Katherine Clark

Good Monday morning, everyone.

Tarik Samman grew up believing in the American Dream. His parents were Syrian immigrants who moved to Lowell, where they built a life and bought a home.

In the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, the dream turned dark. Shaken by the Islamophobia that marked the era, they eventually made the difficult decision to sell their home and return to Damascus.

Finding himself unable to let go, Samman decided to remain in the U.S. Now 27, and living in Cambridge, he works as a researcher at Harvard Law School.

The political newcomer has also dived headfirst into politics, launching a primary campaign against U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-5th District, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Samman discussed why affordability is king and why generational change matters in D.C. — especially when you’re taking on one of the most powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

This conversation has been lightly edited for content and clarity.

MassLive: Talk about when you started considering this run and then when you decided to jump in and what pushed you, finally, into the race.

Samman: Our immigrant stories are all about survival, surviving here in America. So we always pick the careers with the (least) risk taken. So, like, we go to medical school, we go (into) engineering and so on and so forth. And, for me, I wanted to go to academia and study law and go to law school, and become a law professor, hopefully in the future.

But, unfortunately, with the way the last presidential election unfolded and the fact that (President Donald) Trump came back to power and the fear that my family went through in the early 2000s, post-attack of 9/11, made me feel like, you know, I love this country and I want to serve it and I’m disappointed with our current representative. And because I understand fear, maybe it’s my responsibility to step in and fight for a generational change in Congress.

Q: Is it fair to say that you’re running to the left of Rep. Clark? And where do you feel like she’s fallen short?

A: With my run against Katherine Clark, I always tell the people it’s not a run against Katherine Clark, per se. It’s a run against the status quo of the Democratic Party. We need a generational change. And I wouldn’t consider myself to the extreme left of Katherine Clark. I agree with her on a lot of issues. I’m probably as progressive as her. But at the same time, I don’t think she’s bold enough. I don’t think she was present enough in her own district.

Q: The conventional wisdom is that Democrats will retake the House in November. If that happens, Rep. Clark is probably in line to become the next House majority leader, which would be a big coup for the state. Did that factor into your thinking?

A: Yeah, it does. But at the same time, what guarantee do we have that they will do anything better for us? I mean, you judge them on their past behavior. Like the Biden administration won the House and the Senate back after the Trump presidency, and yet somehow we got Trump again.

Q: You talk in the (launch) video about affordability. You mentioned you’re looking for a fair economy for all. How does Congressman Samman do that? How do you put that sort of the American dream that your parents believed in when they came here, how do you put that back within reach for voters in the 5th District?

A: One issue that I face with a lot of reporters is that when they talk about Congress, they talk about, like, local elections. They forget that running for Congress is different than running for mayor. Like they also always talk about, and also, like they can’t differentiate that when, like the mayoral office of Mamdani is an executive office, he has a lot of power, and he can execute on his plans.

When you run for Congress, it’s a legislative office, and you will have to deal with 400 other congressmembers, who you should work with; you should compromise (on) a certain point, but also to pass your agenda. And the problem that you have right now is that you have these 400-plus congressmembers, you have the division of the Democratic Party. You don’t have a strong Democratic Party. You don’t have a party that has, like, shared values. And yet you’re expecting this party to stand up to the Republicans, who are more united under Trump, unfortunately, and fight back.

Q: You have inveighed against politicians who take PAC money. That means you’re not accepting PAC donations?

A: No, I’m not.

Q: You talk about immigration reform on your campaign website. Do you support abolishing ICE?

A: If you mean by abolishing to, like reform it, to create another agency that will work in a better way — that will not wear a mask, and go into the streets to terrorize the citizens, then, yes, just that.

Shortsleeve taps New Bedford councilor for running mate

Calling him a man of “conviction, common sense and service,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve has named New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver as his pick for lieutenant governor.

“I was looking for a partner in this fight to make Massachusetts affordable again for working people. I wanted someone with backbone, someone grounded in community and shaped by hard work, someone who understands that public service is about results, not rhetoric,” Shortsleeve said in a statement.

