All three candidates for the Suffolk County district attorney’s seat came out swinging in the first, and most likely only, forum for the race, held at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury on Aug. 6.
The barbs began in the opening statements when former prosecutor Linda Champion set the tone by differentiating herself from former DA Rachael Rollins and incumbent DA Kevin Hayden.
“I’m running for this seat because I feel that you need someone who has integrity, the temperament, and the ability to lead,” Champion said. “I’m running against two individuals who I feel have had an opportunity to show us what they can do with this seat and each time they have failed us in that endeavor.”
Hayden came out of the gate more subdued, touting his experience on the job, which he has held since he was appointed in 2022.
“This job, the job of district attorney, requires someone that has the experience, the sound judgment, and the independence to do the job,” he said. “And my track record and experience demonstrates that I am that person. It demonstrates that I have the ability to apply the facts of the law in an independent, just, and fair way.”
Rollins cited her experience as former district attorney and former US Attorney for Massachusetts and told the audience that Hayden hasn’t been meeting the challenges of the job.
“We see today that shooters that are arrested now have four open gun cases under this administration,” she said. “We’ve seen four mass shootings in the last five weeks, and we’re getting thoughts and prayers from this DA. Right. I don’t want your thoughts and prayers. I want an active leader, not a passive person. Somebody who knows what they’re doing was competent and qualified, and [who] two of the six police departments haven’t turned their back on. The MBTA police and the Boston police have an issue with this DA.”
Hayden earned the ire of MBTA police brass in 2022 after he dropped criminal charges against an MBTA sergeant accused of covering up the beating of a homeless man and then did the same in the case of another MBTA officer who allegedly brandished a weapon at a motorist while off duty.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association endorsed Champion this year after Hayden filed charges against a Boston officer who shot and killed an unarmed Dorchester man suspected in a carjacking in Roxbury.
Rachael Rollins made a point during the Aug. 6 debate at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. Yawu Miller photo
As the debate went on, Hayden and Rollins continued trading barbs.
He highlighted a Department of Justice Inspector General report charging that Rollins misused her office to influence the 2022 race for the district attorney’s seat in which Hayden faced off against former City Councillor Ricardo Arroyo, lied to federal officials, and attended a Democratic Party fundraiser while serving as US Attorney.
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Rollins resigned from the US Attorney’s post, but at the forum, she denied the allegations and noted that the charges were never proven. She also admonished Hayden and Champion for alleging she had engaged in ethics violations that were never proven in a hearing.
“I have never lied to federal officials,” she said. “If somebody doesn’t know the difference between an allegation, a finding, a ruling, or a judgment, you don’t deserve to be a lawyer.”
She told the audience she stepped down because she was facing threats.
“I wish I had exercised better judgment at that time, but I also made clear that I left, not necessarily because of the OIG investigation, but because my family and I were being threatened, and I am a crime victim,” she said. “No job is worth anyone having their life threatened over.”
In her opening remarks, Rollins hit hard at Hayden, alleging, among other things, that his office has not responded to community members and crime victims.
“I feel personally responsible when my phone still rings, and people say, ‘We can’t get a return call from the DA’s office,’” she said. “People say, my child’s homicide, or my loved one’s homicide has gone unanswered in this administration.”
DA Kevin Hayden addressed the crowd at Hibernian Hall on Aug. 6. Yawu Miller photo
In a rebuttal, Hayden hit back at Rollins, stressing his office’s engagement with community members and what he said were Rollins’s failures in office.
“I didn’t leave my post after three years,” he said. “I didn’t have one foot out the door for three years looking for something bigger. This person left her job, and now she wants it back, because nothing else worked out for her. And it didn’t work out for her because of her lack of ethics and integrity.”
While Rollins’s and Hayden’s back-and-forth generated crowd response, Champion appeared to admonish the audience while stressing her experience as an assistant district attorney, including her 2023 stint in Hayden’s office.
“I think you guys all find this very entertaining, but the reality is, the position of the district attorney is a serious role,” she said, citing allegations that Rollins, while serving as district attorney, activated the blue lights in her car during a traffic dispute and that Hayden’s office leaked part of a 2007 police report that contained allegations that Arroyo while a teenager had committed sexual assault.
While the full police report concluded the allegations against Arroyo were unfounded — meaning no crime was committed — Hayden’s office told reporters that there was nothing in the report suggesting the allegations were unfounded.
Champion said the incidents demonstrated that neither of her opponents had the temperament for the job.
“Temperament looks like you don’t turn on your blue lights in a car that you’re not authorized to drive,” she said. “Temperament looks like, when sexual assault, juvenile court records are released to the public unlawfully, that you investigate that crime, and you get to the bottom of who released it.”
The candidates each presented different visions of how they would balance the duty of a district attorney to prosecute criminal defendants while also holding police accountable for allegations of malfeasance.
Hayden noted that his office instituted a Public Integrity Unit.
“That does require a number of circumstances working with the police department’s internal investigations directly when it comes to certain allegations,” he said. “But that’s what we’ve done in order to make sure that these cases are properly investigated.”
Rollins noted that while in office she created a Discharge Integrity Team that worked independently from the police department’s Internal Affairs Division.
The three candidates, from left: Rachael Rollins, incumbent DA Kevin Hayden, and Linda Champion. Yawu Miller photo
“People don’t trust the police — in particular, when they discharge their weapon and kill one of us, or harm one of us — for the police to do their own investigation,” she said. “We’re not police officers, so we’re not the top cop. We’re the chief law enforcement officer.”
Champion used the question to criticize Hayden’s handling of the March 11 police shooting of Stephenson King, arguing that Hayden’s office was quick to indict the shooter — officer Sean O’Malley — and should have released the body camera footage of the incident to the public.
Hayden, who discussed the shooting in a May private meeting with local officials, pastors and community members, said releasing the footage could influence a grand jury convening on the shooting.
“There’s no reason why you have to be so quick to judge, and then withhold information, and have secret meetings to the detriment, not only of police officers, but to the public,” she said.
The three candidates have been gearing up for early voting, which starts Aug. 22, and the Sept. 1 Democratic primary in what has been a quiet campaign season.
Voters in the Suffolk County municipalities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop will decide the race during the primary, as there is no Republican on the ballot.
Hayden, who has received the lion’s share of endorsements, including the backing of Mayor Michelle Wu, has raised $151,459 in campaign donations this year. Champion, who worked in Hayden’s office in 2023, has raised $73,637. Rollins has raised $9,352, but began the year with $43,754 in her campaign account.
