2025 Southeastern Mass Municipal Elections

Southeastern Mass 2025 Elections

General Election: November 4, 2025 

Attleboro City Councilor At-Large

 Incumbents seeking re-election: James J. Dilisio, Jonathan F. Tavares, Laurie Sawyer, Nicholas Lavoie, Ty Waterman

Challengers: Timothy Barone, Brendan M. McIntyre

Read the questionnaires:

Laurie Sawyer

Attleboro Ward 3 School Committee

Incumbent: Aaron Bennett 

Read the questionnaires:

Aaron Bennett

Fall River School Committee

Incumbents seeking re-election: Thomas Khoury, Kevin Aguiar, Collin Dias

Candidates: Randy Dudek, Marcony Mollicone, John Sylvia, Ana Riley, Emanuel Moniz, Shanell Stewart, Shiv Thakur

Voters can choose up to six. 

Read the questionnaires:

Randy Dudek

Taunton School Committee

Incumbents running for re-election: Donna Chaves, Gregory Demelo, Christine Fagan, Louis Loura, Nathan Pawlowski, Melissa Santos, Steven Vie

Challengers: Dennis Ackerman, Victoria Barreiro, Heather Baylies-Grigoreas,  John Joyce, Tanya Lobo, George Moniz, Tyler Mosher, Kerrie Mullen, Alison Rosa Voters can choose up to six. 

Read the questionnaires:

Tanya Lobo

Weymouth School Committee

Candidates: Ashley Dickerman, Joe Bronske, Cindy Lyons, Allegra Marrone, Kelly McClean, Peter Krawciw

Voters can choose up to six. 

Read the questionnaires:

Cindy Lyons
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2025 Western Mass Municipal Elections

Western Mass 2025 Elections

General Election: November 4, 2025 

For Northampton elections, go here. 

Holyoke City Councilors At-Large

 Incumbents seeking re-election: Patti Devine, Howard Greaney Jr., Kevin A Jourdain, Michael J. Sullivan, Tessa R Murphy-Romboletti, Israel Rivera

Challengers: Jennifer Keitt, John Rivera, Mimi Panitch, Christopher Dunay

Read the questionnaires:

Mimi Panitch

Holyoke Ward 3 Councilor

Incumbent: David Bartley 

Challenger: Anne Thalheimer 

Read the questionnaires:

Anne Thalheimer

North Adams Council At-Large

Incumbents seeking re-election: Ashley Shade, Bryan Sapienza, Keith Bona, Lisa Hall Blackmer, Andrew Fitch, Peter Breen, Peter J. Oleskiewicz

Candidates: Aprilyn Carsno, Carrieanne Crews, Alexa MacDonald, Marie McCarron, Virginia Riehl, Lillian Zavatasky

Read the questionnaires:

Andrew Fitch

Springfield School Committee (Wards 1 & 3)

Candidates: Gumersindo Gomez

Outgoing Incumbent: Joesiah Gonzalez

Read the questionnaires:

Gumersindo Gomez
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TOMORROW: Corporate Fair Share Hearing at the State House

The Trump administration is taking away healthcare from working families and seniors so they can put more money into the pockets of billionaires and big corporations. Here in Massachusetts, we could lose as much as $3.5 billion in federal aid that pays for health care, education, and food access for hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can’t afford the harm that will cause.

That’s why we’re supporting Raise Up Massachusetts’s Corporate Fair Share campaign. The Corporate Fair Share bill would raise critical new revenue by requiring large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart to pay our existing corporate tax rate on more of the profits they hide overseas.

The bill has a hearing tomorrow at the State House at 10 am in Gardner Auditorium and a press event at 9:30 am right before. Can you join us?


Date: Friday, October 3, 2025 @ 9:15 AM (Action); 10 AM (Hearing)

Location: Massachusetts State House: Room 222 (Action); Gardner Auditorium (Hearing)

Hearing Notice: LINK

RSVP HERE

CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE STATE HOUSE? THERE’S MORE YOU CAN DO.

(1) Attend a Town Hall: Raise Up Mass coalition is holding a series of regional Protect Our Care Town Halls across the state to tell our legislators: it’s time to make big corporations pay their fair share in taxes—and stop the cuts. Chances are we’re holding one near you!

FIND A TOWN HALL NEAR YOU

(2) Email your state legislators: Whether they have co-sponsored or not, they should be hearing from you about the need to take action.

EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS

(3) Submit testimony: Let the Joint Revenue Committee know why this is important to you with this testimony template courtesy of Raise Up Mass.

SUBMIT TESTIMONY

MA Senate Passes Strong Data Privacy Protections

Earlier today, the MA Senate voted 40 to 0 to pass the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, which would — among other steps — ban the sale of sensitive data (including location data) and impose meaningful data minimization on companies harvesting our personal information. You can read the MA Senate’s fact sheet here.

During debate, the Senate passed two amendments that we, along with groups in the Location Shield Act, had advocated for:

  • Amendment 4, which extends the ban on sales of geolocation data to cover anyone who visits Massachusetts for any reason, including travel to the state to pursue personal health care.
  • Amendment 52, which ensures that businesses cannot sell sensitive data, regardless of whether they are otherwise exempt under the act.

