In the News

GOV. BAKER’S MASSHEALTH CHANGES (H.3822) — House 41-116, Senate 32-6 rejected Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to make some major changes to MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program that provides health care for approximately 1.4 million qualified low-income and disabled persons.

Supporters said Baker’s plan is a humane and responsible approach and argued that under the changes, not a single person would lose coverage, and low-income families would continue to have access to zero-premium health plans.

Opponents said the Legislature just a few days ago held a hearing on these changes and argued more time is needed to consider strategies to control cost growth in MassHealth and the entire health care system. Others said changes will kick 100,000 working parents off MassHealth in favor of more expensive insurance with less coverage.

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When Kenneth Donnelly died of brain cancer in April, he left behind an open seat in the Massachusetts Senate and a district shaken by his loss.

Last week, voters in the Fourth Middlesex District turned to the aide who most often stood by his side at the State House: his chief of staff, Cindy Friedman. Friends and district residents remember the two as equals and partners — and complementary ones at that.

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“Senator Donnelly worked hard to address the needs of those suffering with serious and persistent mental illness and he would be thrilled that the creation of a restoration center has been included in the final budget,” Cindy Friedman, Donnelly’s former chief of staff, who recently won the Democratic primary to fill his seat, said in a statement. “This is a giant step in the decriminalization of mental illness and substance use disorder in our state and I am so grateful for the commitment shown by our legislature to address this important issue.”

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Voters Tuesday, June 27, promoted Cindy Friedman, 64, to the state Senate seat held by her boss, Ken Donnelly, until his April 2 death.

Rep. Sean Garballey, still fresh-faced at 32, was pushed aside by 776 votes. He won Arlington and Woburn, but lost elsewhere. Friedman was particularly strong in Lexington, likely reflecting the support of state Rep. Jay Kaufman.

In a tweet, Rick Sobey of The Lowell Sun reported the first unofficial results. Later results showed Friedman with 7,075 votes and Garballey with 6,299. Stewart got 428. See an image of the unofficial tallies below.

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A veteran Beacon Hill aide on Tuesday captured the Democratic nomination for the state Senate seat that was vacated when her boss died of brain cancer in April.

Cindy Friedman, the longtime chief of staff to the late Senator Kenneth Donnelly, clinched the party nomination for the Fourth Middlesex District seat, which represents Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, Woburn, and parts of Lexington.

The tally from all five communities was not immediately available. But her two rivals, state Representative Sean Garballey and Mary Ann Stewart, a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, both congratulated her late Tuesday.

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Arlington Democrat Cindy Friedman’s win in a primary Tuesday paves the way for the state Senate to tie its all-time high number of women members, reached four years ago after another special election.

Friedman, who served as chief of staff to the late Sen. Ken Donnelly, D-Arlington, earned just over 51 percent of the vote in the special election held to replace her former boss. With no Republican or Libertarian candidates on the ballot, Friedman is on a path to victory in the July 25 general election.

She would be the first woman to be newly elected to the Senate since Sen. Barbara L’Italien in 2015, and the 41st female state senator in state history.

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BILLERICA-Residents should be well aware at this point in the campaign: These candidates agree on a lot. Rep. Sean Garballey, Cindy Friedman, and Mary Ann Stewart are all progressive Democratic candidates – which showed yet again on Tuesday, a week from the primary. While the candidates for the 4th Middlesex District state Senate seat agreed on a majority of issues, they did break on a few topics during the Sun-sponsored debate at the Billerica Senior Center.

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Baker has quietly proposed an array of mental health care initiatives, including better training for police and a boost in spending on health care coverage for low-income people.

What he hasn’t been prepared to do, thus far, is provide much in the way of public leadership, or to speak to the issue.

“I don’t think the administration is doing enough or saying enough at all,” said Cindy Friedman, the longtime chief of staff to former state senator Ken Donnelly, an Arlington Democrat and champion of mental health care reform who died in April.

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BEACON HILL, MA – Cindy Friedman, former chief of staff of late state Sen. Ken Donnelly, received the support of two area Democrats this week in her campaign to fill Donnelly’s seat. Former gubernatorial candidate Don Berwick and former state senator Dan Wolf endorsed Friedman for the 4th Middlesex District seat in the special election.

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Friedman shares top budget priorities, including full funding for public education, access to affordable and quality health care, as well as greater investments in transportation and infrastructure expansion and maintenance, workforce training, and affordable housing.

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