An energetic, visionary, and proven leader, Eric Lesser will partner with our next Governor to make sure she is the most successful in the country. Together, they will work on the biggest issue our state faces: the skyrocketing cost of living. Eric has a plan to fix our broken transportation system, build more housing, create better jobs, protect our environment, and make our state more affordable and equitable.
Eric understands that Massachusetts has so much going for it. But despite our Commonwealth’s considerable advantages, it’s harder and harder to live here. It’s too expensive – housing is out of control, transportation is unreliable, and childcare costs are crushing families. Meanwhile, small pockets of our state boom while entire regions are left behind. Our current situation doesn’t work: it creates skyrocketing prices and gridlock in some places, and vacuums jobs and opportunity from others.
Eric’s signature policy, building high-speed passenger rail from Pittsfield to Boston, through Springfield and Worcester, will reconnect our Commonwealth. For Eric, a rail connection to Boston is about more than transportation: it’s about quality of life, economic development, and regional equity. In eight years of constant advocacy, Eric has taken this vision from an abstract fantasy to a solid plan. As Lieutenant Governor, he can finally carry it over the finish line.
Investing in rail would finally connect the forgotten corners of our Commonwealth to the red-hot economy in Boston, ensuring that every region stays on track. Indeed, West-East Rail would be the last step to creating a region-wide network – linking Greater Boston, Western Mass, Greater Hartford and New York City – that would promote large-scale commerce and growth across the Northeast.
Study: Regional connectivity could restore 20,000 - 40,000 jobs that are “missing” in the Springfield-Hartford area.
Expanding our transit is crucial to solving the housing crisis, one of the greatest challenges Boston faces. With fast and reliable transportation, people could live in Western Mass and work in Boston, reducing pressure on the market.
Eric also supports the South Coast Rail project, which is working to connect Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford, and surrounding communities to Boston.
Rail is a critical intervention in the climate crisis – it would be the biggest sustainability project in Massachusetts history, taking thousands of cars off the road and decongesting the Mass Pike.
Eric believes that our cities, towns, and regions should be able to pursue their own priorities on transportation. He has worked to empower municipalities and Regional Transit Authorities (RTA), bodies that have a key role to play in connecting their communities.
Eric is determined to fight for stronger systems of accountability and oversight at MassDOT, where recent events have exposed profound structural weaknesses in the MBTA and the RMV. Especially in a time of high gas prices, the people of Massachusetts need public transportation options they can rely on.
In 2016, Eric’s feasibility study for West-East rail was vetoed by Governor Baker. But Eric didn’t give up. He barnstormed the state to build a high-speed rail coalition, uniting the City Councils and Chambers of Commerce in both Boston and Springfield. Eric rallied supporters in Springfield’s Union Station, and took a TV news crew to travel with Western Mass-Boston commuters, showing the public how transportation could change the lives of everyday people.
We’re at a critical moment of opportunity: the Biden administration is preparing to distribute billions of dollars of infrastructure funding. As the only candidate with Washington experience, Eric is prepared to negotiate with the administration and cut the best deal for Massachusetts.
Eric has championed reforms to the Chapter 90 funding formula that consistently shortchanges many of our communities as they seek to make much-needed repairs to their roads and bridges.
To keep the MBTA on track, Eric believes that the next administration must streamline accountability and address the staffing shortages that led to critical failures in safety and reliability this summer.
When the Merit Review Director of the RMV failed to keep reckless drivers off the road by not processing a decade-long backlog of out-of-state violations, Eric led the fight to make our roads safe. He called for the resignation of the Merit Review Director and wrote legislation requiring the RMV to act within thirty days to suspend the Massachusetts license of anyone who loses their license in another state.
To help catalyze change at the local level, Eric wrote legislation allowing municipalities to raise revenue for their own local projects with ballot questions. This would give local residents the autonomy to create and finance their own new programs, catered to their own specific needs. Eric’s bill also allows multiple cities and towns to form a regional district, which can launch coordinated efforts.
To further strengthen our local Regional Transit Authorities, Eric has secured millions of dollars in funding, including electric vehicle grants that will allow our regions to lead the way on the climate transition.
Eric knows that housing lies at the root of so many of our challenges; not only is the ongoing housing crisis a disaster for affordability and equity, it is a massive drag on the entire state’s economic growth.