The bill now moves to the House. 99 state representatives have co-sponsored the bill, but pressure will be needed to get past the Legislature’s characteristic inertia.

Progressive Massachusetts Stands in Solidarity with Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj

Councilor Haxhiaj is fighting every day on the ground with and for her constituents. She has been a champion of housing justice, climate justice, and immigrants’ rights–a leader who speaks with moral clarity and backs it up with action. 

We condemn the retaliation against her for defending her constituent against a brutal and unnecessary abduction. Communities are under attack daily by lawless, violent ICE agents, and local elected leaders are best positioned to intervene to protect their constituents and to make clear that our communities do not support President Trump’s harmful, xenophobic agenda. City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj stands up for her constituents, and we stand with her. 

Overdose Prevention Centers Work. Let’s Embrace Them.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Dear Chair Velis, Chair Domb, and Members of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery:

I am writing today on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. We urge you to give a favorable report to H.2196/S.1393: An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment.

Overdose prevention centers are a proven harm reduction strategy that should be part of our state and local response to the opioid crisis.

This success at reducing overdose deaths should come as no surprise: by providing a safe, stigma-free space, OPCs create an opportunity for individuals suffering from addiction to connect with health care providers and begin their road to recovery. They also benefit the surrounding communities by moving drug use indoors and decreasing public disturbances. By contrast, the criminalization of addiction and poverty has repeatedly made communities less safe and less healthy

Communities in Massachusetts are learning from other states and other countries that have legalized overdose prevention centers, but they need a clear regulatory framework to move forward. These bills would allow the Department of Public Health to regulate these centers and offer legal protections for staff, clients, and operators of DPH approved programs.

Our neighbors in New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont have already embraced OPCs as a part of a comprehensive response to the opioid crisis. Let’s join them.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Raising the Age is Good for Safety, Good for the Economy, and Good for Our Future

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Chair Edwards, Chair Day, and Members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary:

Progressive Massachusetts is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. We urge you to give a favorable report to S.1061: An Act to Promote Public Safety and Better Outcomes for Young Adults.

A decade ago, Massachusetts raised the age of juvenile court to keep 17-year-olds out of the adult system. Supporters of this reform argued that keeping young people out of the adult criminal system would reduce recidivism. The data is in: they were right. Juvenile crime has declined, and Massachusetts has seen faster declines in violent and property crime rates than the national average. 

It’s time to build on that success by raising the age to 21, as this bill would do. Young people are highly influenced by their environments: it is no surprise then that adult jail and prison environments increase offending behavior. By contrast, in the juvenile system, adolescents have better access to educational and mental health resources that are critical to rehabilitation and successful re-entry, as well as stricter supervision.

Mass incarceration policies have hit communities of color in Massachusetts especially hard. As a criminal sentence too often closes off educational and employment opportunities, our criminal legal system perpetuates racial inequalities. A focus on rehabilitation would give youth a better chance to grow up and contribute in their community and, by doing so, would help reduce intergenerational poverty. When our criminal legal system centers human dignity, rehabilitation, and accountability, rather than punishment and vengeance, we are all safer and healthier in the long run.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Editorial: Countering Trump-era Policies in Massachusetts and Beyond

Jennifer Debin, “Countering Trump-era Policies in Massachusetts and Beyond,” Dover-Sherborn Hometown Weekly, September 18, 2025.

Dear Editor,

Massachusetts could be doing more to counter the Trump administration’s destructive and chaotic policies.

As Trump escalates, we must too.

All people throughout the country will be harmed by Florida’s troubling decision to eliminate vaccine requirements for schoolchildren following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda. We need as many people vaccinated as possible to develop herd immunity. While I appreciate that Massachusetts and Governor Maura Healey are standing up and solidifying our own vaccine policy, a piecemeal state by state approach does  not work for public health issues like communicable diseases.

The governor’s new standing order enables pharmacists to administer the boosters to “all  eligible persons” without CDC approval; this is a start, but not enough. We need our Massachusetts local and federal representatives to step up and take action on the national level. We cannot let anything the Trump administration does be easy. They are acting fast and without regard for the law and are governing for the benefit of a very small fraction of our country.

Women’s health is another area where Massachusetts should lead. We need to continue to bring the fight at every opportunity, challenging both other state governments and federal  policies that aim to limit women’s rights to decide on their own health. How does it make sense to say vaccines are a personal choice but a woman’s own healthcare decisions are not?

Additionally, while federal protections for immigrant students and students with disabilities are in jeopardy, Massachusetts has taken a strong stand to make sure that those rights continue to be protected here. The Commonwealth is a continual leader in public education – our representatives could be bolder, standing up against harmful educational policies on the federal level. 

Massachusetts has established the Protect Education Equity Bill which is an impressive step that allows Massachusetts state law to explicitly affirm the right to a public education for students of all immigration statuses and students with disabilities at a time of rising federal threats to civil rights. This bill is just one example that can be shared with other states. Joining

forces with other states and providing support and sharing of ideas can build a strong coalition against Trump policies.

