FIGHTING FOR WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION
Paul has delivered tangible results for Medford's educators and students. He fought to transform teacher compensation from one of the most lagging in the region to one of the most competitive. He championed dramatic pay increases for paraprofessionals, often the lowest-paid staff in our schools.
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Ensure every elementary school student gets daily recess. Play isn’t a luxury—it’s essential for healthy development and learning.
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Empower students and schools to thrive by ending harmful state takeovers, establishing an assessment reform commission, and curbing education privatization.
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Ensure all students have access to medically accurate, age-appropriate, and inclusive health education.
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Set standards for accurate, comprehensive, and inclusive curriculum instruction so every student sees themselves reflected in what they learn.
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Establish a grant program covering tuition and mandatory fees for eligible students at Massachusetts public colleges and universities. A college degree shouldn’t mean a lifetime of debt.
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Establish a commission to study and expand the community schools model, which provides wraparound services like healthcare, nutrition, and family support directly through our schools.
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Make half-time adjunct faculty eligible for state pensions and health insurance. The people teaching our college students deserve basic benefits.
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Ensure public higher education employees earn wages at or above the national average, adjusted for Massachusetts’ cost of living.
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Create a commission to fund campus energy improvements and address deferred maintenance at our public colleges and universities.
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Protect library access to diverse materials from political interference. Students and communities deserve the freedom to read and learn without censorship.
Housing for all
Everyone deserves a safe, stable, affordable place to call home. Too many Massachusetts families are one rent increase away from displacement. We need bold action to protect tenants, expand affordable housing, and ensure our communities remain places where working people can thrive.
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End the unfair practice of forcing renters to pay thousands in broker fees when they didn’t hire the broker. Landlords who hire brokers should pay for their services.
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Give tenants the first opportunity to purchase their building when it goes up for sale, keeping families in their homes and neighborhoods stable.
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Empower cities and towns to pass reasonable rent stabilization measures that protect tenants from sudden, steep rent hikes while ensuring landlords receive fair returns.
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Provide free legal representation to low-income tenants in eviction proceedings. No one should lose their home simply because they can’t afford a lawyer.
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Increase the deeds excise tax on home sales to create a dedicated funding stream for affordable housing construction and climate resilience infrastructure across the Commonwealth.
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Allow municipalities to apply a modest fee on certain real estate transactions to directly fund affordable housing in their communities.
Healthcare as a Right
We need Medicare for All. Health, housing, and education are inseparable — they're the same crisis wearing different faces. When we guarantee healthcare to every person in this Commonwealth, we don't just make people healthier. We make our schools stronger, our communities more stable, and our kids more likely to thrive. Healthcare is a human right, and it is the connective tissue that holds everything else we care about together.
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Establish a single-payer healthcare system in Massachusetts that guarantees comprehensive coverage for every resident, eliminating the fear of medical bills and insurance denials.
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Require hospitals to provide clear, standardized financial assistance to low- and moderate-income patients, with strong oversight to ensure no one is crushed by bills they can’t pay.
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Direct the state to develop a comprehensive plan for improving how healthcare providers identify and care for people with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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Require health insurance to cover all pregnancy-related care without cost-sharing, so that every person can access the full range of care they need during pregnancy.
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Strengthen statewide immunization policy and improve disease prevention data access to protect public health across Massachusetts.
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Create pilot overdose prevention programs using evidence-based harm reduction strategies to save lives and connect people to treatment during the opioid crisis.
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Remove criminal penalties for personal drug possession and shift to a public health approach. Addiction is a health issue, not a crime.
Workers’ Rights & Economic Justice
When workers do well, Massachusetts does well. We need an economy that works for everyone—not just those at the top. That means fair wages, the right to organize, and an end to the exploitation of gig workers.
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Raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour over four years and index it to inflation, so that no one working full time in Massachusetts lives in poverty.
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Ensure delivery and app-based workers receive the same wages, rights, and benefits as all Massachusetts workers. A job is a job, regardless of the platform.
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Give state house employees the right to organize and collectively bargain for fair working conditions.
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Create a state public bank that offers lower-interest loans to local governments, small businesses, and farmers—investing public dollars back into our communities instead of Wall Street.
Immigrant Rights & Welcoming Communities
Let me be direct about what's happening in our schools right now. ICE enforcement actions are terrifying our families. Children are coming to school frightened, distracted, and grieving — if they come at all. Teachers don't know what to say. Parents are afraid to drop their kids off. This is not abstract. This is happening in Medford and Somerville. At the state level, we must do far more to protect our immigrant neighbors and ensure that every school remains what it should be: the safest place in a child's life.
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End all local ICE detention and 287(g) deputization agreements in Massachusetts, requiring any future agreements to be approved by the Governor. Our communities are safer when everyone can trust local institutions.
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Limit police-ICE collaboration, protect courthouse access, and ensure due process for all residents regardless of immigration status.
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Fund legal representation for immigrants facing deportation. Everyone deserves their day in court with an attorney by their side.
