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17th Suffolk District candidate Jordan Meehan (left, courtesy photo) is the first primary challenger Housing Chairman Kevin Honan (right, State House News Service file photo) has had since he first ran for the Allston-Brighton seat in 1986.
A state legislator who’s played a central role in Massachusetts housing policy discussions for many years will retain his seat after seeing off a progressive challenger in his Allston-Brighton district in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Rep. Kevin Honan had faced local activist Jordan Meehan in an election that became partly dominated by development and displacement concerns. Honan, who represents the 17th Suffolk district, has co-chaired the state legislature’s Housing Committee since 2001. Meehan pitched his candidacy to voters as an antidote to “greedy developers,” “absentee landlords” and “predatory management [that] prey on young renters” in the student-heavy area.
“Year after year, the rent goes up, wages stay flat, the threat of climate change becomes more severe while the MBTA collapses before our eyes thanks to decades of neglect. It’s clear this urgency is not being felt on Beacon Hill,” Meehan said in his first ad.
Honan countered during the campaign that his expertise was necessary to move key reforms through. He was also instrumental in passing the state’s eviction moratorium and co-sponsored a bill that would both extend the moratorium for at 12 months or more and institute a raft of progressive policies anathema to many real estate industry groups.
Despite an election that saw record turnout – 7,862 ballots were cast in the 17th Suffolk, compared to 4,513 in 2018 and an average of just over 1,300 for the five Democratic primaries before that – Honan took 54 percent of the vote to Meehan’s 45.8 percent.
“Beyond grateful to have been re-elected to represent my hometown, the 17th Suffolk district. I am thankful for the historic levels of voter participation in this election & your continued trust in me,” Honan tweeted Wednesday. “Congratulations to @JordanMeehan on running a vibrant campaign.”
In a long Twitter thread thanking supporters and campaign staff, Meehan declared that his race had “laid the groundwork and planted the seeds for lasting progressive change.”
“I’m incredibly heartened to hear that several new tenant unions have started to form in Allston-Brighton. It’s beyond time to take the power back from absentee landlords and greedy developers, and tenant organizing is one [of] the best ways of righting that power imbalance,” he said.
While progressives had mounted challenges to many legislators in a bid to expand their presence on Beacon Hill, voters returned most members of Speaker Robert DeLeo’s leadership team.
Representatives who won their primaries included Second Assistant Majority Leader Paul Donato, a Medford Democrat who frequently presides over House sessions, Cannabis Policy Committee Co-Chair David Rogers of Cambridge, Revenue Committee Co-Chair Mark Cusack of Braintree, Election Laws Committee Co-Chair John Lawn of Watertown, State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee Co-Chair Danielle Gregoire of Marlborough, Public Committee Co-Chair Jerald Parisella of Beverly, Financial Services Committee Co-Chair James Murphy of Weymouth, House Personnel and Administration Committee Chair Frank Moran of Lawrence, House Rules Committee Chair William Galvin of Canton, and House Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chair David Linsky of Natick.
Of those returned, Honan, Donato, Rogers, Moran, Lawn and Galvin were effectively reelected, with no challengers on the general election ballot.
The only senior House lawmaker to lose their seat in a primary was Lowell Democrat David Nangle, who was arrested on federal charges connected to bank fraud and misuse of campaign funds in February. He has pleaded not guilty.
State House News Service contributed to this story.
