Stephen Lynch

Good Monday morning, everyone.

You’d figure that, as a new dad, Jamaica Plain resident Patrick Roath already has a pretty full plate, what with naptimes, feedings and changings and all that.

But Roath, 39, with one eye on the future for his infant daughter, is looking to add one more title to a resumé that already includes attorney and voting rights advocate.

He’s seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House this fall for the seat currently held by veteran U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-8th District. On the way, he’s picked up key endorsements from former Gov. Deval Patrick (his old boss) and Leaders We Deserve, the political action committee founded by Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.

Lynch, 70, a senior member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, is a former union leader who has held the South Boston-based seat since 2001.

Lynch had $1.1 million sitting in his campaign accounts at the end of last year.

But Roath has remained competitive on fundraising, reporting total receipts of $600,551 through Dec. 31, 2025, according to campaign filings. Lynch reported total receipts of $381,835 through the same time period, records showed.

Roath is part of a wave of candidates this cycle who are looking to unseat some of the sitting members of the Bay State’s all-Democrat Capitol Hill delegation.

Those hopefuls also include Jeromie Whalen, who’s challenging U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-1st District, and Ihssane Leckey, who’s challenging U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District.

That’s not even mentioning the “Godspell”-sized cast of candidates running for the open 6th District seat, which opened up with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s bid for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Roath took a few minutes to chat with MassLive to talk about why he’s running, what he’s hearing from residents across the district and the challenges Democrats face this fall.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and content.

Q: Why are you stepping into this campaign now?

Roath: “I think that this is a candidacy that is trying to meet the moment that we are in as a country. And that’s a really scary moment. Right? Like we have some threats to the country coming from the MAGA extremist movement and the current president, that are different and scarier than a lot of what we faced in the past.

“And if we don’t respond to this, if we are not able to contest what this administration is trying to do, and also provide people with an optimistic, affirmative sense of what we, the Democrats are offering in response, that is different, that is better, if we don’t do that right now, there is a lot on the line and it’s a really scary time for people who live in this country right now, and people like my daughter who just who just came into the world ... I’m driven by the sense that the representation, the leadership and the Democratic Party that we’re getting right now is not doing the job. And that’s particularly true here in this congressional district.”

Q: Can you talk a bit about your professional background? You’re both an attorney and a voting rights advocate?

A: “I got my start working for Gov. Deval Patrick, which was a great way to get involved here in politics. And then I went on to get my law degree. And in the last 10 years or so, I practiced at the law firm Ropes & Gray. Just a normal lawyer. But I also had this ... nights-and-weekends commitment to voting rights. I chaired Common Cause Massachusetts. I was pushing for better voting rights laws, but I was also bringing voting rights cases in my pro bono capacity.”

Q: The SAVE Act just came out of the U.S. House. It’s not clear if it can break through the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. It imposes new restrictions on voting. As someone who does this kind of work, what do you see when you look at this bill?

A: “This is just only the latest in a long series of cynical, bad faith attempts by Republicans to make it harder for people to participate in our elections and try to skew election rules in their favor ... But it is not a surprise that now that it’s becoming more obvious that the Republicans will suffer a loss in the midterm elections that they are suddenly interested in making it harder for people to vote.”

Q: You’ve criticized Rep. Lynch for voting against the Affordable Act and in favor of funding for ICE. Can you talk a bit about why you spoke out on those issues?

A: “This is not a personal animus by any means. I just think there is a different style of leadership. There’s a different urgency and a passion for the serious issues that we are confronting today that I’m not seeing from him, and that I think we need right now. And that we desperately need in our party and in our democracy.

“And when you look at some of the votes he’s taken and the things he’s stood for over the course of his career — yeah, I disagree. I would have done it differently. So he’s now the last Democrat left in D.C. who voted against the Affordable Care Act. I thought that was a terrible mistake. It seems that he’s agreed that it’s a terrible mistake and he has changed his tune on it."