To confront the crisis, we need much more affordable, high-quality housing. Eric believes that we need more multi-family units – especially with easy access to public transportation – and that we need to step up rental assistance to prevent seniors and low-income people from being priced out of their own neighborhoods.
As Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Eric spearheaded negotiations on the most significant zoning reforms in a generation.
Eric crossed party lines and worked with Governor Baker to implement Housing Choice, which empowered local communities greater flexibility in making zoning changes. Moreover, tenants in public housing and recipients of rent assistance can now be elected to zoning boards.
The Gateway Cities Housing Program is supporting the construction of shovel-ready, market-rate, climate-resilient housing opportunities in our Gateway Cities.
Eric is a strong advocate for transit-oriented development: constructing homes with easy access to public transit. Thanks to his legislation, “MBTA communities” must now zone for multi-family housing, unlocking thousands of potential new units whose residents can benefit from the T.
The legislation doubled the low-income housing tax credit, bringing homeownership within reach of many more working families.
As a relentless advocate for West-East high-speed rail, Eric has highlighted how easy access to Western Massachusetts can alleviate the extreme demand for housing in Greater Boston. By making regions work together, we can help everyone.
Eric knows the importance of education. His parents worked their way through college to make a better life for him, and he wants to ensure that such opportunities remain possible for everyone. He is the product of Massachusetts public schools, received a bachelor’s and a law degree from Harvard, and has taught at both Harvard and UMass.
Eric has stood with teachers from Day 1. As a sixteen year-old student at Longmeadow High School, Eric led a Prop 2 ½ override campaign that saved dozens of teacher jobs from budget cuts made on Beacon Hill. It gave him his start in politics, and he’s never forgotten.
Eric knows that early education sets up our kids for success and provides a lifeline for working parents. He believes that our K-12 public schools are the backbone of our educational system, and we can best help them through the pandemic by working with the teachers’ unions in our state.
We must make going to college more affordable, starting with protecting student loan borrowers. Our incredible network of public and private institutions cannot not provide opportunities to students if they leave their graduates saddled with debt.
We must also create strong alternatives to our colleges and universities. Eric is committed to closing the waitlists at our vocational schools as Lieutenant Governor. Around our Commonwealth, thousands of students are prevented from having the opportunity to pursue high-paying careers in the trades, with wide-ranging impacts on our economy. If we want to transition to a carbon-neutral economy and meet the demand for skilled laborers, then we need to open the door for kids who want to pursue vocational education.
Eric authored the Student Loan Bill of Rights, which provides critical protections to nearly a million student loan borrowers in Massachusetts. Among other provisions, the law created a Student Loan Assistance Unit in the office of the Attorney General. The new student loan ombudsman is a champion for borrowers, helping individuals navigate the complex system and taking on predatory loan servicers.
As the Chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, Eric has been a tireless champion for vocational education in Western Massachusetts, an emerging hub of high-tech manufacturing where employers are struggling to attract new talent. He has worked to create more paid apprenticeships and slots at vocational schools so no young person with the desire to learn is stuck on a waitlist.
To strengthen our K12 educational system, Eric fought for the Student Opportunity Act, which made much-overdue changes to the funding formulas for our schools. The landmark bill, passed in 2019, accounts for the resources needed to adequately support special education and English language learner programs, provides additional funding to schools educating more low-income students, increases funding for the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and more.
Eric wants to go big on early education; he is a co-sponsor on legislation that would vastly expand subsidies for families and boost pay for early childhood educators, an essential and underpaid group who are disproportionately women of color.
Eric has always fought to make public education equitable, including charter schools. He has twice voted for the RISE Act, which would require charter schools to become more transparent, accountable, and equitable by placing the final say for disciplinary action in the hands of a three-person committee, eliminating fees, and fixing the broken lottery system. He opposes lifting the state cap on charter schools.
Eric believes that our schools can teach a new generation to understand and solve our most pressing societal challenges. He helped craft a groundbreaking civic education reform that teaches students how to get involved with action civics projects in their own communities, and advocated for legislation that requires Massachusetts schools to teach about the history of genocides like the Holocaust.
As Senate Vice-Chair of the Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission, Eric was tasked with investigating costs, availability, and other concerns surrounding early education and childcare. He stressed the need for increased childcare access, fair pay, and support for the workforce.
Eric wants to fight for the parts of the state that often don’t get the representation in state government that they need. He has spent his career in the state legislature advocating for western Massachusetts and is prepared to do even more as lieutenant governor.
