negotiated a nation-leading police reform law, won increased assistance for small and local entrepreneurs, capped fare increases for public transportation, helped pass reforms to the state’s CORI system, advanced environmental justice reforms, curtailed the misuse of special education dollars, expanded voting rights, and successfully defended millions of dollars in funding for youth development. She has also been a leading champion for fair taxation, affordable housing, reliable and green public transportation, and protections for immigrants.
Though the JPP community did not have an opportunity to hear directly from both candidates for governor in our forum, we wish to underscore some key policy differentials that have been decisive in our consideration of the candidates and have led to our unanimous support for Sonia. Unlike Maura Healey, Sonia is a strong supporter of Medicare for All. And while Sonia helped write, champion, and negotiate the 2020 police reform law and was a key voice in the debate for comprehensive criminal justice reform in 2017 and 2018, Maura Healey opposed key reforms to limit no-knock warrants and racially biased facial recognition technology and continues to support Governor Baker’s attempts to expand police surveillance powers.
We believe we can do better in our Commonwealth. With Sonia as Governor, together we can deliver debt-free, quality education to every kid in Massachusetts from birth to adulthood; pass a Green New Deal to win the fight against climate change and create tens of thousands of new good-paying jobs; solve our housing crisis; and close the racial wealth divide.
Sonia is not only our State Senator, but she also shares our values and has a proven record of legislating systemic change.
Click here to watch and share her speech from the MA Democratic Convention.
