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‘The incumbency advantage is real’: In Mass. primary, fraction of challengers succeed – The Boston Globe

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‘The incumbency advantage is real’: In Mass. primary, fraction of challengers succeed – The Boston Globe


But those races were the exceptions that proved the rule, so to speak, in a state where cycle after cycle, most incumbents go unchallenged. Of the 200 House and Senate seats on the ballot, only 18 incumbents running for reelection faced a challenge, meaning only a small percentage of the electorate had any choice on Tuesday.

The lack of choice at the ballot box is what one political scientist described as the “most concerning” factor in Massachusetts politics.

“Many people look at the possibility of a successful primary challenge and quit before they’ve even started,” said John Cluverius, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “The incumbency advantage is real across the country, but the ability to deny voters even the chance to vote against them is much, much higher in Massachusetts.”

Incumbents have long enjoyed staying power on Beacon Hill. Between 2002 and 2022, 79 percent of Democratic House primary races were uncontested, a Globe analysis of state election data shows. In the same period, just 25 Democratic House candidates defeated an incumbent in their primaries.

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This year’s political calendar, with primary day immediately after the Labor Day holiday, made it hard for voters to cast ballots. Some are still out of town, and students at the state’s nearly 100 colleges and universities don’t have time to register at new addresses by the Aug. 24 deadline.

There are also countless others who move on Sept. 1, when the majority of apartment leases in the Boston area turn over. In Massachusetts, the deadline to update voter registration information, such as an address, or change political party is 10 days before any election, or before many of those people had moved this year.

Massachusetts law designates the primary to be held on the seventh Tuesday before the general election. That should have meant Sept. 17 this year. But in 2023 lawmakers voted to move up the date at the request of Secretary of State William F. Galvin, a common practice over the last decade-plus. In 2022 and 2018, the primary was held directly after the holiday.

Meanwhile, an effort in 2022 to put Massachusetts on the map with 22 other states with same-day voter registration stalled in the Legislature.

Taken together with the lack of term limits and low rates of retirement on Beacon Hill, “we have a system that is designed to protect incumbents and discourage challengers,” Cluverius said.

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“Running an insurgent campaign in Massachusetts is demonstrably more difficult than it is in most other states,” he said.

Amanda Litman, executive director of national group Run for Something, works to promote political newcomers, many of whom are challenging incumbents and are subject to a myriad of other barriers, too.

In primaries, for example, a newcomer may be shut out from accessing voter files, shared tools, or even office space available to other members of their party. Incumbents enjoy existing relationships with endorsing organizations such as labor unions, she said. Fellow elected officials may also hesitate to publicly back a challenger to an existing colleague in a primary.

Litman said despite this dynamic, it’s healthy for incumbents to be challenged, especially in districts where voters may rarely have a choice.

A contested primary “shows that no one is safe,” said Litman, whose group endorsed MacKay, the democratic socialist who faced off against Decker Tuesday.

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Decker, in an interview before the election, argued that uncontested primaries signal constituents are happy with their officials.

“I continue to get elected because people trust and appreciate the work I do,” she said. “I deliver and I make laws and I add to the budget. That matters to them. I am deeply grateful that they continue to choose me to this work.”

In the two other primary upsets, the challengers only won after losing a previous effort in 2022.

Mara Dolan, who beat incumbent Governor’s Councilor Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney, ran for the seat last cycle, coming up short by 1,658 votes. So did Tara Hong, who unseated five-term state Representative Rady Mom in Lowell on Tuesday. Last time, Hong lost to Mom by just 56 votes. This year, Hong’s margin of victory was more than 180.

Dolan said she always planned on running for the seat again. This time, however, she spent 18 months campaigning, three times as long as her first run for the Governor’s Council.

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“It is difficult to run against an incumbent,” the Concord Democrat said. “If you want to win an election, you need to know it is going to take a tremendous amount of work. . . . Sometimes the stars align. Other times, they don’t.”

Devaney said incumbents such as herself usually get reelected because of their “experience, commitment, and knowing the district you are representing. . . . When you replace someone, you get someone who is not going to have that information or who to go to get things done.”

Mom did not respond to a request for comment.

Hong said his message of serving as a “full-time and active” state representative resonated with voters disenchanted with Mom, who won his first race in 2014.

“There are some parts of the district where they don’t know that we even have a state rep,” Hong said.

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Despite the uncertain outcome in the Cambridge race, those on the left celebrated MacKay’s showing against Decker, a high-ranking Democrat endorsed by several members of Congress, the state’s largest unions, and even Governor Maura Healey.

The campaign “was not something that was just focused on getting a specific person elected, but about increasing the attention to the State House in the district,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, which endorsed MacKay. “That doesn’t go away.”

MacKay had led Decker by 40 votes in an unofficial count late Tuesday before Cambridge election officials on Wednesday hand-counted hundreds of additional ballots, including those from overseas or drop boxes. The new totals show Decker with 3,472 votes to MacKay’s 3,431, a difference of just 41 ballots.

Litman said regardless of the outcome, the challenge will inspire others to run.

“For every Evan who is brave enough to put their name on the ballot, there are countless more who become braver, too,” she said.

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A rare upset happened on the Republican ballot, too. In Plymouth County, Republican John Gaskey ousted 11-term state Representative Susan Williams Gifford by leaning further to the right, centering his campaign around his background as a Coast Guard veteran and support for the antiabortion movement.

Because no Democrats ran for the seat, Gaskey will presumptively assume office in January.

“As Republicans, we know the reality of living in a state with a Democratic supermajority. But I got in this race because I believe that Republicans still have a choice — to stand up to the madness and say NO,” Gaskey wrote on Facebook Wednesday.

Cluverius, the professor, said there is one solution “for the monolithic power of incumbency” in Massachusetts: for challengers to run for office and, if they lose, to run again.

“Voters are more likely to reward persistence,” he said.

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Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.





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Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit

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Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit


Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.

Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.

Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”

Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.

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“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”

Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.

“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”

The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.

It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.

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Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.

Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.

The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”

“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”

Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.

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He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”

It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.

Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”



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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston

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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston


BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.

LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.

The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.

LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.

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The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.

Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer


A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.

The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.

Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.

“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”

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“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”

The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.

Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”

“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”

Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.

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The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”

“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”

They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.

“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”

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