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The Facts

The Choice is clear

Marjorie Decker

Evan MacKay

Marjorie Decker

Trusted and experienced legislator and former city councilor, recognized as one of the most effective legislators in MA by Vanderbilt University Center for Effective Lawmaking. 

Evan Mackay

Experience

11 years as a student, with no professional experience outside the University. Studying government isn’t the same as governing. 

Marjorie Decker

Has always made committee votes public when asked, led the push for House rules changes.

Read more about Marjorie’s support for transparency here!

Evan MacKay

Transparency

Intentionally confuses voters about Marjorie’s record, values, and votes while omitting important facts about themselves.

See “Setting the Record Straight” below.

Marjorie Decker

A lifelong Democrat with a record of turning progressive values into meaningful outcomes that improve people’s lives.

Conviction

Evan MacKay

Moved to Cambridge as a Republican in 2015. Remained a Republican until 2021.

Marjorie Decker

Clear plan to make a real difference with a record to back it up and a coalition to get it done. 

Vision

Evan MacKay

No plan to govern. No legislative roadmap for building the partnerships and votes needed to turn ideas into results.

Setting the Record Straight

SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION

Marjorie support same-day voter registration and led the fight to get it passed, working with MassVOTE, Common Cause, the NAACP, and MassPIRG. It was a close vote last session, which is why it’s so important to vote yes on the ballot question this November.

Marjorie’s opponent purposely confuses voters by referring to a procedural vote taken in 2020 where only 16 representatives voted for an amendment on same-day-voter registration.

Representative John Lawn, who filed the same-day voter registration legislation, organized a strategy to advance a broader voting-rights package. Marjorie was part of that effort, working alongside the NAACP, the ACLU, MassVOTE, and other voting-rights advocates to help get that legislation passed.

There was a separate amendment offered by another legislator that was not part of Representative Lawn’s strategy or the coalition’s coordinated effort. It was offered without the same planning or coordination around the larger bill.

That distinction matters because legislating is not simply about whether you support an idea in isolation. Sometimes, in order to advance a larger piece of legislation and achieve a meaningful policy outcome, you have to have a strategy. You have to work with the lead sponsor, advocates, and your colleagues to determine how and when to move an amendment so that you actually get the votes and the outcome you are working for.

That is exactly what happened here.

Marjorie was part of the organized effort to advance the voting reforms. Anyone who was actually involved in that voting-rights coalition and that legislative effort knows that.

So when Evan tries to use a vote on a separate, uncoordinated amendment and attempt to convince voters that Marjorie opposes same-day voter registration, they are deliberately stripping that vote of its context.

That is not an honest representation of her record or values.

In 2024, Marjorie successfully fought for the fourth increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit since she was elected, raising the state match from 15% to 40% and putting more money in the pockets of all working families. She also led the creation of a new $440 Child and Family Tax Credit for every dependent child.  Her opponent ignores these important gains, instead misrepresenting a vote that in fact reduced the Governor’s requested cut in capital gains taxes. 

The Governor proposed a significant reduction in the short-term capital gains tax. Massachusetts had been taxing short-term capital gains at 12%, and the Governor wanted to reduce that rate to 5%. Marjorie opposed the Governor’s proposal.

What the Legislature ultimately adopted was a compromise: instead of reducing the rate from 12% to 5%, we negotiated it to 8%. That is a very different outcome from what the Governor wanted.

To suggest that Marjorie simply voted for a tax bill “to give millionaires tax breaks” intentionally misleads voters about both the legislation and her role in negotiating it.

But there is another part of this tax bill that her opponent conveniently leaves out.

While fighting against the Governor’s proposed reduction in the capital gains tax, Marjorie also fought to put more money in the pockets of working families.

She secured her fourth increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). When she first began working to increase Massachusetts’ EITC, it was just 15%, one of the lowest rates in the country for working families who were struggling to make ends meet. She filed legislation to raise it to 50%. Through successive tax bills, she helped move it from 15% to 23%, then to 30%, and now to 40%.

That is real money for working people.

In this same tax bill, Marjorie also fought to strengthen the Family Tax Credit, which had not been meaningfully increased in a very long time. And she helped eliminate the cap that limited the credit to only a certain number of children, meaning families with more children can now receive the benefit they are entitled to.

So the choice was not simply, “Vote yes and give millionaires a tax break, or vote no.”

The choice was whether to do the hard work of legislating: fight against the Governor’s proposed tax reduction, negotiate a better outcome, and use the legislation to secure meaningful tax relief for working and lower-income families.

Marjorie chose to do the work instead of joining a tiny handful of legislators who voted against the bill.