Eric is ready to partner with Maura Healey; he has already worked alongside her for some of the most important accomplishments of his career. To make the lifesaving drug Narcan available to more communities, Eric created a bulk purchase fund that allowed Attorney General Healey to negotiate a cheaper price on behalf of our cities and towns. Eric also authored the Student Loan Bill of Rights, which created a Student Loan Assistance Unit within the office of the Attorney General.
Eric is the only candidate with high-level federal experience. In the Obama White House he worked for the Council of Economic Advisors, confronting the Great Recession and saving the American economy. When it comes to securing federal dollars, he is prepared to negotiate with Washington and get the best deal for Massachusetts.
As the Senate Chair of the Gateway Cities Caucus and as a senator representing Western Mass, Eric is a fighter for the forgotten corners of Massachusetts. As lieutenant governor, he will partner with local leaders across the Commonwealth to ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, gets the resources that they need.
As lieutenant governor, Eric will use his position on the Governor’s Council to appoint diverse judges that represent our state and our values. We need racial, geographic, gender, and professional diversity – it’s time to appoint civil rights lawyers and public defenders!
Eric knows the gravity of the climate crisis, especially as a coastal state that is warming faster than the rest of the nation. Our next administration must prioritize bold, decisive action, because we don’t have a moment to waste.
Our efforts to combat climate change must foreground climate justice – protecting and empowering the frontline communities and marginalized groups who are the most at risk. Representing a diverse district in Western Mass, Eric understands those stakes.
The climate transition can be an extraordinary opportunity for our state to lead the economy of the future. As we’ve led the way on life sciences and technology, we can be leaders on green energy innovation and manufacturing.
Eric’s signature policy proposal, high-speed rail from Pittsfield to Boston, would be the largest sustainability investment in the history of our Commonwealth. Rail would take thousands of cars off of our highways and reduce traffic jams, targeting the single largest source of carbon emissions.
Eric was a key leader in the movement to stop a toxic biomass plant from being constructed in Springfield, where it would have poisoned the air and disproportionately harmed Black, brown, and low-income neighborhoods. In the State Senate’s 2022 climate bill, he wrote provisions to ensure that biomass power is not eligible for clean energy subsidies.
As the lead negotiator of the 2020 Economic Development Bond Bill, Eric helped secure 10 million dollars for sustainable and climate-resilient construction in affordable, multifamily housing developments. We will never achieve a carbon-neutral future without energy-efficient homes.
Eric wrote a budget amendment to increase state climate adaptation funding, leading the charge in the Senate on behalf of the Green Budget Coalition.
Eric authored a bill to establish home energy efficiency audits at the time of sale, which makes the energy costs of homes more transparent to potential homebuyers and empowers homeowners to make energy improvements.
Eric has secured millions of dollars for the Landscape Partnership Grant Program, which will conserve land and natural spaces across the state. In his district, he has helped set land aside for future conservation.
Senator Lesser knows that systemic racism has plagued our country for centuries, and that all of our institutions have a role to play in the fight for racial justice. To protect Black, Latino, AAPI, and Indigenous people in Massachusetts, we must put equity at the heart of all of our policymaking.
Eric’s State Senate district includes Springfield and Chicopee, two of our most densely-populated and diverse cities, as well as rural communities like Hampden and Monson. In this complex region, Eric has worked on behalf of constituents of every color, creed, and political affiliation.
After the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Eric marched alongside hundreds of demonstrators to the Springfield Police Department, led by students at Springfield’s Central High School, to declare that Black lives matter. He worked to bring their voices into the Senate’s efforts at police reforms and has continued to approach his work through a lens that prioritizes equity and inclusion.
In 2020, Eric spearheaded negotiations for an economic aid package that saved small businesses across the state from the economic disruptions of COVID-19. He ensured that the aid would prioritize establishments owned by minorities, immigrants, and low-income people, demographics that were facing the worst economic fallout but struggling the most to secure government funding. Thanks to these efforts, hundreds of family restaurants, bodegas, barbershops, and other small businesses stayed afloat.
Since 2017, Eric’s Nonprofit Security Grants Program budget amendment has distributed critical funding to cultural and religious institutions at risk from rising hate crimes. For Eric, this issue is personal. In recent years, antisemitic terrorists and an attempted bombing have menaced Jewish preschools and nursing homes in Eric’s hometown of Longmeadow. In 2020, an arsonist attacked Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian church in Springfield. Eric will always stand up against fear and hate, for his community and for every community.
