They get the Jconway endorsement. So does Kim Maxwell in Fitchburg and Bob Croce in Peabody, Jennifer Migliore in Wakfield along with all of these fine names. The latter three and Jessica Lambert have been formally endorsed by the UIP as well.

Lastly, Keri Thompson and I had a great day canvassing today and I am actively looking for volunteers. It’s a write in race to get other choices in the ballot and ensure a progressive is running in the general election.

Speaking as a board member —
We would love to endorse in all of the races, seriously. But we are still new and powered, truly, on grassroots dollars, so resources are limited RIGHT NOW. Therefore, priorities have to be made based on a variety of factors. One of them is progressive “upgrades” and another is PM organizing strength in the district in question.

Where we have more dues-paying members, or/and a vibrant community of PM-identified organizers, that is going to be a check in the column for endorsement consideration.

The Election and Endorsement Committee (all PM members with a history of strong engagement with the organization’s efforts) has been extraordinary. It’s a LOT of work, in multiple dimensions and I’m deeply grateful for the hard work they’ve put in and continue to put in!

Check out the questionnaires
and
here, all candidates who sought our endorsement

And if you like the work they’ve been doing, and want to see more of it, please do become a dues-paying member and support the efforts. If we want a truly grassroots organization, we actually DO have to fund it with the grassroots! Many BMGers are dues-paying members, and we are all grateful! (And some are even monthly-dues members, which is another level of awesome!

Chiming in as a resident of the 7th Suffolk (I live in Fenway), and as someone who’s seen all of the candidates speak.

First of all, I would say that Chynah’s support for Question 2 is immediately disqualifying for me. She also comes across very nervous when she speaks (not disqualifying, but something she needs to work on), and when I saw her speak, she didn’t seem to realize that Fenway was even a part of the district (a red flag about her own campaign and future constituent services to me).

Monica has an impressive background in advocacy/activism, both on education (She’s a strong BPS advocate, and I first heard about her through all of the awesome BPS parent-activists I know) and CJ issues (she’s worked on combating recidvism, and attentiveness to such issues is important to be a good advocate for the 7th Suffolk district).

Mary’s good on the issues generally just as the retiring incumbent–Gloria Fox–has been (although GF’s office never responds to emails–if Mary is elected, I hope she’d be better), but there’s been a lack of professionalism in her campaign (both in terms of how she responded to a number of the questions in the PM questionnaire and how the website featured on her FB campaign page was a dead link for the longest time).

Monica’s impressed me more as someone with passion on the issues she cares about, a willingness to learn more about those she is not as involved with, and a combination of professionalism and solid outreach skills. We want legislators who not only vote well, but also lead on those votes–and I see Monica as that type.

If you want to see the candidates speak in person, you are more than welcome to come to the candidate forum tomorrow night at 6 PM at Twelfth Baptist in Roxbury!