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Endorsements

“Ward 4 was the very first ward committee to endorse me in my mayoral campaign—and in my political career as well. It made such a difference…to hit the ground running with a group of activists and volunteers. It just multiplied our support…and amplified the feedback we received from community members, [and that helped us] shape our policy platforms and commitments and agenda.

This ward committee sets such a standard for what activism looks like across the city and the changes that are possible when you get more people involved.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu

 

We believe in endorsing and in putting endorsements to work. 

Our committee considers endorsements of candidates, ballot initiatives, and legislation. We believe in building a robust Democratic bench of elected officials who reflect the diversity of our City and our Commonwealth and who have track records of bold, thoughtful, and effective action. And we believe in canvassing, phone banking, host parties, and good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth to promote our endorsed candidates.

If you are interested in seeking our endorsement for your candidate or cause, please email ward4dems@gmail.com.

2023 Endorsements

John Moran for Massachusetts House of Representatives (9th Suffolk)

Sharon Durkan for Boston City Council (8th District)

Tania Fernandes Anderson for Boston City Council (7th District)

Ruthzee Louijeune for Boston City Council At-Large

Julia Mejia for Boston City Council At-Large

Henry Santana for Boston City Council At-Large

An Act Relative to the Future of Clean Heat in the Commonwealth (S.2105/H.3203)

An Act Establishing the Municipal Reforestation Program (S.452/H.869)

2022 Endorsements

Ayanna Pressley for U.S. House of Representatives

Maura Healey for Massachusetts Governor

Kim Driscoll for Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor

Tanisha Sullivan for Massachusetts Secretary of State

Andrea Campbell for Massachusetts Attorney General

Chris Dempsey for Massachusetts State Auditor

Ballot Questions:  Fair Share Amendment (Yes on 1), Regulation of Dental Insurance (Yes on 2), Safer Roads (Yes on 4)

2021 Endorsements

Michelle Wu for Boston Mayor

David Halbert for City Council At-Large

Ruthzee Louijeune for City Council At-Large

Julia Mejia for City Council At-Large

Carla Monteiro for City Council At-Large

Kenzie Bok for City Council District 8

Tania Fernandes Anderson for City Council District 7

Ed Flynn for City Council District 2

Yes on 1 For A Better Budget

Yes on 3 For An Elected School Committee

Past Candidate & Ballot Question Endorsements

To view past candidate and ballot question endorsements of the Boston Ward 4 Dems, see our endorsement archive.

Ward 4-Endorsed Legislation

  • Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act
  • Common Start bill
  • We the People Act
  • Safe Communities Act
  • Work & Family Mobility Act
  • ROE Act
  • Same Day Registration
  • State House Employees Union

Ward 4 Resolutions

The Ward 4 Dems are known for progressive advocacy.

In addition to making impactful endorsements of candidates and causes on the state and local level, we host forums and conversations with current and aspiring representatives, conduct party caucuses, and attend state conventions.

Our members are important voices for the pressing issues affecting our communities.

Check out our speaker archive.

Become a Member

Our committee is formally elected every four years on the Presidential primary ballot. We also vote in new member at any point in between. If you are a registered Democrat in Ward 4, you can be voted in as a Full Member at your third meeting.

Following state laws, we are capped at 35 full members. But we can have an unlimited number of Associate Members. All of our meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend!

To learn more about membership, check out our bylaws

Email us: ward4dems@gmail.com

Our Mission

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee advances the progressive policy initiatives of the Massachusetts Democratic Party platform by promoting economic and social justice, leadership accountability, and broad community involvement. The Committee endorses candidates for public office and encourages voter engagement and registration. The Ward 4 Democratic Committee is elected pursuant to Chapter 52 of the Massachusetts General Law.
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Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Boston Ward 4 Dems Resolution in Support of No Cost Calls and the Prison Moratorium (April 2023)

WHEREAS the Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform, as adopted in 2021, affirms that Massachusetts Democrats will fight for “free communication including phone calls, video visits, and email and tablets for incarcerated people” and “a pause on new jail and prison construction to allow for the opportunity to consider community practices and decrease the number of people incarcerated;”