Eric has worked closely with communities of color in Western Mass, giving a voice to his constituents on Beacon Hill. He took on environmental racism and fought a toxic biomass plant from being built in Springfield, where Black and brown people already face polluted air. He has secured state funds for local Urban Leagues and Boys and Girls’ Clubs, especially during the pandemic.
In 2020, Eric advocated for a critical police reform package that toughens standards around use of force and invested in community-based alternatives to policing. The law banned chokeholds and other deadly uses of force, except in cases of imminent harm; created a new Police Officer Standards and Accreditation Committee to standardize certification and discipline of rogue officers; expanded community-based and non-police solutions to crisis response and jail diversion; banned racial profiling; and reformed qualified immunity doctrines for excessive use of force.
Eric voted to establish Juneteenth as an official state holiday, giving state workers the same benefits that federal workers receive. He also voted to establish a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. in the House chamber of the Massachusetts Legislature.
Eric supported the Senate’s passage of a bill that addresses continuing racial inequities in the Commonwealth’s maternal health outcomes, specifically in cases of maternal mortality and morbidity.
Eric knows from personal experience how health care can change lives. His mother is a clinical social worker, and his father is a family physician who served the Medical Corps on active duty in Iraq. They started a solo medical practice in Holyoke, serving some of our Commonwealth’s highest-need populations.
In Massachusetts, Eric’s priorities include expanding mental health care and addiction treatment, taking on high drug prices, and building out our workforce.
The Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians named Eric as its 2022 Legislative Champion of Family Medicine, acknowledging his accomplishments for workforce development and his inclusive approach to public policy.
Eric authored and passed a new law creating a bulk purchasing program for Narcan — a drug that reverses opioid overdoses — to ensure that schools and first responders could afford this life-saving drug. After the success of this program, he passed a similar law to reduce the price of Epi-Pens – another critically important drug.
Eric voted for the ABC (Addressing Barriers to Care) and ABC 2.0 Acts, which have overhauled the mental health care system in Massachusetts. They expanded telehealth services, worked to diversify the mental health workforce, guarantee annual mental health wellness exams, enforce mental health parity laws so insurers cover mental illnesses like physical ones.
Eric advocated to address the high prices of prescription drugs by empowering the Health Policy Commission (HPC) to fine drug manufacturers who do not comply with affordable pricing. The money from the fines then goes toward a drug cost assistance program. The bill also caps co-pays for insulin at $25 per 30-day supply.
Eric helped increase the transparency of insurance provider networks so that consumers can have more information about their health insurance options.
Eric supported the Senate’s passage of a bill that addresses continuing racial inequities in the Commonwealth’s maternal health outcomes, specifically in cases of maternal mortality and morbidity.
In 2017, Eric launched the Thrive After 55 Health and Wellness Fair in Springfield to connect seniors with dozens of exhibitors providing resources and education on everything from nutrition and identity theft protection to yoga demonstrations. The event demonstrates the importance of making resources accessible.
Since he was first elected to office in 2015, Eric has made economic development and, specifically, bringing economic opportunity to the forgotten corners of the state his top priority.
As Senate Chair of the Gateway Cities Caucus, Eric has spent time in all 26 of the Commonwealth’s Gateway Cities – the midsize urban areas that anchor local economies – to help these places solve their many challenges and unlock their potential. Gateway cities were once the hubs of the Massachusetts manufacturing sector and Eric is working to bring their economies into the future.
As the Senate Chair of the Manufacturing Caucus, Eric wants to work alongside businesses and start-ups who are making things in Massachusetts; our state could become an indispensable producer for the products of the future: wind turbines, solar panels, and medical equipment.
As Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Eric led the high-stakes negotiations that created the 2018 and 2020 Economic Bond Development Bills. The 2018 bill invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure, housing, workforce development, and supporting startups in entrepreneurs. The 2020 bill was crucial for guiding the Massachusetts economy through COVID-19. It allocated funds to community development, small business recovery, broadband expansion, neighborhood revitalization, vocational and career training, and higher education.
Eric has been a tireless champion for vocational education. Massachusetts could emerge as a leader in high-tech manufacturing, but we lack the high-skilled labor we need to keep growing. Our state could create 7,000 jobs just by closing waitlists at vocational schools, so Eric has fought to give them more spots for incoming students and more funding for paid apprenticeships so no young person with the desire to learn is stuck on a waitlist.