“And last year, he was the only member of the congressional delegation from Massachusetts who voted in favor of the Republicans’ Laken Riley bill, which is an immigration bill that codified the due process stripping approach that this Trump administration is carrying out right now, in addition to voting for funding for ICE and all of that. So you know there’s just a couple of issue areas where I really think a different approach is needed.”

Q: When you’re out in the neighborhoods and talking to voters, what concerns are you hearing from them the most?

A: “There are two broad buckets of things. Most of the people are scared and see what’s happening in our country and are really terrified about what the administration’s doing right now, you know, in terms of ICE getting deployed with masked guys executing people on the streets of Minneapolis. And it’s just this sense that we have a tyrant in the White House who is burning down our relationships with other countries and imposing tariffs that make no sense.

“And then, the other thing that comes up just as frequently, and if not more, is just how hard it is to live around here, you know, and how expensive things have become in the Greater Boston area. And that’s just as big a problem in a lot of ways for people ... And you know, I think people, rightfully, are looking for leaders who can provide some answers on that, who understand what they’re going through.”

Markey, Pressley will boycott the State of the Union

There will be at least two empty seats from Massachusetts when President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District, both will be skipping Trump’s address and will instead attend a “People’s State of the Union” event sponsored by two progressive advocacy groups.

“The State of the Union should be a reckoning with reality, but Donald Trump will use it to spin fiction and normalize the gross abuse of power,” the Malden pol said in a statement.

Trump “will claim everything is fine while families struggle to afford health care and housing, immigrant communities live in fear and his billionaire allies loot the country under the cover of chaos — I will not legitimize those lies," Markey, who’s running for reelection in a competitive, three-way primary, said.

In a statement, Pressley said she plans to “uplift children detained and traumatized by ICE.”

“The state of our nation is traumatized. Because of this President’s terror campaign targeting our immigrant neighbors, families are terrified to leave their home and children are terrified they will return home from school to find their parents taken. From the Massachusetts 7th to Minnesota to the Dilley Detention Center, the stories I have heard are gutting,” she said.

A host of progressive lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also are confirmed for the alternative event sponsored by MeidasTouch and MoveOn Civic Action.

More fun with polls

Just like every cloud, every poll (at least some of the time) has a silver lining.

Or at least that’s what Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton is rolling with in the wake of an internal poll showing him trailing U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., 54%-30% in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up.

The poll, conducted by Cygnal, offers what it describes as a “data-backed path to an upset in November” for Deaton, who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Markey’s advantage narrows to 45%-40% for the Democratic incumbent “after voters are exposed to Deaton’s biography — both good and bad — his unique issue platform, and Markey’s failures," according to the polling memo, first reported by Politico.

“Importantly, these undecided voters are frustrated with the status quo and would be more likely to vote for Deaton out of protest than support the incumbent,” the poll argues.

The poll also presumes that Markey, who’s seeking a third term on Capitol Hill, wins a competitive, three-way primary that includes U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District, and political newcomer Alex Rikleen.

Reached for comment by Politico, the Markey campaign dismissed the poll as “Republican fan fiction.”

Monday numbers

With the 2026 race for governor well underway, it’s time to take a look at one of the more reliable barometers of candidate performance: Their campaign finance reports.

And a cursory inspection of filings by the three GOP hopefuls looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Maura Healey reveals their biggest supporters are, well, themselves.

GOP candidates Mike Kennealy, Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Minogue each have dug deeply into their own pockets to fund their campaigns, according to filings with the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Minogue, a former medical device executive, dug even deeper, loaning his campaign $7.5 million through the end of January, according to campaign finance records. Minogue reported having $5.6 million in his warchest through the end of last month.

Kennealy, who served as former Gov. Charlie Baker’s housing and economic development czar, pumped $2 million into his campaign so far, records showed. The Lexington resident was sitting on $1.56 million at the end of January after expenses.

Shortsleeve, who helmed the MBTA under Baker, has relied least on personal cash. He made a $200,000 infusion last November, according to campaign filings. He reported having $686,351 on-hand at the end of last month.

