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Two incumbent state reps tossed out: Sanchez and Rushing
By adamg on Tue, 09/04/2018 - 9:02pm
Jamaica Plain News reports Nika Elugardo has taken down the state representative in the 15th Suffolk district, which includes parts of Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. Sanchez was also chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Byron Rushing, who has represented the South End, the Fenway and part of Roxbury for 20 years, has conceded to challenger Jon Santiago.
Elugardo got 4,105 votes to Sanchez's 3,791. Santiago won with 2,230 votes to Rushing's 1,758 and 653 for Suezanne Bruce.
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Comments
Education Funding Bill
I know there were a lot of issues in this race, but I think the fact that education funding formula was not updated and improved really hurt Sanchez. What good is his power in the state house if he can't get Boston schools more money from the state?
Absolutely
It was something most people have a stake in, it was easy to understand (for a complex equation update), and there was broad consensus in the senate and a lot of the house (just not the leadership).
In a normal state, the speakership would be in question right about now.
Way over 20 years in the house for Byron.
In fact 34 years. He took over the district when Mel King ran for mayor.
I called him a word to his face that the nuns would object too back in 1991 or 1992 when he killed a proposal for a museum in the Navy Yard (this is back in the throes of a bad recession) because the ship that the museum would be centered around; the Wydah, was briefly a slaver.
He stayed to long and was one of the worst of DINO Bob DeLeo's lap dogs.
Perhaps there can be a wee change in leadership in the House now.
Know your friends ..
The "troika" of Walz, Rushing, and Michlewitz were a force to reckon with in the years following the Dimasi fall from grace and the DeLeo rise but Walz left and Rushing and Michlewitz have done their best to rub tummies with the current leadership.
Two down and one to go?
Ways and Means
Chairmanship of the House Ways and Means moves away from Boston and out to Hampshire County. Should I feel our local priorities are in better hands now?
Not Necessarily
Maybe the other democrats in the House will realize Deleo's title isn't "Speaker for Life." His two top lieutenants got booted for a reason.
BIngo
Voting to keep Deleo, Moran, etc... entrenched isn't offset by access to power in Sanchez.
Anecdote. Someone voting
for Nika at Ward 20, Prct. 19, thought that voting for Nika would mean that she would become Chair of Ways and Means to replace Sanchez. SMH.
Jon ran a better campaign
I totally respect Byron's service but I think he lost because he took the district for granted. It happens to long term incumbents and Jon Santiago worked his ass off and probably knocked on every door in the district about three times. I met him just as his campaign was starting and was blown away by his energy and dedication. Byron seemed disengaged until he lost the Ward 4 endorsement to Jon. (Byron's a member of the Ward 4 Democratic Committee as am I.) Then he brought out his elected buddies to endorse him and carpet bombing us with mail.
The moral of the story is that canvassing and personal contact wins, particularly in a local race.
I'm a little surprised by Nika Elugardo's win but I'm not in the district and didn't see the campaign. Same dynamic I'll bet.
Maybe
The rest of the house can finally decide to get rid of DeLeo now?
Anecdote: Nika knocked on my
Anecdote: Nika knocked on my door and I asked her if she agreed that the current speaker was a big part of most of the problems. her agreement got my vote more than anything else.
I like Jeff, but...
He was holding some legislation in committee and I’m really hoping this change will allow it to now move out of committee. There was no reason for if to be held back.
Hey Rep. Kulik, if you stumble upon this, can we get some movement on HB 1426? Thanks.
Byron Rushing
Rep Byron Rushing’s loss in the Democratic primary was both politically and personally sad for me. Yet this long time, accomplished public servant lost I think because of a changing district whose newer constituents didn’t have the links to Rep Rushing, that combined with not so much a blue wave, but one of generational change. All my best to newly-elected Jon Santiago and a big thank you to Rep. Byron Rushing.
Sanchez
Very disappointed that Sanchez lost. He was hung out to dry by DeLeo and held accountable for DeLeo's mistakes. The next Ways and Means chair will probably just be some conservative Dem from Worcester. I don't know how that helps Boston or really affects DeLeo's decisions. Nika will have an office in the State House basement and zero influence for quite a while.
True, but
I think he lost because his so called influence didn't get done what the voters wanted. Plain and simple.
And, in logical fashion
The voters decided they'd have someone with the best words but an order of magnitude less influence instead.
Seems logical to me
Someone with influence who doesn't use it is less help than someone with less influence doing what they can.
District Priorities
Sanchez did a lot for district-specific priorities from a funding perspective. That's why a lot of local affordable housing and transportation advocates and community leaders were with him. Look at Hyde/Jackson Square and what he's done there for the community. Nika and her supporters write those off as lip service or even trying to buy off votes. They focus on the big picture legislation which is fair to an exteny. But a central role of a state rep is to make sure the district gets its piece of the pie and Sanchez did that. I don't see how she'll do that as a back bencher but hope she's able to.
What did he do in Hyde Square?
From a state level? I know WF ruined it and all but beyond that, what was funded or supported due to Sanchez?
He secured funding for
He secured funding for Mildred Hailey (Bromley Heath) redevelopment. He's been responsible for pushing for funding for hundreds of new units of affordable housing in the area, much of it through state funding for CDCs. He was the leader in pushing to get Hyde-Jackson designated as the Latin Quarter. He got millions in a bond bill to finally build a long-awaited rec center for the youth of color in the Hyde-Jackson area. He did all these things for that area as the highest ranking Latino in state government yet was painted as an enemy of immigrants and literally called a racist by Progressive Mass because the Secure Communities Act didn't have the votes necessary from suburban reps. It's a shame the way he was painted. Even if you wanted Nika or just change overall, Jeffrey didn't deserve these very harsh personal attacks on him. Hopefully Nika will focus as much on these district needs as he did.
Not doing his job
Sanchez also lost because he didn't do the most basic task of the job, which is communicating with his constituents. When you sent him hearfelt letters or FB messages or inquired about his position on something it would just be crickets. Not even an auto-response.
Then during the campaign, all his canvassers were not from the district and clueless about the issues or even about Jeff, while Nika's people were our neighbors and they were jazzed!
I just wanted someone who was interested in serving the people in our district.
Not my experience at all
I have been communicating with the staff in Jeffrey Sanchez's office for years. His strength is in the competency of his staff--who are always uniformly responsive, friendly, and dedicated. I can't say that for the staff in all electeds' offices.
Canvassers all had information packets on his positions and all of the ones I met were from Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and Brookline. Sorry your experience differed--I guess your house was not on my list. We could have had a good conversation.
This sort of thing
I was writing to Jeff on a different issue, but this sort of thing is what made me think that my experience was not isolated.
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/why-climate-groups-deserted-san...