She successfully fought to reduce the tax break the Governor wanted for short-term capital gains and secured significant increases in tax credits for working families.

That is what legislating looks like.

Transparency is essential for a good government. It is the foundation for building trust between voters and those elected to serve them. Marjorie has always made her committee votes public when asked and led the push for House rules changes. The Legislature has more work to do, but Marjorie will continue to be a champion pushing transparency forward.

Marjorie voted FOR the rules reforms in 2021 and in 2025 that helped increase transparency. Click here to access information on the MA Legislature to show you how to access committee information, roll call votes, track a bill, or watch the Legislature. 

And when you look at Marjorie’s actual record, it is clear.

Five years ago, she was part of the effort to change the House rules to make committee votes public.

Then she helped lead the effort to go further to make those committee votes not only public, but more accessible. Because you cannot claim to have meaningful transparency if information technically exists but ordinary people cannot easily find it.

Evan has also claimed that Marjorie did not make her own votes public. Again, that is not supported by the record. There is news coverage showing that, years before this became a campaign issue, Marjorie was already making my committee votes public as a committee chair when asked by constituents or members of the press.

Her opponent cites 11 amendments over two legislative sessions and wants voters to believe that these votes demonstrate that Marjorie was an outlier who opposed rules reform.

That is simply not what the voting record shows.

All 11 of these amendments were filed by Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones. They were Republican amendments offered as part of the legislative process around House rules and procedures.

And here is the most important context: every Democrat voted against 10 of the 11 amendments. On the remaining amendment, only one Democrat voted with the Republicans.

This is part of the complicated work of legislating. The minority party can use amendments to try to change House rules, procedures, or the balance of power in the Legislature. You cannot take those votes out of their legislative context and then pretend they demonstrate that someone opposes transparency or rules reform.

So voters should look at the entire record, not 11 Republican amendments filed by the Republican Minority Leader and selectively presented to create a false impression.

Marjorie’s record is clear: She has consistently worked to make the Legislature more transparent, accountable, and accessible to the people it serves.

STOP CORPORATE AND DARK MONEY IN CAMPAIGNS

Dark money has no place in politics. Citizens United was a disaster. Marjorie has worked to increase disclosure requirements of campaign contributions and disclosed every donor.

Marjorie’s opponent continues to claim that they signed the People’s Pledge and that she refused to do the same. That is not an accurate representation of what happened.

Evan never asked Marjorie to sign a People’s Pledge. There was no formal request, no proposed agreement, and no conversation between the campaigns about signing one. The issue was raised during the second debate seemingly out of thin air, and there has been no follow-up discussion since.

There are also many different versions of what people refer to as a “People’s Pledge,” with different requirements and terms. Without an actual proposal to consider, there was nothing for Marjorie to agree to or reject.

But the larger issue is this: Marjorie has always been a strong champion for campaign finance reform.

She does not take dark money. She never has, and she never will.

Marjorie believes the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was one of the most damaging decisions in modern politics because it allowed wealthy individuals and powerful outside interests to spend enormous amounts of money trying to influence elections and drown out the voices of everyday people.

Her record is not defined by a pledge raised during a debate. Her record is defined by the work she has actually done.

She has championed legislation to require greater disclosure and transparency around political donations because voters deserve to know who is trying to influence our elections.

And this term, the Legislature took another important step forward by passing requirements to increase transparency around donors who fund ballot campaigns, helping ensure that voters have more information about who is behind efforts to shape public policy through ballot questions.

That is what real campaign finance reform looks like: doing the hard work of changing laws to increase transparency and accountability.

I will continue to fight for campaign finance reform, transparency, and a democracy where every person’s voice matters—not just the voices of those with money and power.

Marjorie has always believed that decisions about Memorial Drive should be made with the community, not to the community.

That is why she worked to bring people together. She encouraged her colleague from the other side of the city who was quoted in news coverage about this issue to come meet with Riverside residents at the Cambridge Community Center so that community members could have a real conversation about their concerns and ideas. Evan was also invited to come into the community and participate in that conversation, and they chose not to.

Instead of engaging directly with the residents most impacted by the decision, Marjorie’s opponent has continued to use Memorial Drive as a political wedge issue.

For Marjorie, this has never been about opposing access to Memorial Drive. It has always been about equity, inclusion, and making sure that the voices of the people most affected by decisions are included in the process.

The Charles River is a resource that belongs to everyone. That is why Marjorie has fought to protect it, expand access to it, and invest in it, including securing $1 million for pedestrian and bicycle improvements along the river after years of advocacy.

She has always been a champion for bike safety and worked with advocates and colleagues, including Representative Owens and MassBike, to make our roads safer. The attempt to use this issue to misrepresent her record ignores the reality of her work.

