Only two of the state’s nine House members are women, and one is retiring. It was not until 2012 that Massachusetts elected its first woman – Elizabeth Warren – to the Senate. It has never elected a female governor.
But perhaps one of Ms. Pressley’s biggest obstacles was Mr. Capuano’s liberal voting record, which denied her the chance to paint a stark ideological contrast with him. A reliable progressive vote, he was an early advocate of sanctuary cities, opposed the Iraq War and the Patriot Act and sat out President Trump’s inauguration. Over time he funneled millions of dollars home for much-needed transit, housing and health care projects.
Ms. Pressley and Mr. Capuano readily agreed they would likely vote the same way most of the time, leaving Ms. Pressley instead to shape her candidacy into a broad, multifaceted call for change.
She argued that the needs of the district – the only one in Massachusetts where a majority of residents are people of color — had changed over time and that the overwhelming “hate” coming from the White House required more than simply voting the right way. Battling President Trump and overcoming economic and racial inequities of longstanding required an entire movement, she said, suggesting she was better positioned than Mr. Capuano to spearhead that effort with what she called “activist leadership.”
Moreover, she argued that her life experience — her father struggled with drug addiction and was incarcerated for most of her youth, and she is a survivor of sexual assault – better prepared her to help people who have lived through trauma and other struggles. Perhaps the defining line of her stump speech was this: “The people closest to the pain should be closest to the power.”
Mary MacDonald, 49, a biotech researcher who voted for Ms. Pressley in Cambridge, said Ms. Pressley “represents a perspective that Congress is lacking and that resonates with me. As a woman of color, she understands my concerns, as a lesbian. Capuano has done a great job for the district, but he doesn’t get it.”
Mr. Capuano, who had not faced a serious challenge since he first won the seat in 1998, conceded he was out of practice in confronting a competitive race, or, as he told WGBH, “there was some rust on the machinery.”
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