Healey, who formally launched her reelection campaign last month, had $4.7 million on hand at the end of January, with cash from individual donors, according to campaign filings.

Mass. Senate tees up vote on higher ed bill

Democrats who control the state Senate are set to vote Thursday on a Millionaires Tax-funded bill aimed at making some big infrastructure improvements at the state’s public colleges and universities.

The upper chamber’s $3.28 billion bond bill ups the ante on the $2.5 billion “Bright Act” that Healey rolled out last year during an event at Bridgewater State University.

The biggest chunk of the Senate’s version of the legislation, about $2.5 billion, covers deferred maintenance costs, repairs and major capital projects at the University of Massachusetts, state universities and community colleges.

The legislation also sets aside $125 million in annual ‘Fair Share’ revenue, as the Millionaires’ Tax is formally known, for public higher education capital projects, Senate Democratic leaders said in an email.

They said it

“ICE is bringing chaos to our streets and our communities, not the people. ICE is making our streets and our communities less safe, not the people.”

— Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, parries remarks by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley on who’s to blame for confrontations with federal immigration agents.

Read more MassLive politics coverage

🏠 Massachusetts single-family home sales dropped 13% even as the median price climbed past $612K.

💰 Your town could get a slice of $66 million to fix crumbling streets and sidewalks across the state.

⚖️ Massachusetts AG Andrea J. Campbell continues to oppose the Trump White House’s actions on Haitian immigration status and disaster funding.

🗳️ SNAP fraud controversy is adding fuel to the governor’s race — but can the GOP actually convert outrage into votes?

📍 Gov. Maura Healey secured Holyoke endorsements for reelection with the Paper City top of mind in her campaign.

🎰 Massachusetts Lottery sales dipped, but lower scratch payouts boosted January profit for the state.

📊 State Auditor Diana DiZoglio announced her 2026 reelection bid and vowed to keep fighting her battle to audit the Legislature.

What goes on

Gov. Maura Healey addresses the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Forum in Boston at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. The event includes a speech by Healey followed by a Q&A with chamber honcho James E. Rooney. Registration information here — caveat emptor, the event was nearly sold out as of last week.

Turned up to 11

I mean, c’mon, with St. Patrick’s Day less than a month away, and this being Boston, who else was gonna get this space? Boston’s de facto house band plays the House of Blues on March 17 (tickets and more info here).

And, of course, there’s only one song. Sing along if you know it.

Your Monday long read

The death last week of the Rev. Jesse Jackson brought down the curtain on an era in American politics. But because he influenced so many, his legacy will endure for decades.

Writing for The Conversation, Middlebury College political science professor Bert Johnson explains how Jackson set the stage for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and a whole generation of progressive activists.

Here’s the germane bit:

“Jackson created a “People’s Platform” that would sound familiar to today’s progressives, calling for higher taxes on businesses, higher minimum wages and single-payer, universal health care.

“In light of Jackson’s efforts, Vermont activists saw the potential for a durable statewide organization. Rather than disband the Vermont Rainbow Coalition after the 1984 primary, they kept the group going, endorsing candidates in campaigns for the legislature and statewide office in each of the next three election cycles. The coalition also endorsed Bernie Sanders’ failed bid for Congress in 1988.

“Sanders served eight years as mayor of Burlington as an ‘independent socialist,’ cultivating a core collection of local allies known as the Progressive Coalition who sought to wrest power away from establishment members of the city’s Board of Aldermen.

“Sanders eventually went on to win election to the House as an independent in 1990, serving in the chamber until winning his Senate seat, also as an independent, in 2006. His presidential runs in 2016 and 2020 made him a prominent national figure and a leader among progressives.

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who unseated a member of the House Democratic leadership in a stunning 2018 primary upset in New York, had been a Sanders campaign organizer and remains his close ally. On Jan. 1, 2026, Sanders swore in Zohran Mamdani – like Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic socialist – as mayor of New York City.

“Sanders had endorsed Jackson for president in 1988. Years later, Jackson returned the favor."

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