Eric has delivered tens of millions of dollars for our Gateway Cities, on projects ranging from building new housing to funding Boys and Girls Clubs.
Eric chaired the Future of Work Commission, bringing government, business, and labor leaders to the table to develop a long-term vision for jobs, innovation, and economic development in our Commonwealth. In 2022, the commission issued a report that outlines the challenges and opportunities before us: automation, remote work, climate change, and more. To guide Massachusetts into the 21st century, we will need to reimagine education for fast-changing and high-tech careers, build transportation networks that accommodate hybrid workers, and make child and elder care flexible enough for all families to participate and succeed.
Eric has worked to continue the development of our state’s red-hot biotech sector, leading negotiations for the 2018 Life Sciences Bond Bill. The bill continues our state’s strategy of long-term investments, incentivizing the creation of high-paying jobs and supporting educational initiatives that will develop a workforce capable of staffing them.
Massachusetts has strong laws on the books to protect women’s rights, but we still need to overcome serious inequities that are holding women and girls back. The average woman in our state earns 81 cents for every dollar a man makes; Black and Latina women earn 57 and 51 cents relative to white men. Across our state’s college campuses, women are vulnerable to sexual assault. Since the pandemic, gender inequities have been exacerbated.
With reproductive rights under attack across the country, Eric is ready to do everything he can to defend and expand them in Massachusetts – up to and including enshrining reproductive rights in the state constitution. Our state must also address stark inequities regarding access to reproductive health care, from workplace discrimination against pregnant workers to lack of insurance coverage for gender-affirming health care procedures.
Eric was a co-sponor of the ROE Act, which ensures the right to an abortion in Massachusetts. His campaign is proud to have the support of Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler, the original author of the legislation.
Eric is calling for an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would enshrine reproductive rights alongside freedom of speech and assembly, the ultimate step to protect Massachusetts from the risk of a federal abortion ban.
Eric supported legislation that provides for age-appropriate and medically accurate sexual education for students in a school setting to ensure our young people make informed decisions around reproductive health.
Eric was a co-sponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which prohibits discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. He also helped advance legislation that increases birth options for all pregnant people in Massachusetts by creating licensure for certified professional midwives who provide home birth services.
In response to disproportionate cases of maternal mortality and morbidity for people of color, Eric voted to create a special commission to reduce racial inequities in maternal health.
When Republicans at the federal level threatened to repeal the ACA, Eric co-sponsored the ACCESS (Advancing Contraceptive Coverage and Economic Security In Our State) Act, ensuring Massachusetts residents continue to have access to affordable birth control. He also supported the NASTY (Negating Archaic Statues Targeting Young Women) Women Act, which repealed archaic, unconstitutional laws that would restrict access to abortion and contraception.
To support college students, Eric supported legislation requiring sexual misconduct climate surveys at institutions of higher education. He also endorsed a program that trains campus officials to respond to sexual misconduct, requires systems for anonymous reporting, and instates a variety of other policies to protect survivors and prevent future assaults.
Massachusetts has a proud history of legislating protections for the LGBTQ+ community, but we still have work to do. Eric Lesser will work with our next governor to help LGBTQ+ residents navigate our schools, healthcare systems, and workplaces.
As attacks on the rights of LBGTQ+ people around the country intensify, our state once must again take the lead. As the first state to legalize marriage equality, we must continue to break barriers and ensure that everyone can live free from fear.
When Donald Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, Eric partnered with GLAAD and wrote an open letter to Governor Baker – signed by 64 of his colleagues in the State House – to publicly announce that transgender service members would continue to serve in the Massachusetts National Guard. The effort quickly succeeded.
Eric co-sponsored the bill that banned “conversion therapy” in Massachusetts, protecting our young people from this dangerous practice.
Eric supports legislation that would provide a non-binary gender designation on birth certificates and drivers licenses in Massachusetts. Any adult, emancipated minor, or parent or guardian of a minor who wishes to do so only has to attest that they or their child are non-binary and wish to make the change on their documentation.
Since 2017, Eric’s Nonprofit Security Grants Program has awarded funding to help cultural and religious institutions protect themselves from rising hate crimes. In 2022, the State Senate unanimously voted to double the program’s funding.
