SOUTH END NEWS: ’This year we can go all the way to the State House’

By Ben Berzai | Tuesday May 20, 2008

Speaking to her supporters alternately in English and Spanish, Sonia Chang-Diaz kicked off her second bid to unseat long-time incumbent Sen. Diane Wilkerson for the Democratic nomination for the Second Suffolk District seat; a seat Chang-Diaz narrowly lost to Wilkerson in 2006.

Different in this rematch for Chang-Diaz, the 29-year-old former public school teacher and policy advocate, is the benefit of time and resources to organize and execute a campaign against the now eight-term incumbent Wilkerson. She’ll have the name recognition that comes with winning 44 percent of the primary vote (to Wilkerson’s 49 percent) despite not formally launching her 2006 challenge until less than four months before the primary election. And she will have perspective.

"We came so far two years ago," Chang-Diaz told about 40 campaign staffers and volunteers at her kickoff rally at her Jamaica Plain headquarters. "I know that this year we can go all the way to the State House. Because one thing that became very clear to me as I spoke with the residents across this district is that if we could have knocked on every door and if we could have spread our message to every voter, we would have won that election because this district is ready for change. We are ready for change."

What remains to be seen, and what may be decided in the mid-September Democratic primary, is just how Wilkerson’s previous transgressions - including ethics violations, an indictment for tax evasion and campaign finance violations - will offset her accomplishments in the eyes of voters during this election cycle. Was Chang-Diaz’s success as much a result of her campaigning as it was Wilkerson backlash?

For her part, Chang-Diaz said her campaign is about progressive issues like underfunded public schools, youth outreach to curb the at times brazen violence in the district, economic development, and rising health care and housing costs that are "unaffordable for working families." She said she wants to reinstate public trust in the office, a veiled reminder of Wilkerson’s ethics record. Chang-Diaz said she would not shy away from reminding voters of Wilkerson’s past flaws, but would not build her campaign around them, either.

"We won’t focus on that any more or less than any of the other issues," Chang-Diaz said about Wilkerson’s past, "but it is part of the package." It may come down to that, though, as Chang-Diaz describes both herself and her opponent as "progressive Democrats" with "some shared viewpoints." She does dismiss any personal rift with Wilkerson, calling their relationship "normal."

Wilkerson did not respond to a request for comment on Chang-Diaz’s Campaign announcement.

Suffolk’s second district includes Chinatown, the South End, Roxbury, The Fenway, Jamaica Plain, and parts of the Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Dorchester, and Mattapan. In the last election, Chang-Diaz did well in JP, where she lives, and in Back Bay, but Wilkerson’s base in Roxbury supplied the support she needed to carry the vote.

To increase her outreach in the district this year, Chang-Diaz enlisted Deborah Shah as her campaign manager. Shah worked as an organizer on regional and national campaigns for the Democratic Party and is assembling volunteer groups - known as "the Delta Force for Change" - to relay Chang-Diaz’s message to voters throughout the district on a weekly basis. It will be a grassroots campaign, relying heavily on those volunteers to spread the message.

Many of the volunteers present on Sunday, some from as far away as Swampscott, said they admire Chang-Diaz’s ideas, youth and vitality. Others said they wanted to get involved in politics on a local level and are tired of the cynicism in electoral politics. Bryan Hirsch, 27, who lives in Jamaica Plain but grew up in California, volunteered for Chang-Diaz’s first bid and re-enlisted this year because he "believes" in her. He also said he was "really upset" to learn Wilkerson had not collected enough names at the time to put her name on the ballot in the 2006 primary. As a result of her signature shortage, Wilkerson was forced to wage a sticker campaign that year. Chang-Diaz also ran a sticker campaign, owing to her last-minute entry into the race.

Following the Sunday kickoff, many of the volunteers took to the streets to begin a door-knocking campaign for Chang-Diaz that will continue all the way to the Sept. 16 Democratic primary and, for Chang-Diaz, hopefully through to the November general election, where Socialist Worker’s Party candidate William Leonard will likely be on the ballot.

What is clear to Chang-Diaz is both candidates will have to move beyond their voting blocks from the previous election in order to get their message heard in their district’s economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

"Any candidate who is a serious candidate in this race is going to have to campaign across ethnic lines, across racial lines, across neighborhood lines," Chang-Diaz said. "That’s what we did in 2006. That’s what we are going to do this year... speaking all the languages I can speak."

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