WHEREAS the Massachusetts Senate and Massachusetts of House Representatives, in the 192nd session of the General Court, included language ensuring free phone calls for people incarcerated in Massachusetts jails and prisons (“No Cost Calls”) in the FY 2023 budget and language imposing a pause on new jail and prison construction (“Prison Moratorium”) in its government infrastructure bond bill;

WHEREAS such measures failed to become law in 2022 due to the opposition of Republican Governor Charlie Baker;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on the Massachusetts Senate and Massachusetts House to approve new language ensuring free phone calls for people incarcerated in Massachusetts jails and prisons as outlined in H.1796/S.1494  and imposing a pause on new prison and jail construction as outlined in H.1795/S.1979 as swiftly as possible,  and urges our State House delegation to advance this goal.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Modernization of Public Meeting Access (April 2023)

WHEREAS since early 2020 the Legislature has suspended provisions of the Open Meeting Law to enable public bodies to carry out their responsibilities remotely, with virtual access and participation by the public;

WHEREAS many public bodies have embraced hybrid meetings, enabling both in-person and remote attendance by both officials and the public;

WHEREAS remote access has removed obstacles facing working people, parents of young children, other caregivers, people with disabilities, people with limited transportation, among many other populations who may not be able to travel to a city or town hall or spend hours waiting for their time to speak;

WHEREAS hybrid meetings combine such expanded participation with the democratic benefits of robust in-person deliberation;

BE IT SO RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee endorses H.3040 / S.2024: An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings, which would make such hybrid meeting access permanent and provide resources to cities and towns to make that possible, and calls upon our elected officials to co-sponsor and champion the bill.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Boston Ward 4 Dems Resolution in Support of the Healthy Youth Act (April 2023)

WHEREAS the Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform, as adopted in 2021, affirms that Massachusetts Democrats will fight for “ensuring that every public school student has access to sexual health education that is comprehensive, medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, and includes a focus on consent and healthy relationships;”

WHEREAS the Massachusetts State Senate has, on multiple occasions, voted to pass the Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would ensure that Massachusetts schools electing to provide their students with sex education use age-appropriate and medically accurate curriculum that covers a comprehensive range of topics and is inclusive and appropriate for students regardless of gender, race, disability status, sexual orientation and gender identity, most recently in September 2021 and January 2020;

WHEREAS, in the face of conservative attacks on accurate and comprehensive sex ed in Massachusetts and around the country are detrimental to youth and to public education, and we, as Democrats, must take a stand against them,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on the Massachusetts Senate and Massachusetts House to pass H.544/S.268: An Act relative to healthy youth as swiftly as possible, and urges our State House delegation to advance this goal.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Boston Ward 4 Dems Rent Stabilization HRP Ordinance Resolution (April 2023)

WHEREAS residential rents in Boston are now the third highest in the country;

WHEREAS rapidly escalating residential rents and price gouging have forced many residents out of the city;

WHEREAS Boston is served best by being an economically diverse city where people of all income levels can afford to live and to work;

WHEREAS elected officials must use the various tools at the their disposal to address both displacement and affordability, including tenant protections, increased funding, and zoning changes to achieve such a goal;

WHEREAS on March 8, 2023, the Boston City Council voted 11 to 2 in favor of a rent stabilization Home Rule Petition, which would limit annual rent increases to six percent, plus the consumer price index to account for inflation, with an overall cap of 10 percent in high inflation years, as well as guarantee “just cause” protections against eviction and enable the city to pass laws to guard against conversion of rental units to condominiums;

WHEREAS Boston’s ability to enact such laws on its own is hamstrung by the state’s home rule process, requiring State Legislative and gubernatorial approval;

BE IT SO RESOLVED that the Ward 4 Democratic Committee supports said Home Rule Petition, filed in the Legislature as HD.4216: An Act petition for a special law authorizing the city of Boston to implement rent stabilization and tenant eviction protections, and calls upon our State Representatives and State Senators in the Massachusetts General Court, as well as Governor Maura Healey, to ensure its swift passage.

