Photo by Andrew Bossi Voter Guide Massachusetts Primary Election Tuesday, Sept. 4th 2018 [email protected] About This Voter Guide Welcome to the first RepresentUs Massachusetts Voters Guide to the 2018 Primary Elections, which are on Tuesday, September 4th. This guide was prepared completely by volunteers in the Greater Boston and Western Massachusetts chapters of RepresentUs. Who’s RepresentUs and why did they create this guide? Table of Contents RepresentUs is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization with headquarters in Florence, About this guide MA. We do not support or oppose any political party or candidate. Our goal is to ensure that all citizens have an equal voice in government so that our leadership truly does represent all Information about voting of us. One way we do this is by educating the public about the challenges to representative Candidates for Statewide democracy and options for strengthening it, such as changes in how we pay for campaigns Executive Branch Offices and vote. Candidates for Massachusetts The Founding Fathers recognized that keeping our republic would not be easy. It would House of Representatives require an informed citizenry engaged in robust political dialogue. We hope this guide helps get candidates and voters talking about these key issues during the 2018 campaigns. Candidates for Massachusetts Senate Which primary candidates are in this guide? Candidates for U.S. House of To produce this guide we contacted: Representative All candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Candidates for U.S. Senate Candidates running for 4 statewide offices in the Executive Branch (Governor, Lt. Governor, Ballot questions Attorney General, and Secretary of State) Candidates for the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate in districts that include Middlesex, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties. (We How do I find my limited our coverage simply because this is our first time doing a guide and it’s a big job for candidates? volunteers!) This guide lists candidates by The list of primary candidates comes from the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s web office and the district where they page. We’ve made every effort to make sure all the information in this guide is accurate. The are running. The districts for questions appear exactly as they were sent to the candidates and we published their answers U.S. House of Representatives, exactly as the candidates wrote them. We limited answers to 150 words. If you have questions Massachusetts State about any candidate statements, we encourage you to contact the candidate directly. Representatives and State Senate For the general elections (on November 6th), we will update this guide to include all general are all different. You can use Find election candidates for the offices we are covering. Check back! My Election Information to find your districts for these 3 offices. We thank these nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations for their help writing questions: Candidates running for statewide offices (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and U.S. Senator) do not have districts. Table of Contents > Photo by Andrew Bossi Voter Guide Massachusetts Primary Election Tuesday, Sept. 4th 2018 [email protected] Information About Voting Learn about the primary election process and how you can vote. Need information about voting? Table of Contents Information about the voting process can be found at the Secretary of State’s website About this guide at: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/. This site contains an overview of the voting process, Information about voting instructions on registering to vote, voter registration deadlines, the page to register to vote online, and identification requirements that may be needed in certain circumstances. Candidates for Statewide Executive Branch Offices Can’t go to your local polling place in person? Candidates for Massachusetts If you cannot vote in person, you can follow these links to find information on submitting an House of Representatives absentee ballot, instructions for voting for military and overseas U.S. citizens, and assistance available for voting for people with disabilities. Candidates for Massachusetts Senate Need to know when and where to vote? Candidates for U.S. House of The Primary Elections are on Tuesday, September 4TH, 2018. Representative The State General Election will be on Tuesday, November 6TH, 2018. Candidates for U.S. Senate Check here to find your voting location. Ballot questions What’s the difference between the Sep. 4th Primary and the Nov. 6th General Election? In the primary election, you’re choosing the candidates from a single party who will run against candidates from the other parties in the November elections. If you are enrolled in one of the 3 political parties that qualify to have state primary ballots (Republican, Democratic or Libertarian), you will receive a ballot with candidates from that party only. If you are an unenrolled voter (often called an independent voter) or if you are enrolled in a political designation (such as the Green Party or Constitution Party), you may choose which ballot to vote on. This voter guide for the primary elections shows responses from Democratic and Republican candidates. There were no Libertarian candidates running for offices we covered.BUT, remember, you will only be able to vote for candidates from a single party in the primary elections. In the November general election, all voters get the same ballot. It will list the candidates who won their party primary elections as well as independent and other candidates who qualified to appear on the ballot. What if there’s a problem with my voter registration? You can find out how to vote with a provisional ballot if there are questions about your registration. Table of Contents > Page 3 Statewide Executive Branch Offices Governor Lt. Governor Attorney General Secretary of State CHARLES D. BAKER (R) QUENTIN PALFREY (D) MAURA HEALEY (D) ANTHONY M. AMORE (R) JAY M. GONZALEZ (D) KARYN E. POLITO (R) JAMES R. MCMAHON, III (R) WILLIAM F. GALVIN (D) SCOTT D. LIVELY (R) JIMMY TINGLE (D) DANIEL L. SHORES (R) JOSH ZAKIM (D) BOB MASSIE (D) Note: CANDIDATES WHO DID NOT PROVIDE A RESPONSE TO OUR QUESTIONNAIRE ARE LISTED IN GRAY ITALICS. Table of Contents > Page 4 Statewide Executive Branch Offices Q+A Candidate For Governor Jay served as the Governor Patrick’s Secretary of Administration and Finance, achieving the highest bond ratings in state history. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Health Jay M. Gonzalez (D) Connector, where he oversaw implementation of Massachusetts’ health care reform, and he co-chaired the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Most recently, Jay served as President and CEO of CeltiCare Health and New Hampshire Healthy Families, where he helped tens of thousands of low-income residents access the health care services they need. Through his work providing health insurance coverage for low-income residents, helping cities and towns build new schools and fire stations, and managing the state budget for Governor Deval Patrick during the Great Recession, Jay has always put people first. Question 1: Answer 1: What are your top three campaign issues? I would dedicate myself to fixing some of the biggest issues holding regular people back in our state. The top issues I hear about are our transportation, education, and healthcare systems. Massachusetts is ranked 47th nationally on commute times and 45th in the condition of our infrastructure. We must invest more in our transportation infrastructure, so that people can depend on it to get to work on time. Similarly, our healthcare system is too expensive and too complicated for people to navigate. I’ll fight to bring a single payer healthcare system to MA to ensure everyone has access to affordable high-quality care. We are also failing too many of our children. Our funding formula is not giving schools the revenue they need and is especially underfunding our low income students. I would fully fund all our schools and I would ensure every child has access to high-quality affordable childcare and preschool. Question 2: Answer 2: A series of Supreme Court rulings, including Citizens United v. “We the people” is a cornerstone of our American political identity. Federal Elections Commission (2010), struck down state and federal Throughout our history, we have fought hard to build and preserve laws that limited spending on political messages by corporations, this unique government “of the people, for the people, by the organizations, and individuals. These rulings established that people.” Unfortunately, our current campaign finance regulations corporations and organizations have the same First Amendment, are eroding the nature of our democracy. We need to aim high to free-speech rights as people and that spending money on ensure that our elections and government are open and responsive political messages through super PACs is free speech, which the to all of us. We need to make it easier for regular people to impact government cannot limit. This means donors can give as much elections and policy, and to participate equally in the political money as they want to fund political messages through super PACs. process, regardless of their income and resources. I support the In 2012, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution asking passage of a federal constitutional amendment that will expressly the U.S. Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution that permit Congress and states to regulate campaign contributions would reverse Citizens United and “restore the First Amendment and expenditures, including corporate contributions. To this end, and fair elections to the people.” What is your view on the Citizens I am proud to be one of the first candidates in the country to sign United Supreme Court ruling and money in politics in general? the American Promise pledge to use my office to advance this amendment Table of Contents > Continued > Page 5 Statewide Executive Branch Offices Q+A Candidate For Governor: Jay M.