As election day draws to a close and the results are coming out, I am beginning to reflect on what a crazy election season it has been. As an intern for the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, I have been on my toes all semester. Walking for miles around the state, knocking on hundreds doors and hanging door signs for the 36 endorsed candidates we have. All the way from the Berkshires, to Cambridge, to right here in Boston, the MWPC staff has been hustling. I wonder what my dad is going to think when the phone bill comes and he sees I have made thousands of calls to random Massachusetts numbers trying to get people to vote!
Since I am intern and an active citizen, I have been following all of the Massachusetts municipal elections very closely. From the Boston Mayoral race of Tito Jackson vs. Marty Walsh, to the smaller races including Kim Janey for Boston City Council District 7, to Yvonne Spicer for Framingham’s first ever mayor, these races have been close. The race I have been interested in most however was the race for Newton mayor, between Scott Lennon and Ruthanne Fuller. The MWPC endorsed Ruthanne, so I kind of have to be on her side, but regardless of my employer, I am very happy she won!
It was a close race that started off pretty boring, but things heated up when Lennon said some controversial things. A few days before the election, Lennon released a 10 paragraph add in the Newton TAB, and when asked what separated him and Ruthanne, he said, “I am the only candidate who has continuously held a full-time job for the last twenty years”. Just a few hours later Ruthanne released a statement calling his words an attack on her role as a mother, saying, “What leadership is not about is hurling political attacks in the last two weeks of the campaign suggesting a woman’s experience counts for less than a man’s. Like many other women, I’ve had a mix of full-time, part-time and unpaid work experience, all while raising my three children” Lennon was pretty upset to hear those words, firing back and saying, “People have this whole campaign been asking me what are the differences and we put an ad in the paper and my colleague chose to misinterpret what it is I said. I run a fair campaign and never said a bad word about her”. They are both democrats, and were pretty much the same all on all issues. Some think his words were twisted, others do not. Regardless, he still considers Fuller one of his friends, but friendship aside, Ruthanne won! So, whatever Scott Lennon thinks at the moment is not important, because Ruthanne Fuller is the new mayor of Newton Massachusetts.
In other political news, Marty Walsh won his second 4-year term as mayor of Boston, and Yvonne Spicer, made history as the first mayor of Framingham! This was an incredible election season, and I am grateful to have taken part.
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What a wonderful experience for you to be so active in politics. It is interesting that you mention the Newton race. For women of an older generation, Scott Lennon’s comments were really not twisted. For many of us (myself and mother included), our resumes *do* look different than men’s precisely because we are women and have been the primary caregivers for children. Were we a country where men and women could equally choose to stay home with the kids or work full time, perhaps Lennon’s comments would mean little. But far too often, those are not choices that women have had (often for no other reason than the fact that a husband- by virtue of being a man- earns a higher paycheck and thus it makes sense for the woman to work fewer hours.) But it is this*very* attitude that keeps women from getting promotions or returning to the workforce after our children have grown. Which is to say, I’m not only glad that Fuller won, I’m glad Lennon lost.
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