Eric has always known that mental health is just as important as physical health, and has fought to have that principle enshrined into law. He’s also highlighted the important intersections between mental health, substance abuse disorders, and other issues.
Mental health has become a crisis for our young people, especially since the onset of COVID-19. For this generation to recover and thrive, we must vastly expand the capacity of our mental health infrastructure in schools and communities.
In Western Mass, Eric has seen how the opioid epidemic has ravaged our small and rural communities. He supports legislation that seeks to help people recover and prevent future drug addictions. With opioid deaths on the rise once more, we cannot afford to lose ground.
Within his first six months in office, Eric authored and passed a new law creating a bulk purchasing program for Narcan — a drug that reverses opioid overdoses — to ensure that schools and first responders could afford this life-saving drug. In 2018, Eric also successfully advocated to allow pharmacies to dispense doses of Narcan.
Eric authored legislation to close the pharmacy shopping loophole for addictive opioid painkillers, preventing people from having easy access to these dangerous drugs.
Understanding that we must also prevent the development of future addictions, Eric wrote legislation requiring schools to include prescription opioid abuse prevention as part of health education curricula.
Eric authored a bill that requires the Group Insurance Commission, Medicaid, and private insurers to provide coverage for buprenorphine (Suboxone), injectable naltrexone (Vivitrol), and methadone treatment programs.
Eric has received a Special Recognition Award from the Massachusetts Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors for his work.
He voted for the Mental Health ABC (Addressing Barriers to Care) Act, which increased access to care, created a telehealth pilot program, and created a mental health workforce pipeline. He and his colleagues have expanded on these efforts with the Mental Health ABC 2.0 Act, which would guarantee annual mental health wellness exams, enforce mental health parity laws so insurers cover mental illnesses like physical ones, and overhaul how emergency departments address mental health crises.
In response to COVID-19, Eric backed the “Patients First Act,” which required insurance carriers, including MassHealth, to cover telehealth services.
Eric has received an F-grade from the NRA four times in a row – he has always stood up to the gun lobby. He has called on the federal government to take more action on gun safety and has worked in Massachusetts to focus on the everyday gun violence that plagues local communities, including suicides and domestic abuse.
Eric voted to establish critical red flag protections in Massachusetts, which now allow household members and local law enforcement to file extreme risk protection orders (ERPO) with courts to remove firearms from dangerous individuals.
Eric has called for more support for tracking and policing “ghost guns” and a greater investment in mental health services, especially in the public school system.
In 2017, after a gunman killed 60 people in Las Vegas, Eric worked with his fellow legislators to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to ban bump stocks: a gun modification that allowed people to legally turn firearms into automatic weapons.
For Eric, supporting unions runs in the family. Eric’s father was a union organizer with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and the United Electrical Workers (UE). His paternal grandfather was a tool & die maker and active in his union. His maternal grandmother was a New York City public school teacher and active in her union. And his maternal grandfather was a longshoreman in New York City and active in the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA).
Eric has a long history of supporting workers and unions during his time in the State Senate. As Lieutenant Governor, he will continue to listen to labor leaders and support the fair treatment of workers in Massachusetts.
In 2018, the Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME found that public sector employees did not have to pay union fees even as they benefited from union-negotiated contracts. In response, Eric led negotiations on legislation ensuring that public unions in Massachusetts could seek reasonable reimbursement from non-members for services like representation in grievance proceedings.
As co-chair of the Future of Work Commission, Eric brought labor leaders from many sectors to the table alongside government and business while leading an investigation on how to make employment more equitable for workers in Massachusetts and making subsequent recommendations.
In 2019, Eric rallied alongside Stop & Shop workers who were staging a historic, widespread strike to renegotiate their contracts.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 93 and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1459 have endorsed Eric’s campaign.
To honor Warren Cowles, a Longmeadow Department of Public Works foreman who was killed while responding to a snowstorm, Eric put forward a bill to ensure that all public workers killed in the line of duty are eligible for death benefits.
Eric supports unions in his own place of work, publicly endorsing the Massachusetts State House Employee Union.
With economic assistance, clear public health guidance, and close relationships with local governments, Massachusetts kept our cities and towns going: helping schools stay open, supporting small businesses, and protecting public health. Eric was tapped to lead the Senate’s effort for an economic recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored deep inequities that were always present in our society. As we emerge from this crisis, we must also seize the opportunity to finally address these long-standing flaws.
