Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Zeroing in on Gen Z

Monday, May 15, 2023

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Zeroing in on Gen Z

BY KELLY GARRITY , SOPHIE GARDNER AND LISA KASHINSKY

THE Z FACTOR — Top Massachusetts Democrats are turning to a new generation to bolster their bases.

Reps. Seth Moulton, Jim McGovern and Lori Trahan have each signed the “Youth Vote Champion” pledge from Voters of Tomorrow, a coalition focused on getting out the Gen Z vote. The goal for the trio — and the 33 other House Democrats on the roster so far — is straightforward: engage the youngest voters ahead of next year’s elections.

Putting the pledge into action will look different for different members. Moulton’s team already engages with Gen Z through the DCCC’s youth fellowship program and with his own youth council of high school students. Trahan said she’s trying to meet Gen Zers where they are — visiting their schools and engaging with them on social media.

But there’s an incentive problem for the Bay State’s pledge class. None of these Democrats faced a serious challenge last year. And if the same holds true next year, they likely won’t need a wave of Gen Z voters to ride to another term.

That doesn’t mean they should ignore up-and-coming voters, though. Sometimes a sleeper reelection campaign can turn into a nail biter, and Gen Z activists can be a key to victory. Just ask Sen. Ed Markey.

“It is increasingly becoming apparent to political actors , whether they're candidates or campaign managers or activists or whatever, that this generation is a critical and increasingly powerful voting bloc,” John Walsh, Markey’s 2020 campaign manager and current Senate chief of staff, told Playbook.

Gen Zers have repeatedly shown their political muscle — whether it’s organizing to save the co-author of the Green New Deal from being defeated by a scion of one of the country’s political dynasties, or turning to TikTok to troll former President Donald Trump.

And they’re increasingly flexing that influence in elections. Some Democrats credited the youngest voting-eligible demographic with stymieing the GOP’s “red wave” last year.

Even if they don’t need younger voters to fend off a challenge , mobilizing that cohort could make a difference in down-ballot races and help fend off any GOP candidates that might emerge to take on Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“When I think of the state senators and the state reps who are running on the ticket next year, I think it's incumbent on all of us to energize young voters,” Trahan told Playbook.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Bring on the Heat!

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey, EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper and Treasurer Deb Goldberg attend a Jewish American Heritage Month reception at 1 p.m. in the governor’s ceremonial office.

Tips? Scoops? Email us: kgarrity@politico.com , sgardner@politico.com , lkashinsky@politico.com .

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Tax-cap law, online lottery featured in thousand-plus Senate budget amendments,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A push to digitize state lottery sales and prevent changes to a once-obscure tax cap law are among the thousand-plus amendments senators filed this week to their fiscal 2024 budget proposal."

— “Bill would allow gender changes on marriage licenses,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Transgender individuals in Massachusetts can change their name and gender on birth certificates, state drivers' licenses, Social Security cards and other vital records. But they are still prevented from changing their gender on marriage licenses under a decades-old state Department of Public Health regulation.”

— “George Floyd’s uncle visits Massachusetts State House: ‘This is about preserving life.’” by Ivy Scott, Boston Globe: “Selwyn Jones, whose nephew George Floyd became an international symbol for police reform in 2020 after he was murdered by Minneapolis officers, arrived in Boston on Thursday as part of a nationwide tour to push for the passage of the Medical Civil Rights Bill. If passed, the bill would establish a statutory right to medical care during any police interaction where a person appears to be in medical crisis or communicates they are in crisis.”

— “New Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioner eyes long tenure with new administration after turnover at the top,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A report from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the Metropolitan Beaches Commission said there have been six DCR commissioners in the past eight years, which has led to a lack of ‘leadership continuity, clear direction, and accountability at the top.’”

— "Mass. Lottery director ‘optimistic’ for iLottery despite Senate budget exclusion," by Irene Rotondo, MassLive: "The lottery director is wary of next year’s sales, and said revenue from an online lottery introduced in 2024 is what the organization needs for a bright future."

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MASK-ACHUSETTS

— “MGB changes new mask policy after protests from disability advocates,” by Cassie McGrath, Boston Business Journal: “On May 5, MGB sent patients an update to its masking policy with a link to to a FAQ page which said that as of Friday, May 12, patients cannot ask staff members to wear a mask ‘because our policies no longer require it. Our system is adhering to current public health recommendations.’ … Matthew Cortland, a patient of MGB and a lawyer who works for think tank Data for Progress, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice, and with the Massachusetts Attorney General Office about the issue.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Wu proposes new redistricting map to council with aim of keeping neighborhoods whole,” by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: “In submitting a new political map to the City Council, [Boston Mayor Michelle] Wu said her goal is to have cohesive neighborhoods remain within a single council district, rather than split among seats as they were in the previous map. ... Now, under the watchful eye of the court, the council will have to devise a new map that complies with a complex tangle of federal legal requirements. And the most potential for chaos and confusion comes in neighboring districts 3 and 4, which cover different parts of Dorchester, and whose boundaries were at particular issue in the federal lawsuit."

