A few months ago, as many of you know, the Somerville State Representative Pat Jehlen was promoted to the state Senate in a special election. That left an open state house seat, and the electon to fill it is tomorrow -
Tuesday, January 10th. Technically, this is the Democratic primary, with the general election on February 7th. However, the only two candidates who filed papers to be on the ballot are both Democrats. That means that whoever wins tomorrow's primary will be the
only one on the ballot in February. So, practically speaking, the election is tomorrow.
The 27th Middlesex district covers roughly the middle half of Somerville, and includes all of Ward 6, which Davis Square is located in. To find out if you live in this district, check
WhereDoIVoteMA.com. If it says your "Representative in General Court" is "VACANT", then you're in the district. Polls are open
7am-8pm.
The two candidates are,
- Somerville Alderman-at-Large and former Somerville City Attorney Denise Provost
- Somerville planning board member Elizabeth Moroney, also an aide to state Senator Pam Resor of Acton.
The two candidates match on far more issues than they differ. Both are very liberal on traditional economic and social issues. They're both strongly pro-gay marriage and pro-choice, oppose the death penalty, and oppose cutting the state income tax, which they both feel would put more pressure on cities to raise their property taxes.
I support
Denise Provost and will be
volunteering for her tomorrow.
In my view,
( the points where the candidates differ are... )Progressive Democrats of Somerville, as part of our endorsement process, asked both candidates to fill out questionnaires, which I recommend reading:
Denise Provost,
Elizabeth Moroney.
- PDS overwhelmingly voted to endorse Denise Provost
- The Somerville Journal endorsed Denise Provost
- Even the cranky Somerville News endorsed Denise Provost
- The rest of Somerville's legislative delegation, Representative Carl Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen, both endorsed Denise Provost. Davis Square alderman and PDS founding chair Rebekah Gewirtz also endorsed Denise, as have another alderman and three school committee members. In contrast, as far as I can tell, not a single elected official in Somerville has endorsed Moroney.
- MassEquality is staying out of this one. Whoever wins will support gay marriage. However, the Bay State Stonewall Democrats did pick sides, and endorsed Denise.
- Planned Parenthood is staying out of this one. Whoever wins will be strongly pro-choice. However, Elizabeth Moroney is on the board of NARAL, and they have endorsed her (IMO, that's solely because she's on their board. Keep in mind that NARAL endorsed Mike Moran against Tim Schofield in Allston-Brighton last year, so I think their credibility on legislative endorsements is highly suspect.
Whichever candidate you choose to support needs your help tomorrow. If you live in the district,
vote!. But even if you don't live in the district, please pick one of them and
volunteer. Because this is a special election, an overwhelming majority of Somerville voters will not vote. Both campaigns need volunteers to help get out the vote - that is what will determine the outcome of the election. Yes, it is entirely possible for the candidate with significantly more supporters, to lose the election, because most of them don't vote.