To read the Home Rule Petition: View PDF

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Resolution in Support of a Gas Infrastructure Moratorium (April 2023)

WHEREAS the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that we are on track to pass critical thresholds of global warming by 2030;

WHEREAS preventing the planet from overheating dangerously beyond that level will require a rapid shift away from fossil fuels;

WHEREAS the Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform, as approved in 2021, calls for “the realization of bold and necessary emissions goals to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 and net negative emissions by 2050”;

WHEREAS achieving such emissions reductions will require leaving fossil fuel reserves in the ground;

WHEREAS Governor Maura Healey, in her campaign, promised to make bold climate action a top priority if elected;

BE IT SO RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls upon Governor Healey to halt new gas system expansions until the state has a concrete plan for a just transition to a clean — and green — energy future.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Immigration Justice Resolution (January 2020)

WHEREAS the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has had a chilling effect on immigrant communities around the country, threatening the ability of both documented and undocumented immigrants to exist in public space;

WHEREAS state and local law enforcement are not being paid to act as federal immigration agents, and should not be tasked with such work;

WHEREAS basic constitutional rights should be granted to all, regardless of immigration status;

WHEREAS the immigrant population of Boston and Massachusetts contributes to the city and commonwealth’s economic, social, and cultural vitality;

WHEREAS welcoming people of all backgrounds is a core Democratic Party principle;

WHEREAS undocumented immigrants should be able to fully exist in public space as members of the community;

WHEREAS preventing state and local law enforcement from acting as immigration agents, and removing immigration status as a requirement for obtaining a driver’s license, enhance true public safety for all residents of the city and the commonwealth;

WHEREAS the 2017 Massachusetts Democratic Party platform affirms support for “eliminating policies that make local and state officials responsible for the enforcement of national immigration laws” and for “testing and providing drivers licenses to all of-age residents regardless of immigration status”;

WHEREAS it would be a moral stain on our Commonwealth if in the four years of the Trump presidency, our State Legislature passed no laws to protect hte rights of our immigrant community;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on all of its state legislators to support the Safe Communities Act (S.1401/H.3573) and the Work and Family Mobility Act (S.2061/H.3012) and to advocate for their swift passage this legislative session.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Climate Action Resolution (January 2020)

WHEREAS, the consensus among the scientific community is clear that global warming is occurring now and that human activity is a dominant driver;

WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it clear that the new decade remains humanity’s last real chance to prevent climate chaos;

WHEREAS, average temperature records continue to be broken month after month and year after year, and those under age 32 have never experienced a month of below average temperature;

WHEREAS, the United States and 194 other countries promised to reduce their carbon output “as soon as possible” and to do their best to keep global warming “to well below 2 degrees C” in the 2015 Paris Agreement;

WHEREAS, the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s 2017 platform calls for “aggressive action to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change and protect our environment” and “in wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels”;

WHEREAS, Massachusetts has not passed comprehensive climate legislation since the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, despite the worsening of climate change in the decade since;

WHEREAS, states like New York and California have taken the lead on passing comprehensive climate legislation;

WHEREAS Massachusetts’s US senator Ed Markey has led the call for a Green New Deal that recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis and the economy-wide transformation it demands;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on our state legislators to advocate for bold and comprehensive climate legislation, including—but not limited to—creating a detailed plan for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045 (and electricity by 2035), putting a tax on carbon emissions to fund green investment across the state, increasing investments in public transportation, and other steps to rapidly decarbonize our economy in a sustainable, equitable, and just fashion.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Reproductive Justice Resolution (January 2020)

WHEREAS, on January 22, 1973, in a historic and landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that the U.S. Constitution safeguards a woman’s ability to make her own personal medical decisions about when or whether to have children, as grounded in “the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman’s qualified right to terminate her pregnancy;” and

WHEREAS, this right has been affirmed in subsequent Supreme Court cases such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016); and

WHEREAS, the Trump-Pence administration’s repeated attacks on, and stated desire to restrict access to, abortion and other reproductive health care have given states across the United States a green light to pass unconstitutional barriers to safe and legal abortion; and

WHEREAS, many states including Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, and Missouri have, in direct conflict with Supreme Court precedent, recently passed laws that ban or restrict access to legal and safe abortions, and similar measures have been proposed in several more states; and