Oliver, the descendant of Portuguese immigrants, said he signed on with the Baker administration alum’s campaign because he “has the experience, the vision and the character to turn this state around.”

Shortsleeve’s fellow Baker administration alum, Mike Kennealy, tapped veteran Peabody pol Anne Manning Martin as his choice for lieutenant governor earlier this month.

Monday Numbers

They might be the future, but Massachusetts drivers absolutely aren’t fans of letting driverless cars onto the commonwealth’s highways and byways.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of registered voters in a poll released last week said they opposed allowing autonomous driverless vehicles to operate in the state.

More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents in Boston also opposed the vehicles, according to the poll of 500 voters by Workbench Strategy. It comes as Waymo tests driverless cars in the state’s largest city.

More than half of all respondents to the poll, conducted from March 8 to March 12, said they supported state or city regulation (in Boston’s case). The poll had a margin of error of 4.38%.

It was commissioned by Labor United Against Waymo, a coalition of unions that includes Teamsters Local 25, the App Drivers Union, SEIU 32BJ, and UFCW 1445.

Among Boston voters, the poll found:

81%: Those who said they supported an in-depth study on the safety impacts of driverless vehicles before allowing them in the city.

74%: Those who supported an economic impact study.

64%: Those who supported an advisory board that includes labor unions to inform city leaders’ decision-making around AVs

And: 68% of voters across Massachusetts also said they supported statewide legislation requiring any driverless car or truck to have a human safety operator on board who could take control during an emergency, according to the poll.

The poll “confirms what we already suspected — unlike the out-of-state Big Tech executives who are championing these machines so they can make money off of them, Massachusetts residents know that allowing driverless cars and trucks to run wild on our streets is a horrible idea,” Tom Mari, the president of Teamsters Local 25, said in an email.

They said it

“He’s gonna weaponize every aspect of the federal government to try to steal this election. That’s what’s gonna happen, and I predict we’re gonna see some violence before the election, just to give him an excuse to exercise emergency powers. So, you know, we can beat it, we can confront it, we can maintain safe and secure elections as we have here in Massachusetts and across this country, and also people need to be aware of what’s happening so that when it happens, you can call it out.”

— Gov. Maura Healey talks about her midterm election fears with WGBH-FM’s “Boston Public Radio” program.

Read more MassLive politics coverage

🗳️ Massachusetts voters may soon decide whether to end a pay system critics say keeps legislators obedient.

⛪ Could empty church land help solve the housing crisis? Massachusetts explores a surprising solution.

💰 Thousands of Mass. residents have unclaimed IRS money waiting — but only weeks left to grab it.

📶 All 94 Massachusetts courthouses are finally getting Wi-Fi — jurors and visitors can connect this summer.

🏗️ Backing Gov. Maura Healey, unions look to Springfield’s courthouse and higher ed to keep members working.

What goes on

As budget season continues on Beacon Hill, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts is sitting down with the guy who’s always in the room where it happens.

The influential advocacy group hosts an April 6 conversation via Zoom with House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk.

The event, hosted by Black Economic Council president and CEO Nicole Obi, runs from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can register here.

Turned up to 11

Americana rockers Band of Horses play The Cabot Theatre in Beverly on April 10 (tickets and more info here). They’re touring behind the 20th anniversary release of their 2006 LP “Everything All the Time.” From that record, here’s “St. Augustine.’

Your Monday long read

The ongoing war in Iran has made the case for renewables, but every country is going about it in its own way, Ezgi Canpolat, a visiting scholar at Harvard University, writes in a piece for the public policy site, The Conversation.

Here’s the germane bit:

The very region embroiled in this war reveals that there is not a linear shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Rather, there are distinct trajectories, driven by energy dependence, fiscal pressures, governance and stability. Disruption at the Strait of Hormuz does not mean the same thing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as it does in Ankara, Turkey, or Baghdad, Iraq.

For Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, this crisis is a warning dressed as a windfall.

...Energy-importing countries such as Jordan, Morocco and Turkey are investing in renewable energy for a different reason: Fossil fuel dependence is bankrupting them.

That’s it for today. As always, send me tips, comments and questions at [email protected]. Have a good week, friends.