Marjorie’s North Star has always been the same: when we make decisions about shared public resources, we must do it with the communities impacted, ensuring that equity and inclusion are at the center of the conversation.

Pedestrian and cyclist safety have always been extremely important to Marjorie. She believes our streets are shared public spaces, and everyone who uses them – people walking, biking, taking transit, driving, and moving through our communities – deserves to be safe.

Unfortunately, there has been misinformation about her record on bike and pedestrian safety. That misinformation does a disservice to the many advocates, families, and community members who have spent years working with Marjorie to make our streets safer because it ignores the reality of their successful advocacy.

Her commitment to safer streets is reflected in the legislation she has filed, the partnerships she has built, the investments she has secured, and the conversations she has had with families and advocates who have experienced the devastating consequences of unsafe streets.

Turning grief into action

After the tragic death of MIT student Jie Zhao, who was killed while biking in Cambridge, Marjorie met with her friends to listen, understand their concerns, and discuss what needed to change to make our streets safer.

Out of those conversations, she filed legislation to improve truck safety by requiring state-owned trucks to be equipped with working backup cameras. That work became part of Chapter 358 of the Acts of 2022, advancing important truck safety requirements and protections for people walking and biking.

She also advocated for implementing these safety requirements through regulations and continued working to advance additional truck safety improvements.

This session, she filed House 3653, An Act Expanding Truck Safety Requirements, with Representative Steve Owens. Working in collaboration with MassBike and Executive Director Galen Mook, this legislation builds on their previous efforts by expanding proven safety requirements to trucks owned or leased by municipalities, utility companies, wireless providers, and quasi-public agencies.

The bill would require proven safety technologies, including side guards to help prevent people from being pulled underneath trucks, convex and crossover mirrors to improve driver visibility, and backup cameras and other safety equipment.

These are common-sense safety measures that can prevent crashes and save lives.

Supporting tools that make our streets safer

Marjorie also supports legislation allowing municipalities to use road safety cameras to address dangerous driving behaviors, including speeding, red-light violations, and blocking the box.

She is a co-sponsor of legislation filed by Representative Steve Owens and Representative Manny Cruz because she believes communities should have the tools they need to prevent crashes and improve safety for everyone using our roads.

Expanding safe mobility options

Marjorie was proud that the House included language in its recent economic development bill that she advocated for to establish Massachusetts’ first comprehensive framework for motorized micromobility devices.

As more people use e-bikes, motorized scooters, and similar devices, she believes we need clear safety standards and operational rules that protect everyone sharing our streets and pathways.

Investing in safer infrastructure

She has consistently advocated for safer bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure throughout Cambridge and along the Charles River.

In 2023, Marjorie joined her colleagues in urging the Department of Conservation and Recreation to improve conditions along the Memorial Drive bike path near the Boston University Bridge. This advocacy occurred before the tragic death of cyclist John Corcoran in 2024 and reflects her longstanding commitment to improving safety along the Charles River.

John’s death was a heartbreaking reminder of the urgent need to continue this work. Every life lost on our streets and pathways reinforces why we must keep investing in safer infrastructure, stronger safety standards, and policies that protect everyone who walks, bikes, takes transit, or drives.

Over several years, she has filed amendments to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety along the Charles River. After years of advocacy, Marjorie was successful in securing $1 million for pathway accessibility improvements between Magazine Beach and the Anderson Memorial Bridge, working in partnership with MassBike and advocates.

She has also worked with organizations including the Charles River Conservancy, the Charles River Watershed Association, and other community partners who share the goal of protecting and improving this vital public resource.

Safety is a public health issue

Marjorie believes Vision Zero – the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries – is a shared responsibility.

That means investing in safer infrastructure, creating stronger safety laws, improving driver education, and helping all of us understand that while many of our streets were originally designed around cars, they are shared spaces.

She has reached out to local leaders to encourage approaching bike and pedestrian safety as a public health issue. She has held conversations with seniors in residential buildings about how we can make our streets safer while recognizing that everyone deserves to move through our community safely and confidently.

Creating safer streets is not about one group versus another. It is about making sure everyone – pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, drivers, seniors, children, and families – can move through our community safely.

This work is personal

This issue is personal to Marjorie.

Her children bike throughout Cambridge and beyond. Members of her staff use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. She knows firsthand that creating safer streets is not an abstract policy conversation – it affects families, workers, seniors, students, and every person who travels through our city.

To suggest that she does not care about bike safety ignores years of legislative work, partnerships, advocacy, and investment.

The reality is that there is still more work to do. Marjorie remains committed to advancing policies and investments that make our streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers alike.