Massachusetts Democrats launched their 2026 election season over the past few weeks at the most basic level of politics. Democratic ward committees, made up of people elected to represent their neighborhoods within their political party, gathered in caucuses to elect delegates to the State Convention, to be held in May in Worcester. I have been a member of the Ward 13 Democratic Committee for over 40 years, and have seen good, bad, and contentious versions of these annual events. Most of the time, ward leaders have to beg people to go to the conventions, but this year, Democrats sense blood in the Republican water, and our ward actually had contested elections for delegates.
The Ward 13 caucus, held above The Daily in Savin Hill, heard from candidates for both local and statewide offices and members had to move through a gauntlet of signature gatherers for candidates to get into the caucus room. From there, Ward Committee chair Matt Patton took nominations, and candidates had a couple of minutes each to register their bona fides and ask for votes. Voting was not anonymous – you had to sign your ballot. With a bit of contentious discussion on whether the young-elected delegates should go as youth delegates to make room for more old-timers, it was a smooth event, with 16 elected to go to Worcester.
It hasn’t always been this smooth. The 1980s, in particular, were a time of bare- knuckle politics that spilled into caucus elections. In one such instance, held at the Strand Theatre, the chair of the Ward 13 Committee refused to accept any nominations except for those who would be under the control of elected officials. Jim Canny, a neighborhood leader of the day who wanted to nominate reformer candidates, raised his hand as the chair asked for nominations to be closed and started yelling, “Mr. chairman, Mr. chairman” and when there was no recognition, yelled, “Chairman Hitler, Chairman Hitler!” also to no avail. Following the caucus, he protested to the state Democratic Party, which required the ward to void that caucus and hold another one.
Following the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, there was a movement to bring in a younger generation to the ward committees, and Ward 13 became a test case. A youthful politically active group, which included me, decided to run a slate of reform candidates at the caucus. When the incumbent committee found out, they made up their own slate. The weeks before the caucus were a time of begging everyone you knew to come to the caucus at St. William’s School (now Cristo Rey High School). The reform group got 252 people to come and the names of its reform candidates were printed on white paper. The incumbents also got their supporters out and printed their list of candidates on blue paper.
People walking into the school were handed one of the two colored sheets based on which group they were with to whispers of “Vote the blue slate” or “Vote the white slate.” The problem for the reformers was that the incumbents had 257 supporters, so the reform slate lost by votes of 257-252. The following year, the incumbents approached us and said, “We don’t want to go through that again. Let’s just split the delegation in half.” Ah, Democratic Unity!
These ward political divisions also spilled out into civic association elections. Civic associations were more likely than not to be critical of Mayor Kevin White and his administration, so there was an effort on White’s behalf to take them over. In the 1980 Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association election for officers, White’s political operation moved to take out President Jim Canny, who wrote regular criticisms of White in the “Dorchester Community News” and the civic association newsletter.
The mayor’s people nominated Tom Kelly, who ran the UMass Boston Field Office, then located on Dorchester Avenue, for president. They then proceeded to sign up dozens of City Hall workers, many from the same Willis Street address. to be civic association members. Tom was so convinced he would win that he had champagne at the field office for his victory celebration. But at the election, many of the City Hall folks who were unhappy that they were forced to join and go to the election meeting wound up voting for Canny, who won. The civic associations weren’t going to be easy.
Mayor White’s political operation then decided to take over the increasingly independent Boston City Council, which had all at-large seats at the time, by running a group of seven citywide candidates that got to be known as “The Kevin Seven.” Part of the campaign was to make up fake civic associations and have them endorse the “Seven.” Fliers were printed up in City Hall and delivered door to door, with dozens of notices from non-existent groups – such as “The Edward Everett Square Civic Association endorses the following candidates for city council” – with the Kevin Seven listed. Six of the seven lost.
Democratic neighborhood politics are no longer as brutal as they once were, though the divisions in the party continue to be real. As the humorist Will Rogers famously noted in 1933, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” However, with this year’s election being a referendum on President Trump, maybe things will be different.
Bill Walczak is president of the Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association and a member of the Ward 13 Democratic Committee. At this year’s caucus, he was elected as a delegate to the convention.