On immigration, Massachusetts must continue to lead by example as a welcoming place against the hateful and violent actions of this administration, recently exacerbated by ICE’s increased budget and horrific round up quotas, ignoring due process and upending

families. Non-cooperation with ICE at the local level to make safe places for people to be able to work, play, learn, and live is key but the Massachusetts delegation need to increase  challenges at the national level. None of this is normal or okay and we cannot acquiesce.

Lastly, the piecemeal approach to environmental protections will not work and requires a national strategy to be most effective in combating climate change. The Trump administration

halting impactful projects like wind energy are an overreach that will harm us and future generations. 

How can we best support our Massachusetts representatives to think bigger and go beyond our

home state to improve overall quality of life and protect the democracy we love at this tumultuous moment in our country? There is not a simple answer and it can become exhausting addressing so many issues at once, but it is worth challenging Trump-era policies at  

every turn not only for life here in Massachusetts but for the good of the United States.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Debin

Sherborn, MA

Let Your State Senator Know: MA Wants Strong Data Privacy Laws

Your data should be nobody’s business.

This Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate will vote on comprehensive privacy legislation known as the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act (S.2608). Strong data privacy legislation must ban the sale of our sensitive data, limit how companies handle our data, and provide a strong enforcement mechanism.

The Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, as written, achieves many of these goals, including a complete ban on the sale of sensitive data. But there are critical protections missing from the bill, and Big Tech lobbyists will be hard at work this week trying to keep them out and to weaken the bill.

Your legislators will be hearing from the Big Tech lobbyists who have spent the whole year cozying up to Donald Trump. They need to be hearing even louder from you.

Email your state senator in support of strong data privacy legislation.

Here are the key amendments that civil liberties advocates are rallying behind and that your senator needs to hear from you about:

#52 (Rausch) – Closing Loophole to Prevent All Sales of Sensitive Data, which eliminates broad carveouts for industries that are regulated (but in a much more general way) on the federal level

#25 (Friedman) and #4 (Creem) – Preventing Location Tracking for People Traveling to Massachusetts,which ensure that people who come to our state for reproductive and gender affirming care have all the protections we can offer

#55 and #56 (Rausch) – Strong Enforcement, which ensure that people are able to seek redress in court when their rights are violated. To put it simply, a law without a strong enforcement mechanism is just a recommendation.

LTE: “LETTER: Mass. Deserves Better — Support the Corporate Fair Share Act & Close the Tax Loophole”

Rita Colafella, “LETTER: Mass. Deserves Better — Support the Corporate Fair Share Act & Close the Tax Loophole,” Watertown News,” September 22, 2025.

Dear Editor,

Massachusetts is facing a critical moment. Federal budget cuts are threatening to devastate essential services — Medicaid, SNAP, education, mental health care, and more. These cuts could strip healthcare and food assistance from up to 350,000 residents, blow a $3.5 billion hole in our state budget, and harm over 1 million students. We must act now to protect our communities.

A powerful solution is the Corporate Fair Share Act (An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance, H.3110/S.2033), a proposal that would raise over $400 million in new annual revenue by closing a loophole that allows billionaire global corporations to hide profits offshore and avoid paying their fair share in Massachusetts taxes.  

Right now, Massachusetts only taxes 5 percent of these offshored profits — far less than neighboring states like Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, which tax 50–60 percent. The Commonwealth even taxes a smaller share of offshored corporate profits than New Hampshire does. The Corporate Fair Share Act would simply bring us in line with these states and the federal government, increasing our share from 5 percent to 50 percent.

This isn’t a tax hike on small businesses. In fact, only 0.5 percent of all C Corporations report any offshore profits. Most small businesses — LLCs, S-Corps, sole proprietorships — aren’t affected at all. This bill targets the wealthiest multinational corporations that exploit tax havens while our local businesses and families pay their fair share.

And here’s the truth: Massachusetts voters (of which 50 percent are Republican) overwhelmingly support this change.

  • In an August 2020 poll by Echo Cove Research, 84 percent of likely Massachusetts voters supported closing the loophole that lets corporations slash taxes by hiding assets offshore.
  • In an August 2024 poll by Data for Progress, 75 percent of Massachusetts voters agreed that the state corporate income tax should be updated to prevent multinational corporations from using offshore tax havens.
  • In an April 2025 poll by Lake Research Partners, 78 percent of Massachusetts voters supported closing corporate tax loopholes for large, profitable, multinational corporations.

The message is clear: Massachusetts residents want fairness.  We pay our taxes. Our local businesses pay their taxes. It’s time the mega-corporations do the same.  The Corporate Fair Share Act will:

  • Level the playing field for local businesses
  • Protect essential services like healthcare, education, and mental health care
  • Ensure financial stability for future generations

Let’s stop leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. Let’s prioritize the taxpayers of Massachusetts over multinational corporations’ profits. Say no to devastating cuts. Say yes to fairness. Tell the State House to close the loophole ad Support the Corporate Fair Share Act. For more information, visit raiseupma.org/corporate-fair-share.

Rita Colafella
Watertown Resident