Support Democrat Barbara L’Italien’s run for the open House of Representatives seat in Massachusetts’s 3rd District.
L’Italien is a Massachusetts state Senator and has been since 2014. She also served in the state’s House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011.
As a state legislator, she defended marriage equality and fought to improve public schools and expand access to health care. She also opposed a $3.3 billion natural gas pipeline project that would have ended in Dracut, a town that she represents in the state senate.
In particular, L’Italien championed a state law that require private health insurers to cover services for those diagnosed with autism, and a second law that extended the autism coverage requirement to MassHealth, the state’s public health insurance option. One of her four children has autism.
If she wins the September 4, 2017 primary and gets elected in November, she will be the only sitting member of the 535-member federal Congress who has parented an autistic person.
Massachusetts’s 3rd District seat is open because five-term representative Democrat Niki Tsongas has chosen not to run again. (L’Italien ran against Tsongas in 2008 for the federal seat and lost to her.)
L’Italien is one of 11 Democrats who have committed to the primary. Two Republicans are running as well.
The 2018 Massachusetts primary promises to be extra-challenging because of the calendar. It falls on Tuesday, September 4, 2017–the day after the Labor Day holiday, and at the end of the summer season. Both facts will likely combine to depress turnout.
The Cook Political Report rates Massachusetts’s 3rd District as Solid Democrat.
Note: Sarah Jane, lead writer of the OTYCD blog, chose L’Italien for her Core Four.
See L’Italien’s campaign website:
See her Meet Barbara page:
http://teambarbara.com/bio.html
Donate to her campaign:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/barbara-l-italien-7?refcode=website_header
Volunteer for L’Italien:
http://teambarbara.com/getinvolved.html
Choose L’Italien for your Core Four for 2018:
https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/
Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!
Like L’Italien on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/teambarbara
Follow her on Twitter:
@teambarbara
See her Ballotpedia page:
https://ballotpedia.org/Barbara_L%27Italien
See the Ballotpedia page on Massachusetts’ 3rd District:
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts%27_3rd_Congressional_District_election,_2018
See L’Italien’s State Senate scorecard from Progressive Massachusetts:
One Thing You Can Do 