Eric spearheaded the Senate’s negotiations of the 2020 Economic Development and COVID Recovery Bond Bill, which helped thousands of minority-owned restaurants and small businesses stay afloat at the height of the pandemic.
Eric led the charge to pass emergency paid sick leave for COVID-19, providing tax relief for small businesses and low-income workers. He also ensured that businesses weren’t taxed on PPP and other loans, and extended the duration of unemployment insurance.
Eric was one of the first lawmakers to hold Governor Baker accountable for his botched rollout of the vaccine. After Eric called out Baker’s failures before the COVID-19 Oversight Committee, the administration fixed its broken website and streamlined the appointment system so millions of Massachusetts residents could finally get protection from COVID-19.
Eric joined his colleagues in demanding an investigation of the tragic COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and pushed for organizational oversight of the COVID-19 response to protect the health and safety of the veterans and staff.
Eric believes that Massachusetts should be a home for everyone, which means supporting people with disabilities. He has a strong record supporting people with disabilities in the State House, where he has worked to make life in our Commonwealth accessible. As Lieutenant Governor, he will continue to prioritize needs of people with disabilities, while also enacting other policies regarding transportation and affordable housing.
In the Senate, Eric has advocated for numerous bills aimed at improving quality of life for people with disabilities. He has worked to update antiquated and offensive language, fight employment discrimination, improve the accessibility of public buildings, and more.
Eric helped advance the VOTES Act, which allows voters with disabilities to request accommodations when voting by mail. He also supported legislation to extend municipal elections in Massachusetts with new provisions that required local election officials to make accommodations for disabilities when requested.
Eric supported “Nicky’s Law,” which created a registry of caretakers who have abused people with disabilities.
In Western Mass, where there are fewer supports for people with disabilities, Eric has been a champion for local programs. He secured funding for the Community Music School of Springfield's Adaptive Music Program and the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow.
Eric sponsored legislation to improve early intervention resources available for parents and families of deaf and hard of hearing children to support children’s educational outcomes.
Eric takes Massachusetts’ role as the birthplace of the American republic to heart and he wants to ensure that every eligible voter in our state has the opportunity to make their voice heard.
Eric is proud of our state’s expansions to mail-in and early voting, and he supports legislative initiatives that protect the right to vote in our state – including same-day voter registration.
For the 2020 election, Eric authored an amendment to election legislation that required the Secretary of the Commonwealth to offer a functional online portal no later than October 1st for voters to request mail-in ballots for the general election.
Eric backed campaign finance reforms that increased transparency and accountability in the Commonwealth’s elections by strengthening fiscal reporting requirements for candidates in public office.
Eric co-sponsored legislation that made it easier for cities and towns to enact ranked choice voting for local elections.
Eric was the lead Senate co-sponsor of the VOTES Act, a landmark voting reform bill that included provisions such as same-day voter registration, no-excuse absentee voting, and extensions to early in-person voting.
In one of the richest and most progressive states in the nation, it is unacceptable that nearly 20% of households with children face food insecurity. That’s why Eric has spent years fighting the hunger epidemic, working with our food banks, shelters, farmlands, and markets to bring families the support they need.
Eric values our agricultural lands and strives to expand their economic development, especially in the western portion of the state. As lieutenant governor, he plans to engage all parts of the state as he continues his efforts to make sure no one in Massachusetts goes hungry.
Eric founded and co-chairs the Massachusetts Food System Caucus, a bicameral, bipartisan coalition that advocates for agricultural innovation and increased access to fresh and healthy produce.
He stewarded HIP, a program that matches dollar-for-dollar assistance from SNAP, and advocated for increased funding in order to keep the program running during the spring.
He stumped for increased funding and support for MEFAP, an emergency food assistance program crucial to our food bank systems and critical to combating food insecurity during this pandemic.
In 2019, Eric led successful efforts to secure tens of millions in funding for the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program as well as food banks and farmers’ markets statewide.
During the pandemic, Eric helped the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts by acting as the lead senate sponsor on legislation to give them millions of dollars in support.
Eric sponsors and cosponsors farm-to-school legislation that promotes student access to fresh food and the agricultural economy, and he passed legislation expanding breakfast programs in the state’s high-poverty schools.
For his work, Eric was honored as the Greater Boston Food Bank’s 2017 Legislator of the Year.