Candidates Make Final Push Ahead of Massachusetts Primaries — Including at Harvard

On the final weekend ahead of the Massachusetts state primaries on Tuesday, State Senator Eric P. Lesser ’07 returned to his old stomping grounds.

“It’s a little bit of a homecoming because I remember spending a lot of time here doing my own canvassing and door-knocking for candidates,” Lesser said on the steps of Harvard’s Boylston Hall on Saturday, where he addressed Harvard affiliates who volunteered for a handful of candidates making their final push ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Lesser, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, faces two other Democrats in the party’s primary for lieutenant governor on Tuesday.

Undergraduates with the Harvard College Democrats gathered to canvass for both the candidates their group endorsed, Lesser and Tanisha Sullivan, who is running for secretary of state.

State Senator Eric P. Lesser '07 met with volunteers from Harvard College Democrats outside Boylston Hall on Saturday ahead of the state primary Tuesday. By Charlotte P. Ritz-Jack

A poll released last week by the University of Massachusetts Lowell shows Lesser trailing Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll in the race, but 30 percent of voters still remain undecided.

“This is a unique election since the overwhelming majority of people have no opinion right up until the end,” Lesser said. “That creates a really great opportunity to just run through the finish line—talking to as many people as you can, reaching out to as many people as you can.”

Lesser joined the College Democrats knocking doors in Cambridge.

“We really appreciate the student help,” he said. “Great to be in a familiar place as we get to the end of the end of the primary.”

Luke D. Albert ’22-’23, co-president of the Harvard College Democrats, said Lesser and Sullivan received “overwhelming support” during their endorsement process.

“It is always a crazy turnaround here at school, going from moving in to literally then having the Massachusetts state primaries,” he said.

Aaron Soroa-Alvarez, a regional organizer for Sullivan, said the progressive’s proposed election law changes would benefit students.

“I think students are really left out in Massachusetts when it comes to elections because we don’t have same-day registration,” he said.

Sullivan — who is facing longtime incumbent Secretary of State William F. Galvin — held a rally in Boston on Monday where she was joined by U.S. Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley (D-Mass.) and two Boston city councilors.

Many spectators are focused on Tuesday’s Democratic primary for attorney general between Shannon E. Liss-Riordan ’90 and Andrea J. Campbell.

Both candidates held events with their respective high-profile endorsers in Boston on Monday evening. Campbell, a former Boston city councilor and mayoral contender, was joined by Maura T. Healey ’92 — the presumptive Democratic nominee for Governor — while Liss-Riordan was accompanied by Boston Mayor Michelle Michelle Wu ’07.

On the Republican side, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Geoffrey G. Diehl held a virtual rally with former President Donald J. Trump on Monday. Chris Doughty, his more moderate primary opponent — who trailed in recent polls — appeared in Marlborough for the city’s Labor Day parade.

All eight members of Cambridge’s state legislative delegation — Representatives David M. Rogers, Marjorie C. Decker, Michael L. Connolly, Steven C. Owens, and Jay D. Livingstone and Senators Lydia M. Edwards, Patricia D. Jehlen, and Sal N. DiDomenico — are unopposed in their primary contests.

—Staff writer Yusuf S. Mian can be reached at yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @yusuf_mian2.

—Staff writer Charlotte P. Ritz-Jack can be reached at charlotte.ritz-jack@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Charritzjack.