boston politics

This year, the Sept. 4 primary, with stunning upset victories by Pressley and Rollins, demonstrated just how much the city’s demographics and political landscape have changed.

A surge of progressive candidates challenging Democratic incumbents proved pollsters and pundits wrong Tuesday, sweeping longtime incumbents out of office and upending the calculus of Massachusetts politics.

Progressive politics got Bostonians digging deep to financially support candidates, an analysis of campaign contributions in the legislative primary races reveals

Boston Election Commissioner Dion Irish is now preparing for the September 4 primaries, which will determine the results for both state and federal offices, as contests for the state Legislature, governor, and Congress will all be included on the ballot.

Know your rights as a Massachusetts registered voter.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin sparred with his Democratic challenger in the upcoming primary, City Councilor Josh Zakim, before a live audience for WBUR’s afternoon show “Radio Boston,” at the UMass Club on Beacon Street last Friday.

The two Democratic gubernatorial candidates appearing on the Sept. 4 ballot had two questions to answer at the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization’s recent forum at the Boston Teachers Union hall in Dorchester.

The oft-repeated message about the importance of the black vote seems to be finally taking hold. Analysis of the past two elections for president indicates that blacks vote in presidential elections at a rate equivalent to whites. However, in off-year elections and in primaries, the vote by blacks often declines.

Five of the six candidates for the Suffolk County district attorney seat and the two running for Middlesex County DA gathered at a Greater Boston Interfaith Organization forum last week, with most signaling agreement with the group’s progressive-leaning criminal justice reform agenda.

Sunday, as the Dominican Festival parade prepared to launch, much of that intensity was evident as supporters of the two candidates marched in the parade, along with other politicians including U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, Mayor Martin Walsh, state Rep. Liz Malia and City Councilor Matt O’Malley.

Suffolk County district attorney candidate Greg Henning has the largest war-chest in the race, so far having raised almost $200,000 more than his closest rival.

Democratic activists cite as factors in the unusually active primary season a crop of left-leaning candidates challenging long-term incumbents, a rare open race for the Suffolk County district attorney’s seat and a national political environment that has much of the liberal-leaning Boston electorate on edge.