MA Special Election News: Progressives Replace Conservatives

It's the first day of the post-Finneran era.

Tom Finneran who served for twenty-six years in the Massachusetts House, including eight as speaker, has finally been replaced in one of the three Democratic special election primaries to fill recent House vacancies.

Finneran's successor, Linda Dorcena Forry, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, is a progressive where Finneran was conservative. And she epitomizes not only a new era of progressive Democratic reform in Massachusetts politics, but an opening to women and people of color in an institution that has been notable for relative lack of both. Since there is no opponent in the April 12th general election, Forry is the representative elect. The two Finneran loyalists who saw the writing on the wall and departed closely on the heels of their benefactor, also bear little ideological resemblance to their apparent successors.

Unofficial returns showing wins for Chris Speranzo in Pittsfield, and Mike Moran in the 18th Suffolk District, (comprising Allston, Brighton, and one precinct in Brookline) -- while less dramatic than the transition from Finneran to Forry, certainly signal the acceleration of the progressive trend in the party. Both men oppose the death penalty, favor marriage equality, reproductive rights, caps on charter schools and much more. Speranzo faces a token Republican opponent, but Moran has to run against two unenrolled candidates one of whom, Tom O'Brien, is a current Assistant Attorney General and community activist.

According to unofficial results, in the 18th Suffolk race, Moran won by just 64 votes: Moran 1200; Schofield 1136; Glennon 1102; Walsh 311. (This text will be updated when official results are posted by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.)

These races follow the dramatic, high-profile victories of Carl Sciortino in Somerville, (the only candidate to defeat an incumbent last Fall; and a conservative Finneran lieutenant at that), and Peter Vickery, who first prevailed in a multicandidate field in the Democratic primary for Governors Council from western Mass, and went on to decisively win the general election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Eddie O'Brien, who had held the seat for 30 years. The election of Sciortino a young gay man, and Vickery who made increasing the racial diversity of the state judiciary a campaign theme, also highlight the desire of the voters for a departure from business as usual. Both candidates won with the active support of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM), a statewide organization formed in the wake of Robert Reich's 2002 campaign for governor. PDM is, among other things, an ongoing effort to build the capacity of progressive Democrats to win elections.

In these three special elections, PDM did not make formal endorsements, but many PDM activists got involved in the campaigns of Tim Schofield in the 18th Suffolk District, and Rhonda Serre running in the 3rd Berkshire District in Pittsfield.

As the unofficial returns rolled in on Tuesday night, I got on the phone with fellow PDM leaders Cathleen Cavell of Brookline, and statewide PDM chair Peter Dolan of Gloucester for an initial conversation about PDM's role in the campaign. Here is some of what we discussed:

PDM activists got most involved in the Schofield race because there is an active chapter in the district. The role of PDM in that race says much about its growing influence and sheer electoral capacity. For starters, PDM members helped secure the enthusiastic endorsement of Robert Reich for Schofield. "I think the Reich endorsement helped give gravitas and credibility to Tim's campaign early on," Cavell noted. "Bob's endorsement impressed a lot of progressive voters and organizations, and it demonstrated that Tim was a serious contender." Cavell believes that Schofield's decision to stake out a strong, progressive candidacy "was a very shrewd, as well as principled position for him to take" in a district that has been historically progressive, the recent elections of Brian Golden not withstanding. PDM and Schofield, she believes, "pushed the whole drift of the election to the left. We had a candidate who we encouraged to run as a true progressive, and every week he grew in his eloquence as a spokesperson for what it means to be a progressive Democrat."

In addition to integrating the PDM effort with the campaign volunteer effort, "there were several specific PDM events," she detailed: "The Brookline phone bank, a coffee in one of the Brookline apartment building, and canvassing with the candidate. And the Newton PDM group hosted a fundraiser." Cavell's house served as the precinct campaign headquarters, as ten Brookline PDM members did get out the vote (GOTV) and poll-watching. In the end, unofficial returns showed Schofield beating the rest of the field by more than 2-1 in their precinct, even as the overall campaign lost, apparently in a squeaker. Cavell reports that the results for Brookline were Schofield 294; Moran 71; Glennon 67; Walsh 10.

The PDM chapter on Cape Ann did a GOTV phone bank for Schofield on Monday night, making nearly 300 phone calls. Peter Dolan said that in addition to helping Tim, the phone bank "gave people a chance to learn, and to get some campaign experience between the main election cycles."

"We use the elections as an opportunity to build political strength and relationships," he added. "The phone bank was an opportunity to engage people who are not ordinarily a part of the political process."

PDM's model for "marshalling progressive support from around the state to focus on particular races" Dolan said, has proven not only necessary, but viable. "We need to understand the broader picture," he stressed. "In order to build progressive strength in the legislature, we need to support progressive candidates wherever we find them. And by doing this," he concluded, "we strengthen the progressives who are already in the legislature."

While the PDM-supported candidates did not prevail in the two races where members got involved, Cavell and Dolan agree that the effort enhanced the knowledge and electoral skills of PDM activists, their working relationships with one another, their network of contacts, and PDM's capacity to play a significant role in future contests around the state.

In an email to PDM members the next day, Dolan stressed that Moran also has strong progressive credentials, and that "Schofield has asked his supporters to give Moran their support in the general election next month... One final note," he added, "the margin of victory in the Schofield race and the level of voter turnout (less than 25% of eligible voters) brings home once again the need for us to expand the universe of politically engaged progressives everywhere."

Indeed, the closeness of this race was startling to many -- including Michael Moran. The Boston Globe reports: ''I am honored and humbled by the support shown to me tonight," Moran, who narrowly lost a race in 1998, said in a statement released by his campaign. ''I know what it's like to lose by 89 votes. Now I know what it's like to win by 64."