What It's Like Being a Rank and File Rep
Congratulations, you’ve been elected to the MA House!
You knocked on thousands of doors. You promised voters you’d fight for healthcare, housing, and bold climate action. You told them you'd speak truth to power and you're ready to be that voice.
But when you arrive, you find out: your fight for change isn't welcome.
Want to file an amendment to prevent corporate tax loopholes? Leadership ignores you when you try to speak on the floor.
Imagine you aren't ignored. That bill — 100+ pages long — was crafted behind closed doors over several months, but you've only had a few hours to read it, draft your amendments, and convince your colleagues to support you before the vote happens later today.
Frustrated with the Speaker’s authoritative approach? If you suggest someone run against him, he can take away your vice chair position and the additional salary that goes with it.
Keep pushing? The Speaker can move your desk to the hallway.
It’s not just punishments — the speaker has carrots to reward you when you make tough votes against your conscience:
Don’t mind voting against the government transparency reforms you ran on? You might be rewarded with a paid committee chair position that never even meets.
Vote against your own bill to stay in good favor with the Speaker? You might get a new staffer hire, allowing you to do your job more effectively.
From your first day in office, you’re told this is just how Beacon Hill works: fall in line, or face the consequences. And here's the thing: it’s all within the Speaker’s power.
Who Wins in
This System?
Powerful lobbyists and industry insiders.
In a healthy democracy, lobbyists have to persuade the public, and lawmakers have to win votes. In Massachusetts, they just need to whisper in leadership’s ear. When one person controls the agenda, backroom deals replace public debate — and the people barely factor in.
Aaron Michlewitz, the Speaker’s top deputy and presumed successor, has amassed more than $1.3 million in campaign funds—even though he hasn’t faced an opponent since 2009.
Who Loses in This System?
YOU and everyone else.
Working families. Renters. Patients. Immigrants. Voters elect candidates who promise bold action, but those promises slam into a wall of silence. Lawmakers who fall in line are rewarded; those who argue are punished. Meanwhile, real problems — healthcare costs, housing instability, economic inequality, threats to marginalized populations — keep growing. When popular policy dies, public trust collapses and cynicism wins.
In 2019, these progressive reps were repeatedly ignored while speaking on the House floor, one even waving her arms and calling out. Two have since left office.