Three-term state Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven announces candidacy for 2nd Middlesex District Senate seat

The following was submitted by state Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven:

State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven announced her candidacy for state Senate in the 2nd Middlesex District, pledging to be an unabashed progressive voice in the Senate, one who leads with conviction, delivers results, and is committed to fighting for you, even when it’s tough.

“We have delivered big wins by bringing our communities together. Doubling funding for local affordable housing by millions of dollars a year, taxing millionaires to fix the MBTA and fund our public schools,” Uyterhoeven said. “Now we’re going to open every door on Beacon Hill and build a Massachusetts where everyone truly belongs.”

Uyterhoeven has a record of turning people-powered legislative pressure into results. In the fight for transparency, she made all committee votes public; this allowed for a recent energy bill, written by corporate polluters that would have raised families’ utility bills and gutted our climate goals, to be blocked. She initiated the fight for the State House to bring forward legislation to get ICE out of Massachusetts. She is the only legislator to fight to protect residents’ data with privacy protections in Gov. Maura Healey’s contract to deploy OpenAI’s ChatGPT across the state government.

“I have been inspired by Sen. Jehlen’s courage to fight for our values. For 20 years, she has been the progressive heart of the Massachusetts Senate, the voice that said what needed to be said, fought the fights no one else would take, and won,” Uyterhoeven said. “That seat needs a leader who carries that same fire. That’s the kind of senator I will be.”

Uyterhoeven is the daughter of immigrants raised by her single mom. She credits watching greedy investors attack her mom’s flight attendant union and forcing aviation workers into abysmal wages and benefits, for teaching her the need to take on the toughest fights.

“I learned from a young age that workers, immigrants, and strong women like my mom, we aren’t going to win by asking nicely,” said Uyterhoeven, “we need to organize to build a people-powered movement to take on big special interests, which is what we need to pass bold legislation in the State House.”

Uyterhoeven made the official announcement this morning at the Medford / Tufts MBTA station.

She has already been endorsed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222 who represent the State House Employees Union, Cambridge City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Somerville City Councilors JT Scott and Jon Link. In addition to endorsing organizations and elected officials, Uyterhoeven was joined by

dozens of community members and supporters.

Proven track record on Beacon Hill

Last week on the House floor, Uyterhoeven exposed how utility companies secured a fast track to profit off of more infrastructure while a billion dollars was cut from Mass Save, a program that helps families lower their energy bills. She filed an amendment requiring utilities to disclose executive compensation before raising residential rates, but only four representatives out of 160 stood to support it.

“Corporations get handouts at the expense of working families,” Uyterhoeven said. “The growing affordability crisis is a product of the state legislature prioritizing donors and companies over their constituents.”

In her six-year tenure in the State House, Uyterhoeven has spearheaded legislation around protecting public sector workers’ right to strike, establishing minimum pay for educators, and restoring voting rights for incarcerated people.

Unafraid of the big fights

Two weeks ago, Uyterhoeven published an investigation into Healey’s contract deploying OpenAI’s ChatGPT to up to 40,000 state employees, a deal recommended by an AI Task Force stacked with executives from Microsoft, Amazon, and Fidelity, each of whom has existing financial ties to OpenAI. Within 24 hours, seven senior administration officials called a meeting with one state representative from Somerville.

“They didn’t call to release the documents,” Uyterhoeven said. “They called to explain.”

Uyterhoeven connected the technology fight directly to immigrant safety: OpenAI appears in the Department of Homeland Security’s AI inventory, and ICE has nearly doubled its AI use cases in six months. She cited Somerville resident Rümeysa Öztürk, detained by masked federal agents, and mothers in the district delaying prenatal care out of fear that accessing health benefits will expose their families.

“People deserve to know what technology is being used on them and who profits from it,” she

said. “The Legislature has that power. I intend to use it, not for you, but with you.”

The Second Middlesex seat is being vacated by retiring Sen. Pat Jehlen, who has represented Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, and Winchester for 20 years.

The Democratic primary is Sept. 1, 2026.