Tanisha
Sullivan was joined by supporters including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley,
City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune and state representatives Nika Elugardo
and Russell Holmes during a canvassing event in Mattapan Square
Saturday.
Sullivan seeks win similar to Ayanna’s in ‘18
Last Saturday morning, Tanisha Sullivan was in Mattapan Square firing up several dozen volunteers to knock doors in support of her campaign for secretary of state.
Motivating volunteers on a hot summer morning can be a bit of a lift, but Sullivan had help, with U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and state Rep. Russell Holmes rallying the crowd of volunteers.
“How you campaign is how you govern,” Pressley told the volunteers. “Tanisha will be a bold, inclusive, collaborative secretary of state.”
Sullivan is taking on 28-year incumbent William Galvin in what some political observers say is a long-shot bid. A June poll by UMass Amherst showed Sullivan trailing Galvin with 21% support among likely voters to 35%.
Pressley told Sullivan’s supporters that she herself had polled 13 points behind former incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano just a week before the September 2018 primary, but she bested him by 18 points in the actual primary vote.
“Don’t ride the roller-coaster,” she said. “You cannot poll transformation.”
Sullivan is campaigning on a promise to use the office of the secretary of state to expand democracy and transparency in Massachusetts even as Supreme Court rulings and Republican governors and legislatures across the country are curtailing the right to vote.
She
advocates using the office to bring greater access to public records
and streamlining the process for registering businesses and nonprofits.
While
working to energize the campaign volunteers, which included members of
SEIU locals 509 and 1199, Unite Here Local 26 and Greater Boston
Building Trades Unions, Sullivan kept the focus on the big picture.
“We’re
in a time when our values as a nation are under a direct assault,” she
said. “That assault is directly focused on attacking the very structures
that have allowed us collectively to advance, to move forward over the
last half century. If we don’t treat this moment with the urgency that
it requires, then the promises that we have all been hoping for,
believing for, working toward — they will all fade away.”
In
addition to Pressley and Holmes, Sullivan was joined by state Rep. Nika
Elugardo, at-large City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune and political
activists including Cecily Graham, Jean-Claude Sanon and Shirley
Shillingford.
Sullivan
has won endorsements from elected officials and political activists
across the state. During the Democratic state convention in June, she
secured 62% of the delegates, gaining the party’s nomination.
But
for her to win against an incumbent who has more than $2 million in his
campaign war chest, Sullivan will have to rely on the same desire for
transformation that enabled Pressley to win against Capuano in ’18.
Sullivan’s campaign manager, Cheryl Crawford, who is on leave from her
job as executive director of the nonprofit MassVOTE, said Sullivan will
benefit by the presence of Pressley, former City Councilor Andrea
Campbell and other Black women on the 2022 primary ballots.
While
Galvin will likely benefit from his incumbency and the campaign cash
that will buy him air time, Sullivan, who had raised $333,931 by the
June 30 reporting date, will likely have to rely more heavily on her
ground game. Her campaign has coordinators in all regions of the state,
and Sullivan herself has crisscrossed the state, attending Democratic
town committee meetings, parades and other staples of the campaign
season.
“Every day,
every week, we’re picking up endorsements — support from elected
officials and organizations, labor and community organizations,”
Sullivan said. “It just keeps coming.”
Crawford
said Sullivan’s victory in the convention has been helpful in getting
her support around the state. The delegates to the convention — elected
officials and grassroots activists — can help amplify her message.
“These
are the gatekeepers, the influencers,” Crawford said. “We have a clear
path to victory. We know where we need to get the votes.”
Pressley
is also stumping for Campbell, who is running for Massachusetts
Attorney General, and Ricardo Arroyo, running for Suffolk County
District Attorney, while working to fend off a challenge from Dorchester
Republican Donnie Palmer. She said her focus is on getting supporters
to turn out and vote.
“I
want to make sure people don’t stay home,” Pressley told the Banner. “I
want to make sure that people know that the reasons they’re frustrated
are the reasons we need better representation.”
In
Boston, where Sullivan has a strong base of support, and around the
state, voter participation has been down in recent years. Sullivan says
her campaign intends to inspire people to turn out and vote.
“Low
voter participation is a crisis in Massachusetts,” she said. “We’ve got
to work for the democracy we want. We’ve got to work for the democracy
we deserve, and that’s why I’m running for secretary of state.”
Sullivan
and Galvin will face off in debates on Aug. 8 with WCVB, The Boston
Globe and WBUR, and on Aug. 10 with WGBH. The primary election is
Tuesday, Sept. 6. The Democratic finalist in the secretary of state race
will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot with Republican Rayla Campbell.