Level: State

In 2016, Maria’s List endorsed Higgins in her first successful run and then again in 2018 as Leominster’s state representative. Growing up in a working family, Higgins experienced how government fails to support working families in times of crisis and need. That’s why one of the top issues on her platform in 2016 was paid family leave. A graduate of UMass Amherst and Northeastern Law School, Natalie became the first in her family to graduate from college and law school. She also has a strong history of commitment to women’s rights in her legislative work, from championing comprehensive healthcare to the elimination of all forms of gender discrimination and violence. This began with her involvement in working with women in the community when she was a teen counselor at a rape crisis center and as Legal Fellow with the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual and Domestic Violence. However, Higgins also has a strong track record regarding education. Higgins was the founding executive director of PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts), where she worked to fight the privatization of public higher education. Not only has she successfully introduced and passed legislation, but Higgins continues to stay attuned to community needs by holding forums and office hours and continuing to knock on doors.

Johnnie McKnight grew up in Springfield and felt firsthand the challenges that come with having parents battling addiction, being homeless, stealing groceries due to food insecurity, and being incarcerated as a young person. But McKnight also has felt what it means to have a community to uplift, support, and aid him in becoming who he is today. Thanks to his grandmother, caseworker, and aunt, McKnight was able to get out of the Department of Youth Services, began attending school, playing sports, and eventually got his MBA in Business Management from American International College. That’s why he believes in investing and working closely with the community so everyone can thrive. McKnight’s platform focuses on seniors and veterans, small businesses and jobs, housing and affordability, violence, and quality of life.

Erika Uyterhoeven grew up in Wayland and is a first-generation Japanese American. She began her trajectory as a democratic socialist after working as an antitrust economist and strategy consultant, where she witnessed firsthand how corporations undermine worker’s rights and profit from our government. In 2016, Uyterhoeven was pivotal as the National Out of State Organizing Director for the Bernie Sanders campaign. In 2018, she worked on Nika Elugardo’s successful campaign to unseat the House Ways and Means Chair Representative Jeffrey Sanchez. Since then, she has built her career on fighting for government transparency, co-founding Act on Mass, whose members successfully blocked a $37 million corporate tax break from being slipped into the budget in 2019. In 2020, we endorsed Uyterhoeven as the House Representative for the 27th Middlesex district. Since then, she has worked with members of the House to expand access to abortions in Massachusetts, made historic, unprecedented investments in fixing the T, funded public education, built affordable housing opportunities, and more! Now, she is committing to continue fighting for Medicare for All, housing as a human right, universal pre-K and debt-free higher ed, and a carbon-free future to combat the climate crisis.

Evan McKay is a union leader, pro-democracy organizer, and scholar of the criminal legal system. They were a part of the successful recent effort to democratize the UAW, making it a bolder and more responsive union. They are running to advocate for a more progressive and responsive State House that views activists as partners in advancing a shared vision. McKay is a Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commissioner and the former president of the Harvard Graduate Students’ Union. They have been organizing in Cambridge around social, racial, environmental, and economic justice issues for over a decade. McKay is running for state representative in the 25th Middlesex District to fight for a transparent, accountable government that works for the many, not the few.

Arielle Reid Faria is a proud basketball mom, gardener, small business owner, climate justice and housing community organizer. She is the Managing Director of the Island Housing Trust and co-chair of the Coalition to Create a Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank, a vital part of the statewide coalition for a local option real estate transfer fee. Faria is bringing her lived experience and 14 years of working with community foundations and local and state officials to fund important local projects and pass legislation to the Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket Districts, hoping to increase civic engagement in the district and beyond. As a State Representative, she’s also looking to bring down living costs for families, address the effects of climate change like coastal flooding to protect homes and businesses, and fight for more education funding so every child can reach their full potential.

A father and small business owner, Sen. Gomez comes from working people in the North End of Springfield. He is the first Afro-Latino and the first Puerto Rican to serve in the Massachusetts Senate. Sen. Adam Gomez has been a member of Neighbor to Neighbor since 2014, two years before he won his first-ever bid for elected office. Sen. Gomez served on the Springfield City Council for four years before his successful run for Hampden District State Senator. While in the State Senate, Sen. Gomez has remained loyal to the issues he worked on as a city councilor, continuing to lead on gun violence, criminal justice reform, immigrants’ rights, jobs, and education at the neighborhood level while representing Springfield in statewide decisions on housing, racial justice and more every day. His experience working within different communities fighting at the local, state, and federal levels for his constituents’ benefit makes him the right candidate to represent the Hampden district. He listens, fights for, and responds swiftly to community needs.