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Eliminate arbitrary visitation restrictions in prisons, jails, and ICE detention facilities, because maintaining family connections is both humane and essential to wellbeing.
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Build state agency capacity for language access services so that every resident can navigate government services in the language they speak.
Environment & Climate Action
The climate crisis is here, and Massachusetts must act boldly. We need to stop subsidizing fossil fuels, hold polluters accountable, and invest in a clean energy future that protects our communities—especially those who have been hit hardest by environmental injustice.
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Prevent new gas infrastructure expansion and require just transition planning so workers and communities aren’t left behind as we move to clean energy.
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Create a climate superfund that requires the major fossil fuel companies responsible for the climate crisis to help pay for resilience and recovery costs in Massachusetts.
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Shut down the predatory third-party electricity supply industry, which targets vulnerable communities with deceptive practices and inflated rates.
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Create a fund for green home retrofits, prioritizing affordable housing and environmental justice communities so that the transition to clean energy benefits everyone.
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Prohibit utility companies from using customer funds to pay for lobbying and political influence campaigns. Your electric bill should pay for electricity, not corporate lobbying.
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Improve indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring and set stronger standards, protecting the health of communities across Massachusetts.
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Reduce single-use plastics through bans and transitions to sustainable alternatives, cutting pollution and protecting our waterways and coastline.
Criminal Justice Reform
Our criminal justice system should be about accountability, rehabilitation, and second chances—not warehousing people and destroying families. Massachusetts can lead the way toward a system that is fair, humane, and actually makes our communities safer.
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Create an automated system for sealing eligible criminal records, so that people who have served their time can move on with their lives and find jobs and housing.
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Enact a five-year pause on new prison and jail construction. We should be investing in communities, not cages.
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Allow community supervision and community service as alternatives to incarceration for young people, keeping youth out of the prison pipeline.
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Repeal mandatory life-without-parole sentences. Everyone deserves the opportunity to demonstrate rehabilitation and earn a second chance.
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Ensure incarcerated people have access to education, vocational training, programming, and adequate out-of-cell time—because dignity doesn’t end at the prison door.
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Establish parole hearing rights for incarcerated people aged 55 and older or who have served 15 or more years, recognizing that aging and long-serving individuals pose minimal public safety risk.
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Create a fair process for courts to consider the impact of domestic violence and sexual abuse survival when reviewing cases, ensuring survivors are not punished for the violence inflicted upon them.
Children, Families & Seniors
We are measured by how we treat our most vulnerable. Massachusetts must do more to support children, families, people with disabilities, and our seniors—the people who built our communities.
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Ensure families receive the child support they need and deserve, so no child goes without because of bureaucratic failures.
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Raise cash assistance grants by 20% annually until they reach 50% of the federal poverty level. No child in Massachusetts should grow up in deep poverty.
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Create a dedicated system to investigate abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of people with disabilities, and provide advocacy for their civil and human rights.
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Defend and improve paratransit services so seniors and people with disabilities can get where they need to go with dignity and reliability.
Fair Taxes & Corporate Accountability
Wealthy corporations shouldn’t get to dodge their fair share while working families pick up the tab. We need a tax system that’s transparent, fair, and funds the public services our communities depend on.
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Close loopholes that let corporations shelter profits offshore. Bring Massachusetts in line with neighboring states so large corporations pay their fair share.
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Make corporate tax filings publicly accessible so residents can see what corporations are actually paying—and what they’re not.
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Allow cities and towns to require large nonprofits with property valued over $15 million to make payments in lieu of taxes—25% of what they’d otherwise owe—so communities aren’t left footing the bill for essential services.
Democracy & Good Government
Our democracy works best when everyone can participate, government is transparent, and no one’s voice is drowned out by corporate money. We need to modernize our elections, open up the State House, and protect the right to vote.
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Require corporations making independent political expenditures to certify they are not foreign-influenced, protecting the integrity of our elections.
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Let eligible voters register and cast their ballot on the same day, eliminating arbitrary registration deadlines that keep people from participating.
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End the practice of using the municipal census to remove active voters from the rolls. No one should lose their right to vote because of a bureaucratic process.
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Remove the governor’s exemption from public records law and require a more transparent legislative process. The people’s government should be open to the people.
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Require public bodies to offer hybrid participation options with technology grants, so that everyone can engage in local government regardless of mobility or schedule.
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Enable municipalities to adopt ranked choice voting for local elections, giving voters more choices and reducing negative campaigning.
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Create an independent office for policy analysis, legal research, and bill-drafting support so that every legislator—not just leadership—has the tools to do their job effectively.
Privacy & Civil Liberties
In an age of mass surveillance and data harvesting, Massachusetts must stand up for the privacy and civil liberties of its residents. Technology should serve people, not track them.
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Prohibit the sale of cell phone location data. Your movements are your business, not a product to be bought and sold.
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Implement a regulatory framework for facial recognition technology to prevent abuse and protect civil liberties, especially in communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by surveillance.