Massachusetts
Welcome to the Massachusetts state page! Here, Massachusetts organizers can access and document ongoing projects, current leadership positions, upcoming races, and other important information. This list is non-exhaustive, and state teams are encouraged to expand and adapt these pages to their organizing needs.
Political Landscape of Massachusetts
Partisan Composition of Massachusetts
Overall, Massachusetts is considered a deep blue state, with a Cook PVIof D+15 as of 2022, regularly voting for Democrats by 60-70% in statewide races. Their entire federal delegation, 2 US Senators and 9 US House Representatives, as well as governorship, are all Democrats. Massachusetts also has Democratic supermajorities in their State house (134-1-24, 1 vacancy) and State senate (36-4), giving them a trifecta (as of 1/31/24).
Progressive Outlook for Massachusetts
The overall progressive strategy for Massachusetts is very optimistic. Progressives have scored minor victories here already with universal school lunches for children and no-cost calls for prisoners, and unlike many eastern states, citizen-led ballot initiatives are alive and well. Democrats have a supermajority trifecta, so it is very possible that MA will be the first state to implement single-payer healthcare. The most major issue for progressives here are fiscally-conservative Democrats such as governor Maura Healey and speaker Ronald Mariano, and there are very few progressive legislators in the state legislature. As such, participating in the Democratic primaries are absolutely vital here in 2024.
Get Involved
Register to Vote in Massachusetts
Progressive Organizations in Massachusetts
Below is a non-exhaustive list of progressive organizations in Massachusetts, ranked by size and subjective quality. These organizations come with a practical, electoral focus and usually endorse candidates for local races and state representatives who are progressive. Organizations lower down the list are either smaller, with lower standards for who they endorse, or else see liberals or Democrats as their enemy and refuse to work with them altogether when they will necessarily make up the votes for any progressive candidate or legislation and thus shouldn't be supported, but nonetheless qualify as left-wing. Feel free to add to this list with any additions you can think of!
- Progressive Massachusetts Progressive Massachusetts is one of, if not the largest progressive organizations in Massachusetts. They have a voting tracker that measures how progressive each state representative and senator is, and this tool is extremely useful in gauging whether a primary challenge would be worth it. They have a newsletter which regularly gives updates on progressive priorities and legislation, such as the recent wins for permanent free school lunches and no-cost calls for prisoners.
- Incorruptible Massachusetts Incorruptible Mass is also a very reputable progressive organization who was directly responsible for electing Sam Montaño to the 15th Suffolk district state house in 2022 as well as putting forward a slate of around a dozen candidates for various state representative races who gave the incumbents a serious run for their money! They have an informative podcast talking about progressive issues and strategies as well.
- Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts The Green-Rainbow party of Massachusetts is a branch of the federal Green party. They are worth checking out as they occasionally run local candidates who are wholeheartedly progressive, but I cannot recommend supporting their statewide candidates from an electoral perspective until Massachusetts passes ranked-choice voting and they become viable.
Notable Campaigns in 2024
Feel free to add candidates here for the 2024 election cycle as they're announced! Democratic primaries in this state are especially-important, so please keep this in mind when thinking of additions.
September 3rd Primary Election (Filing Deadline May 7th)
- US House MA-4 primary - Jake Auchincloss is a former Republican associated with Charlie Baker and only won his seat with about 20% of the primary vote in 2020 and underperformed Biden by 4%, demonstrating the lack of enthusiasm Massachusetts has for a dishonest candidate. Since then, he regularly votes with more centrist/conservative Democrats and stokes fears over the border on FOX despite representing a deep blue seat. As such, a priority for the Massachusetts team is to support a progressive primary challenger against Auchincloss should they arise before he gains too much name recognition and incumbency advantage, as most other US house representatives from Massachusetts have been here too long to effectively replace.
November 5th General Election
Run for Local Office
Many towns in Massachusetts run on a "Town Meeting" structure, where Town Meeting Members can propose local legislation or ordinances and vote on them while a Select Board acts as the executive body. This may seem intimidating to do, but change begins on the local level and being a Town Meeting member usually means an uncompetitive election with little to no campaigning and a fair bit of say in your community! Additionally, there are usually only a few town meetings per year and they are after work hours. You can learn more about the Town Meeting structure with the following links, and feel free to ask around on the Massachusetts Discord if you want advice on what it entails and whether you should run.
https://www.mma.org/local-government-101/
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-town-meetings