— “Boston Public Schools nearing agreement with city police to formalize relationship,” by Christopher Huffaker, Boston Globe: “The memorandum will not place police back in schools, the officials said, but instead will clarify when educators should call police to respond to incidents.”

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “At current pace, it would take the MBTA more than a decade to reach its staffing goals for next year,” by Taylor Dolven, Boston Globe: “The T has added just 141 people to its staff in the last 10 months, when accounting for people who have left the agency, chief human resources officer Tom Waye told board members. At that pace, it will take the T more than a decade to fill the 7,643 budgeted positions for next fiscal year with active employees, according to calculations by transit advocates and the Globe.”

AS SEEN ON TV

— MONEY TALKS: Rep. Richard Neal talked debt ceiling negotiations and how Democrats are handling their inflation “perception problem” heading into the 2024 presidential election on WCVB’s “On the Record. ”

Yet Neal, whose district includes the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and whose uncle survived a bout of Covid-19 at the facility, wouldn’t say whether he agrees with the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to reinstate criminal charges against two of the home's former leaders over the deadly 2020 outbreak.

— THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: Taunton Mayor and former GOP state lawmaker Shaunna O’Connell tells WBZ’s Jon Keller that Republicans need to focus on “working families and what they care about” to win more elections here. She also discussed her support for a city charter change that would impose term limits on all of Taunton's elected municipal officials, not just the mayor. She'd like to see term limits on Beacon Hill, too. But, as Keller said, "it'll be a cold day in July when they actually approve that."

PARTY POLITICS

— “MassGOP identifies $262G+ in media invoices it says Geoff Diehl campaign responsible for,” by Flint McColgan, Boston Herald: “The Massachusetts Republican Party says that its own audit of its whopping debt shows that at least $262,620 in media invoices should properly be billed to the campaign of Geoff Diehl, who lost his campaign for governor last year. … MITTCOM had billed nearly $440,000 to the state party — part of the huge $600,000 debt the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) said the party was on the hook for.”

DAY IN COURT

— “With probate court plan, Mass. lawmakers back the largest one-time expansion of a state bench in decades,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Massachusetts lawmakers appear poised to pass the largest one-time expansion of a state judicial bench since at least 2000, embracing plans to fortify a Probate and Family Court system that officials say is swamped with increasingly complex cases. The Massachusetts House and Senate both tucked language into their state budget proposals that would add eight judges, pushing the number of probate and family justices to 59 and the statewide judicial bench to 425.”

— “Migrants shipped to the Vineyard push back on moving lawsuit against Ron DeSantis to Florida,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “Attorneys representing migrants who were shipped to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are pushing back against an effort to move a lawsuit against the Republican and his top deputies out of Massachusetts and into Florida.”

— “Charlie Baker’s son, Andrew ‘A.J.’ Baker, arrested and charged with drunk driving: Mass State Police,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald.

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “Power Shift: In less than a decade, the state’s electric grid must dramatically transform. It won’t be easy,” by Sabrina Shankman, Boston Globe: “Giant offshore wind farms, thousands of new solar projects, sprawling transmission lines, and intrastate energy collaborations all must be completed on schedule, a rarity in any large-scale effort. And already each of the biggest clean energy projects the state is counting on is facing complications that could delay or even derail them. … Complicating the job is the fact that many experts continue to debate the amount of clean energy the state is actually using now.”

FROM THE 413

— “Amherst teacher union takes no-confidence vote in Superintendent Morris, calls on assistant superintendent to resign,” by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “The union representing teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff has taken a no-confidence vote in Superintendent Michael Morris and is calling for his assistant superintendent’s resignation. Saturday’s announcement by the Amherst Pelham Education Association’s executive board came a day after Morris said he would step aside for an unspecified length of time on orders from his doctor, with an intent to return, and just a few days after counselors at the middle school were alleged to have engaged in transphobic actions. Three staff members were later placed on leave.”

— “ Judge Spikes Free Speech Violation from Moss Lawsuit,” by Matt Szafranski, Western Massachusetts Politics & Insight: “Hampden Superior Court Judge James Manitsas has already decided the fate of a claim that lawyers for Mayor Domenic Sarno and his former aide Darryl Moss did battle over on Tuesday. The court dismissed the claim that Sarno violated Moss’s First Amendment rights. … Moss lost his job over a Facebook post responding to a Donald Trump comment.”

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

— "New Hampshire governor offers path to legalize marijuana," by Kathy McCormack, The Associated Press: "A day after New Hampshire legislators rejected the latest attempt to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, Gov. Chris Sununu — a potential Republican presidential candidate — proposed a path forward Friday that is similar to how the state controls liquor sales."

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Shahid Ahmed Khan has been named to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts.

— Sarah Varney , a senior correspondent for KFF Health News based in Massachusetts, has been named a Nieman fellow at Harvard.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to J. Patrick Brown, Jay Hulings and Kevin Connor .

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .

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