It’s become a dismal, recurring storyline underscoring the state’s political torpor: Massachusetts is among the least competitive states in the country when it comes to elections for state legislative seats. The electoral malaise is often framed as a function of the lack of challengers to entrenched incumbents.
But a special election for state representative playing out this spring in Boston’s South End is taking that lack of campaign energy to a new level.
For the first time in more than 40 years, no incumbent will be on the ballot for the Ninth Suffolk District seat, which represents much of the South End as well as a chunk of Roxbury and a swath to the east where Dorchester and South Boston meet. But following the recent withdrawal from the race of one candidate, John Moran is now the only one vying for the seat vacated last month by Jon Santiago after his appointment as secretary of veterans’ services in Gov. Maura Healey’s cabinet.
Moran, a South End neighborhood activist who works in management at Cambridge-based Biogen, is the lone candidate now campaigning in the May 2 Democratic primary. The only other Democrat to qualify for the ballot, fellow South End resident Amparo “Chary” Ortiz, dropped out last week, citing family reasons. No Republicans have entered, so Moran will run unopposed on the May 30 general election ballot.
“I think John is a good guy,” said Jonathan Cohn, chair of the Ward 4 Democratic Committee. “But I think having elections is always a great opportunity to have a full discussion of various issues, so whenever you don’t have a number of candidates running, you lose something for the small-d democratic process.”
Along with Ortiz, a third candidate initially signaled he would vie in the Democratic primary but never submitted nominating signatures to appear on the ballot.
“I’m definitely a little surprised,” said Moran. “We had a number of interesting candidates at the beginning, and for family reasons or other reasons they decided not to run.”
It’s a seat with a notable history of activist leadership. It is the House seat that the late Mel King held for 10 years, after which it was held by Byron Rushing for more than 30 years. In 2018, Santiago defeated Rushing in the Democratic primary.
“There’s an important legacy for someone to continue in that seat,” said Cohn.
Moran, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and came to Boston to attend Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, said that’s something he’s acutely mindful of.
“It’s a heavy burden to take on,” he said of living up to the district’s history of strong progressive leadership. “It just makes me want to work harder and make sure we focus on the people who are the most vulnerable.”
Following two Black lawmakers – King and Rushing – and Puerto Rican-born Santiago in the seat, the election of Moran, a white gay man, would reflect a big shift that has occurred in the demographics of the South End over the last 40 years.
But Moran said he’s committed to King’s vision of inclusive representation for all.
He said he’ll be as attentive to concerns about community-led development in Roxbury as he is about issues facing the South End and the addiction and homelessness issues around Mass. and Cass.
Moran has been a member of the District 7 Advisory Council formed by Roxbury-based district City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who has endorsed his run.
With Ortiz’s withdrawal, what was planned as a candidate forum with the two Democrats last Thursday turned into a “town hall” session in which Moran fielded questions from moderator Cheryl Crawford of the nonpartisan civil advocacy group MassVote. Last night, Moran was mingling with residents at a Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association social in the South End.
At this point, the adversary he faces is indifference and lack of attention to a race with only one candidate. To combat it, Moran said he’ll stay on a vigorous campaign schedule.
“It’s complicated to make sure voters get out to vote and our voices are heard – and I’m held accountable for the 9th District priorities,” he said. “That’s why I’m planning on continuing to knock on doors as if I’m in last place.”
MICHAEL JONAS
FROM COMMONWEALTH
No facility charge: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu paid no facility charge when she gave her State of the City address at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway Park at the end of January. The music hall is owned by the Fenway Sports Group, which has significant business under review by the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Read more.
Off to fast start: Massachusetts residents placed $568 million in sports bets in March, with DraftKings and FanDuel grabbing 77 percent of the wagers. Read more.
Back to square one: The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, facing criticism for the way it sought to redevelop land it took using eminent domain, scraps the redevelopment process and says it plans to start over. Read more.
OPINION
Waste reduction: Janet Domenitz, the executive director of MassPIRG, says Massachusetts residents and lawmakers have a lot of work to do to reduce the amount of waste being generated. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
The Globe says Maura Healey’s first 100 days as governor have been marked by her positioning as the state’s “booster-in-chief.” (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A local running group says a fellow organization of Black and brown runners that was cheering marathoners from the sidelines on Heartbreak Hill was the target of “racially targeted overpolicing” by Newton officers who formed a line to block them from intruding on the race course. (Boston Herald)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Finding an apartment in Boston is as difficult as ever. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
Students at Bay State College feel abandoned as the school teeters on the edge of collapse. (WBUR)
Northampton pays an $80,000 settlement to the former high school principal, who stepped down after emails surfaced in which she referred to students as “asshats.” (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The landmark jury trial that will determine the fate of a power line being built to deliver hydroelectricity from Quebec to New England is coming to a close. Jurors will have to sift through conflicting evidence to decide whether a subsidiary of Avangrid speeded up work on the project to sidestep a law passed by voters to block the line. (Press-Herald)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A man was arrested after four people were killed at a home in Bowdoin, Maine, and three more were shot and wounded on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth. (Associated Press)
A former MGM Springfield employee suing the casino for discrimination and retaliation agreed to dismiss two of her contract and employment allegations, but continues to pursue the racial discrimination suit. (MassLive)
MEDIA
Fox News settles the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, agreeing to pay $787.5 million just before the trial was to start in which its top executive, Rupert Murdoch, and other officials would have faced grilling over allowing defamatory claims about a rigged 2020 presidential election to air on the network despite knowing they were false. (New York Times)
Fox is not in the clear, though, as the company still faces a defamation suit from another voting machine company, Smartmatic. (New York Times)