WHEREAS, with the appointment last year of Justice Brett Kavanaugh tipping the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of restricting abortion, these state laws are additionally intended to serve as test cases for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and effectively restrict or eliminate access to legal and safe abortions across the United States; and

WHEREAS reproductive health, including abortion, is a vital component of overall health, and health care is recognized as a fundamental human right; and

WHEREAS, an individual’s freedom to make reproductive decisions is vital to their safety, well-being, economic opportunity, and ability to participate equally in society; and

WHEREAS, The Massachusetts Legislature is currently considering S.1209 and H.3320, also known as the “ROE Act”, which would remove medically unnecessary abortion restrictions and inflammatory language from Massachusetts law, ensure that a pregnant person can access abortion care after 24 weeks of pregnancy in the case of a fatal fetal diagnosis, and improve a young person’s ability to receive trained support and safely access abortion care.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on the state legislators representing Ward 4 in the MA House and MA Senate to support the ROE Act and ensure its swift passage.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Voting Access Resolution (January 2020)

Boston Ward 4 WHEREAS, voter turnout in Boston for the 2016 Presidential election was about 66%, and turnout is typically substantially lower in other state and local elections;

WHEREAS, state and city government have the power to enact laws and procedures for elections that surpass existing federal and state voter accessibility standards, that encourage increased voter participation, that create more accountable representation, that uphold voting rights, and that promote greater awareness of our political process through civic education;

WHEREAS, other states have already adopted progressive policies aimed at enhancing voter access and civic participation including, but not limited to, same-day voter registration and early voting for all elections;

WHEREAS, New Hampshire, for example, has adopted same-day registration, which was critical to the success of Democratic candidates in the 216 Presidential and U.S. Senate elections in New Hampshire;

WHEREAS, many other states, meanwhile, have adopted policies aimed at suppressing voter access and civic participation, a trend which is likely to continue while Republicans control most state legislatures and governorships;

WHEREAS, Massachusetts has long been a progressive national leader in areas such as marriage equality, universal health care, and common sense gun control, yet remains behind other states in terms of voter access policy; and

WHEREAS, it is important that Massachusetts serve as a counterweight to the increasingly conservative and cynical political climate in other states and federally.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee:

  1. Urges the elected officials representing Boston Ward 4 including, but not limited to, State Representatives, State Senators, City Councilors, the Mayor of Boston, and Democratic State Committee Members, to support, promote, and seek the adoption of legislation and public policies providing for expanded voter access and civic participation both in Boston and across Massachusetts including, but not limited to, same-day registration and early voting for all elections; and
  2. Urges its members to speak with family, friends, neighbors, and other activists about the importance of voter access and to urge those individuals to contact their local elected officials to support policies providing for expanded voter access and civic participation including, but not limited to, same-day registration and early voting for all elections.

Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee

Immigration Justice Resolution (January 2020)

WHEREAS the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has had a chilling effect on immigrant communities around the country, threatening the ability of both documented and undocumented immigrants to exist in public space;

WHEREAS state and local law enforcement are not being paid to act as federal immigration agents, and should not be tasked with such work;

WHEREAS basic constitutional rights should be granted to all, regardless of immigration status;

WHEREAS the immigrant population of Boston and Massachusetts contributes to the city and commonwealth’s economic, social, and cultural vitality;

WHEREAS welcoming people of all backgrounds is a core Democratic Party principle;

WHEREAS undocumented immigrants should be able to fully exist in public space as members of the community;

WHEREAS preventing state and local law enforcement from acting as immigration agents, and removing immigration status as a requirement for obtaining a driver’s license, enhance true public safety for all residents of the city and the commonwealth;

WHEREAS the 2017 Massachusetts Democratic Party platform affirms support for “eliminating policies that make local and state officials responsible for the enforcement of national immigration laws” and for “testing and providing drivers licenses to all of-age residents regardless of immigration status”;

WHEREAS it would be a moral stain on our Commonwealth if in the four years of the Trump presidency, our State Legislature passed no laws to protect hte rights of our immigrant community;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee calls on all of its state legislators to support the Safe Communities Act (S.1401/H.3573) and the Work and Family Mobility Act (S.2061/H.3012) and to advocate for their swift passage this legislative session.