Suffolk DA’s race gains the spotlight with Rollins in the mix

Mass General Brigham’s partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston and the City of Boston is expanding access to fresh, healthy food for families. The Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub serves an average of 20,000 residents monthly, distributing more than 1.7 million pounds of food. It recovers food that would have otherwise gone to waste, supporting both community health and environmental sustainability.

The race for Suffolk DA seemed destined this year to take a backseat to another race for DA next door – the open seat in Norfolk County – after a 2022 election cycle that spattered mud on nearly everybody involved.

But the reemergence of Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk DA who left her job as the state’s top federal prosecutor after investigators found she piled up ethics violations, has heightened the spotlight on an incumbent who hadn’t fundraised much and recently angered cops, a key constituency, by charging one of their own with manslaughter.

Kevin Hayden, the incumbent, is poised to face her and another challenger, Linda Champion, who ran in the 2018 five-way race that Rollins won. When Rollins left for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2022, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker appointed Hayden.

The maneuvers set off a vicious Democratic primary for the job, as Hayden and Ricardo Arroyo, a Boston city councilor at the time, shoveled mud at each other. More than a year after he won, Hayden paid a $5,000 civil penalty and acknowledged he violated conflict of interest law for failing to stop his office from issuing a statement to reporters during the campaign “aimed at discrediting his opponent,” according to the State Ethics Commission.

Rollins meddled in that same election, but she was accused of more extensive ethics violations, according to federal watchdog reports. One watchdog’s report additionally noted, “We also found Rollins’s efforts to blame her staff for her own ethics failures deeply disturbing.”

Rollins now wants her old DA job back. After unenrolling from the Democratic Party at some point, Rollins re-enrolled in February, just before the deadline to do so. Earlier this month, she pulled the paperwork needed to run. She has to gather 1,000 signatures.

In the meantime, Hayden has ramped up his fundraising, after he ended March with just $30,000. (For comparison purposes, Middlesex DA Marian Ryan had $690,000.) Hayden also hired Four Lions Media’s Kate Norton, who has worked for Marty Walsh, the former mayor, and Sen. Lydia Edwards.

Edwards, already the architect of another candidate’s county-wide win in 2024, recently co-headlined a Hayden fundraiser with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. Hayden has also pulled in donations this month from Walsh, Suffolk CEO John Fish and former DA Ralph Martin.

When asked about Rollins, some Boston insiders wonder if this is all about promoting her new podcast with former Celtics captain Dana Barros. Called “Ball and Order,” just one episode exists and its discussion of topics was already out-of-date when it was posted on April 8.

She’s faced questions from people about her run, and she’s reportedly pushed back. “No one gets to tell your story but you,” she wrote on social media. “Every moment in life – whether victory or defeat – is temporary.” 

She’s also written more volatile posts on X, as Twitter’s currently known. One such post drove over former Lt. Gov. Tim Murray to hit her predecessor, Dan Conley. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Is this all a promotional effort for a podcast? Or does Rollins’ re-enrollment in the Democratic Party point to a long-haul campaign for DA? Send me your takes, and whether you believe she has a path to victory: [email protected].

20 years ago, MA mandated residents to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Unaffordable healthcare inflation followed along with new mandates, rising premiums, fewer choices & increased provider payments without real transparency or efficiency standards. Taxpayer costs soared; working family income growth suffered. Small businesses & their workforces have consistently faced annual double digit premium increases. Healthcare cost reforms are long overdue.

9:00 | The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Boston Athletic Association hold a press conference ahead of the 130th Boston Marathon. Speakers include B.A.A. President Jack Fleming, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Public Safety and Security Secretary Gina Kwon, MEMA Director Dawn Brantley, State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox. | Fairmont Copley Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 138 St. James St., Boston

10:30 | Gov. Maura Healey tours Bristol County Agricultural High School to highlight efforts to expand access to Career and Technical Education, along with Secretary Stephen Zrike, legislators and local officials. | 135 Center Street, Dighton

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Jonathan Zlotnik, a Worcester County state rep, decided against running for another two-year term in the House, opening up a seat that represents the city of Gardner and surrounding towns. He declined to discuss what his next job is, but said he was staying in the area. Currently the vice chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development, he was elected in 2012 months after graduating college, and beat a Republican. "After 14 years, it just felt like it was time to let someone else have a crack at it and allow me to explore other things to do,” he said. Zlotnik said he gave a heads up about his news to a childhood friend, Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson, who filed paperwork to run as a Democrat in the purple district. Ashburnham resident John Reilly has also filed papers to run as an independent.

Alethea Harney, a former aide to Elizabeth Warren and Treasurer Deb Goldberg, is the new chief of staff at the nonprofit National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. Harney previously worked as a senior adviser and chief of staff to Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, in the White House and on the 2024 campaign trail. Harney, who started at NWLC in March, also served as Warren’s press secretary during her first Senate campaign.

Join legislators and thought leaders for a timely forum on the AI revolution in Massachusetts. Explore the challenges and opportunities of AI policy on Thursday, May 7, at the MCLE (Boston). RSVP!

FUNDRAISING RACE: Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Stephen Lynch were outraised in the first fundraising quarter of the year by Democraticy primary challengers Seth Moulton and Patrick Roath. Moulton raised $1.1 million to Markey’s $776,000. – NBC News

MONEY TROUBLES: Anne Brensley, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, and her husband owed the feds tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes. While she has not been formally attached to a gubernatorial candidate, medical device executive Mike Minogue said he supports her candidacy. – WBUR

VITAL RECORDS: Gov. Maura Healey has proposed weakening public access to records on births, deaths and marriages. The proposal was thrown into a spending bill. – Boston Globe

ECON DEV BILL: A new $50 million fund to help attract companies to Massachusetts is included in the economic development bill unveiled by Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday. The bill also seeks to cut fees for small businesses and expands a small business energy tax exemption. – Boston Business Journal

FRAUD REPORT: More than $1 billion in SNAP payment errors over two years were driven by weak oversight and quick expansion of programs, according to a report from the conservative-leaning Fiscal Alliance Foundation. – Boston Herald

ICE OUT: Todd Lyons, the South Boston native serving as the acting director of ICE, plans to step down at the end of May for a job in the private sector. Under his tenure, the federal immigration agency violated multiple court orders and saw its public approval ratings plunge as it implemented a crackdown directed by the White House. – WBUR

HPC BRINGS RECEIPTS: A report from the state’s Health Policy Commission found that a partnership between Mass General Brigham and CVS could up health care spending by $40 million annually. – Boston Globe

BOSTON FIRE: Rodney Marshall, a Dorchester native who joined the Boston Fire Department in 1991, has been elevated to the position of fire commissioner. He’ll be sworn in later this month. – Dorchester Reporter

WORCESTER CODE: City officials in Worcester are considering a 20-month pause on a special code meant to reduce emissions from new buildings. – MassLive

WESTPORT DUNE: Westport residents are warring with the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation after the destruction of a coastal dune at Horseneck Beach. – New Bedford Light

Ups and downs for Head Start programs facing fiscal uncertainty

Boston Marathon goes green with electric buses, reusable cups

Another multi-day MBTA shutdown on tap for May

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller's guest is Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and U.S. senator for Utah. They discuss the 20th anniversary of the state health care access law known as “Romneycare,” his experiences in Washington and the future of the Republican Party.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Needham Sen. Rebecca Rausch, who will talk about the national conversation around sexual assault and protections she’s pushing in Massachusetts.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is Jordan Maynard, chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

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