Mike Barrett for State Senate

11/04/2024

This week, I’m in Pittsburgh with my wife and daughter, working for the Harris-Walz campaign. I wish I could provide definitive insight into Harris’s prospects in PA, but my view from close to ground level isn’t comprehensive enough.

I do see promising signs of Harris’s strength. People are pouring in from all over the country. Nancy and Lily and I are in Pittsburgh because the Voter Protection operation here is led by Ben Friedman, a brilliant young Yale Law student who happens to be a neighbor of ours in Lexington. His fiancee is here to volunteer and so is his father Jon. The man who handed me my canvassing packet this morning is from Florida. The woman who welcomed me to Pittsburgh regional headquarters on Saturday is from California. Last Thursday, our dining companion was Marc Draisen, the MAPC’s very smart and knowledgeable Executive Director. Lexington’s Bob Peters is volunteering out of the campaign office on the other side of town.

Four of our five Uber drivers are emphatically for Harris. They’re up on recent news developments, too. Something that made a visceral impression on me: Judging from what they were willing to share, they’re all worried about their financial situations. One has a wife who’s struggled for years with breast cancer; he says they couldn’t manage without Obamacare. Another is father to two sets of young twins and worries about Trump’s vow to abolish the Dept. of Education. For another, the cost of a quarter-pounder at McDonald’s is not a politician’s talking point; it’s a real burden to her.

The local campaign has been high-energy though somewhat improvisational. Yesterday we spent five hours on a supporter’s front porch in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, managing the distribution of information kits to volunteers who will act as poll observers throughout Allegheny County on Election Day. There was a certain amount of anxiety. People were looking for reassurance they won’t encounter situations in the voting line they can’t handle. I have no idea what they’ll encounter from either unfriendly election officials or from Trump supporters but I’ve decided to reassure them anyway (they’ve taken the training and have phone numbers to call in case of trouble).

Oh, also yesterday, Scarlett Johansson dropped by the campaign headquarters to give us a pep talk.

My gut: We’re going to win PA.

02/23/2024

Developers of hangars out at Hanscom for super-polluting private jets for the super-rich, the IRS is dinging your business model. Massport, please get your head out of the bucket of money it's buried in, and realize you're morally tainted:

The tax collection agency’s scrutiny will involve new data analytics tools to find private jet owners who claim millions of dollars in deductions on planes being used for personal travel.

04/20/2021

I give my Dad, Mike Barrett, mixed grades

He needs to up his fundraising game I give my Dad mixed grades. Dear Friend, My dad, State Senator Mike Barrett, leads the Legislature's fight against global warming. Joined by colleagues and buoyed

04/01/2021

Gov. Baker signed the climate bill, but there could be a hitch

The law is a game-changer -- if it's implemented correctly Dear Friend, Bill signing for the Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy took place last week in the State H

12/03/2020

Together with my colleagues Will Brownsberger and State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, who did a brilliant job representing the MA Senate in fruitful negotiations with the MA House, I want to urge everyone to write Gov. Baker. Ask him to do the right thing and sign the new Police Reform bill.

Important update — On Tuesday, I stood with organizers all across the Commonwealth and voted to pass nation-leading police reforms that will increase accountability and improve police-community trust.

While we didn’t win all the policy changes we pushed for, Tuesday night’s compromise bill takes serious steps toward answering the call for racial justice — and it includes reforms proposed by a diverse array of advocates and elected officials, including Governor Baker himself.

Now, Governor Baker must take the last step and sign the bill. Sign our petition urging him to sign these common-sense reforms, supported by a majority of Bay Staters, into law: https://bit.ly/2KYQb6x

11/12/2020

Bad things happen to presidents who trash-talk Philadelphia, and other things we learned ...

08/21/2020

Each of us out my way needs to read this and discuss.

White people are rallying against racism, but will they finally make it much easier for minorities to move into their neighborhoods?

07/19/2020

An eloquent Boston voice, unmasked.

Only six months have gone by since a persistent chorus of teachers and friends hounded Alondra Bobadilla into applying to become Boston's first youth poet laureate. She didn’t think she had a chance of winning, and just the thought of it was terrifying: How could she ever find the courage to stand...

07/14/2020

Gotta say, the Massachusetts State Senate does nice work. Proud to be part of it.

The bill would license law enforcement officers, train them in the history of racism, ban chokeholds and limit tear gas, among other things.