Chang-Diaz takes a second run at Mass. state Senate seat

Two years after narrowly losing to state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (D-Boston) in a highly contested primary, Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Boston) is back in the mix, challenging the senator in a race she believes she is better prepared to win.

When asked why this year will be different, Chang-Diaz is quick to respond, "The most important difference is that in 2006 we started from zero. Zero name recognition. Zero volunteer base. Zero organization. And we went from that to 44 percent."
Sonia Chang-Diaz (D)
Wilkerson narrowly edged Chang-Diaz in 2006 to continue representing the second Suffolk district in the Senate, earning 50 percent of the vote to Chang-Diaz's 44. Because neither candidate gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot, both relied on a sticker campaigns, which made the race more challenging from an organizational standpoint. Further complicating matters for Chang-Diaz, the Republican candidate on the November ballot, Samiyah Diaz, had a similar name.

Earning 44 percent of the vote, she said, was a huge success and it sent her a "tremendously large message for how much hunger there is for this campaign."

Chang-Diaz said she started with that same political organization this year and has been able to steadily expand it. Deborah Shah, Chang-Diaz's campaign manager, said the campaign's office is constantly staffed during the day. "More volunteers," she said, "come in in the evening to canvas. We usually have a group of people canvassing every night."

Since both Chang-Diaz and Wilkerson gathered the requisite number of signatures this year, both their names will appear on the primary ballot. Chang-Diaz sees this as a major advantage, since her campaign won't have to spend resources instructing voters how to fill in the ballot.

"When voters clearly want to make a change," she said, "it is easier for them to make that choice when that choice is explicitly on front of them on the ballot."

On the issues, Chang-Diaz acknowledges she differs very little from Wilkerson. Sounding almost like U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Chang-Diaz has framed her campaign about change.

"I hear it over and over again," she said, "voters have been very frustrated having to make a choice between the same names...It makes them cynical about the political process."

Chang-Diaz does differ from Wilkerson on a couple issues. First, she says she is more dedicated to clean elections laws than Wilkerson is. And, second, that she opposes the opening of the biolab at Boston University because the scientific review hasn't been completed yet.

Wilkerson did not return calls for comment.

Despite her organizational advantages this election, Chang-Diaz still faces and increasingly steep uphill battle. Wilkerson has more aggressively campaigned this year than in 2006, making a statement by submitting well over the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot.

Wilkerson also earned the endorsement of Boston's Ward 5 Democratic Committee last week, earning two thirds of the vote after the two candidates faced off in a debate. In 2006, Ward 5 originally endorsed Wilkerson before rescinding that endorsement as the primary neared. Even those that were supporting Wilkerson at the meeting say they were surprised Wilkerson beat Chang-Diaz 18 to 3 at the meeting.

Michael George, a member of the committee, was there to organize for Wilkerson. "For her to win it 18-3 was astounding," George said. "It was based upon her debate performance. We thought we had the votes to stop the Chang-Diaz from winning the endorsement but we didn't think we had the votes to win the endorsement. Then the candidates spoke and five or six committee members switched."

The Chang-Diaz camp, however, chalked up the endorsement to politics as usual when running against an incumbent. "When you run against an incumbent you expect the traditional power structure to endorse your opponent and that's just how it is," Shah said. "While we would have been honored to receive the endorsement, we are working hard in the campaign to receive the endorsement of the voters."

Another concern raised by Democrats in the district is that if Chang-Diaz was planning on running, why didn't she do a better job following 2006 race to lay the groundwork for this year. Some said they rarely saw Chang-Diaz at community meetings.

Chang-Diaz responded that she didn't decide right away that she would run again. Eventually, she said, she did start attending community meetings and she heard that people were still concerned about their representation in the State House.

"I really felt strongly about going through a process of listening to people," she said. "What I really kept coming back to, and I heard this from all of the people I talked, was the strong message that people really are hungry for change."