INCUMBENT MAYORS took a drubbing Tuesday night in preliminary elections in Framingham and Gloucester but gathered enough votes to make it into the November final. Yvonne Spicer, the first mayor of Framingham and one of the state’s most prominent Black elected officials, fell far behind long-time selectman and former city councilor Charlie Sisitsky, earning just […]
Elections
Posted inOpinion
We should eliminate off-cycle elections in Mass.
FORMER GOVERNOR Deval Patrick once said, “Massachusetts invented America.” For a state that prides itself on shaping American democracy, Massachusetts faces a wicked participation problem. And the current proposed solutions—like making mail-in voting permanent in state elections—do not adequately address our biggest ballot problem. At the local level, where critical decisions are made, turnout is […]
Posted inPolitics
Galvin predicts turnout of 100,000 in Boston
VOTERS IN 15 municipalities go to the polls on Tuesday to hold preliminary elections. While the marquee race is undoubtedly the Boston mayoral contest, campaigns elsewhere in the state are also drawing interest, including several elections for open mayoral seats. “I’m optimistic we’ll have a decent turnout tomorrow,” Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said […]
Posted inThe Download
Boston’s preliminary race for mayor in the homestretch
With Boston’s preliminary election for mayor only hours away, a lot remains up in the air. The one certainty: For the first time in the 199 years since its incorporation as a city, Boston is poised to elect a mayor who is not a white man. Five major candidates are vying in Tuesday’s preliminary election. […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston’s preliminary race for mayor in the homestretch
WITH BOSTON’S PRELIMINARY election for mayor only hours away, a lot remains up in the air. The one certainty: For the first time in the 199 years since its incorporation as a city, Boston is poised to elect a mayor who is not a white man. Five major candidates are vying in Tuesday’s preliminary election. […]
Posted inOpinion
Next mayor should create department of labor
SEVENTEEN MONTHS into a pandemic that has widened the cracks and brought new and renewed hardship to so many, we can plainly see that the systems that fell short before are now failing — in housing, health care and child care. The pandemic has heightened the crisis for too many of Boston’s working families, making it harder and harder […]
Posted inPolitics
Call for big investments, but no new taxes, fees
THE CANDIDATES for mayor in Boston are calling for major investments in housing, transportation, climate resiliency, schools, and a host of other areas, but they don’t intend to hike taxes or fees of city residents to help pay for these investments. At a forum on Thursday sponsored by the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, A […]
Posted inPolitics
In governor’s race, stark differences on early, higher ed
FOR SEVERAL YEARS, the dominant conflict on Beacon Hill was how to update funding for the state’s K-12 schools. Now that a new formula is in place, the next battle lines are the rest of the education system: early education and higher education. The issue is expected to be front and center in the 2022 […]
Posted inPolitics
New poll: Wu and then everybody else
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW POLL in the Boston mayoral race gives City Councilor Michelle Wu a strong lead and suggests the number of undecided voters and a tight cluster of potential second-place candidates could translate to many possible outcomes for the September 14 preliminary election. In the MassINC Polling Group survey, which was […]
Posted inPolitics
Legalization of happy hours, fireworks among approved ballot questions
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey’s office allowed 17 proposed laws and constitutional amendments dealing with a wide variety of public policy issues to keep moving toward the ballot on Wednesday. Assuming sponsors can gather 80,239 signatures, Massachusetts voters will be asked in 2022 to decide whether fireworks and turbocharged happy hours should be legalized. They will […]