District 4 is comprised of 19 wards in Boston, some precincts in Braintree, and the towns of Cohasset, Dedham, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Norwood, Quincy, Rockland, Scituate, Walpole, Westwood and Weymouth.

Christopher Iannella, Jr. is the longest serving member of the Governor’s Council having been first elected to this seat 32 years ago. He had, in fact, previously served as a Councilor for District 2 from 1985 to 1990 when he was defeated for reelection.

Councilor Iannella comes from a political family. His father served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and for many years on the Boston City Council. The room in Boston City Hall where the City Council meets is named the Christopher A. Iannella Chamber in his honor. Iannella, Jr.’s brother was an at-large City Council member and Suffolk County Register of Probate and his sister was a member of the Boston Licensing Board and the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

Christopher Iannella is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School. He cofounded his own law firm in 1984 where he continues to work. The firm specializes in auto accidents, slip and falls, and workers’ compensation cases in Massachusetts, as well as Social Security disability cases.

In 15 general elections, Iannella has only faced opponents in five elections, and the highest percentage vote received by any opposing candidate was 31.4% in 2010. Iannella has faced primary opposition in 11 elections but has not had a primary challenger since 2018. He had the same primary challenger in six elections.

From 2015 to 2022 during Governor Baker’s administration, out of 247 judicial nominees, Iannella voted against six and he was absent for 14 votes. Iannella voted against three of Baker’s nominees for the Parole Board out of a total of 11 nominations and he was absent for one Parole Board vote. Iannella voted in favor of all three commutations recommended by Governor Baker.

Christopher Iannella has a Twitter account but does not have a website.

Eileen Duff represents District 5, the northern chunk of Massachusetts which includes the North Shore and Merrimack Valley and borders New Hampshire. It includes only two cities that are diverse: Lawrence and Lowell. Others of the remaining thirty-four towns in her district have less diversity, i.e., Amesbury, Pepperell, Wilmington, Rockport, Tewksbury, Danvers, Peabody, and Manchester-by-the-Sea.  A map of her district is here.

In terms of per capita income, only Andover and Newburyport are ranked in the top 50 in the state. Of 300 ranked towns, West Newbury (300), Lawrence (298), Lowell (284) have the lowest per capita income.

Duff (Dem), who hails from Gloucester, was first elected in November 2012 and assumed office on January 3, 2013. She had been challenged in the primary by Donald Bumiller of Boxford and David Eppley and George O’Brine, both of Salem, Mass. In 2018, she was challenged by Nicholas Torresi of Methuen, but usually she has not faced Democratic challengers. In state elections she has however always been challenged by Republicans, occasionally Libertarians, and she has won. She has won six times. Her current term ends on January 7, 2027.

Duff was born in Peabody, and according to an impartial fact-checking website, has an MA from Cambridge College in Management/Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Ministry from Wisdom University in San Francisco. She has done a lot of work on the North Shore, in Beverly with Beverly Business Today and Beverly Cable Access Show. She also is or has been a member of quite a few organizations including American Association of University Women, the Beverly Chamber of Commerce and Salem Chamber of Commerce.

She tried to run for state auditor in 2021 but did not make the ballot according to Ballotpedia, although she says she withdrew from the race because of family issues. Duff also ran and lost for chairmanship of Democratic State Committee in 2016 to Steve Kerrigan. Her only successful elected position has been as governor’s councilor.

She has raised a total of $288,840 running for Governor’s Council in her 6 times since 2012. In terms of political donations, she gave money to Deval Patrick, Mara Dolan (who ran against fellow councilor Marilyn Devaney) and Governor Maura Healy.

Notable news articles about Duff:

• “Rival takes aim at Duff’s religious line of questioning”—Gloucester Times 2016
• “Duff, on behavior of Governor’s Council: ‘It’s pure politics’”—Newpuryport News 2017
• “Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council Inflames Parole Board Hearing” – DIGBoston  2022
• “Western Mass Prosecutor Karen McCarthy added to Parole Board”—New England Public Media 2019
• “Cloutier Confirmed after Reproduction Rights Discussion”—Boston Statehouse 2022

Terrence Kennedy, a Democrat, represents District 6, which includes parts of Boston and Cambridge, as well as a hodgepodge of communities north of Boston, including: Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Marblehead, Medford, Melrose, Nahant, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Swampscott, Wakefield, Winchester, and Winthrop. These communities include a range of demographic and economic characteristics.

Kennedy was first elected to Governor’s Council in November 2000, after narrowly winning a primary by 80 votes (21,659 to 21,579, with 15,730 blanks), and going on to win 55 percent of the vote in the general election against three candidates. In the seven subsequent elections he has been unopposed in the primary three times and had one or two primary opponents in other primaries. In 2020, he defeated Helina Fontes by 55-45 percent, but in all other contested primaries he has received between 65 and 95 percent of the votes. After his narrow first election, Kennedy has been unopposed three times, but even in those instances in which he has faced a Republican opponent, he has garnered between 70 and 98 percent of the vote (achieving the latter in three of those final elections).

Kennedy holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts, Boston (1980), and a JD in law from Boston College School of Law (1983).  Currently an attorney in private practice, he has served as an Assistant District Attorney in both the Norfolk and Middlesex County District Attorney offices, as well as a Law Clerk in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court.  He has coached youth athletics and been a member of the Lynn Board of Appeals. 

Notable news articles about Kennedy: 

https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/regional_news/pac-with-ties-to-gov-baker-spending-on-democrats/article_e5f3f3b7-122e-5c8a-8fd8-1723f7da6116.html

https://eastietimes.com/2020/08/25/ag-maura-healey-endorses-terrence-kennedy-for- re-election-to-the-governors-council/

Paul DePalo represents District 7 which is the central part of the state. It includes the city of Worcester as well as Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Westford, Barre, Brookfield, Brimfield, Sturbridge, Bolton, Westborough,  and Grafton; in all 65 cities and towns.  See the map above for more details. These areas represent both urban and rural areas, and ethnic as well as economic diversity.

DePalo was first elected to the Governor’s Council in November 2020 and re-elected in 2022. He is a Democrat, and in the 2022 election, he ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. He was challenged by Republican Gary Golonek in the general election, who he defeated by some  40,000 votes.

Councillor DePalo earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, a J.D. from Northeastern University, and an M.Ed. from Fitchburg State University. His career experience includes working as an attorney in Massachusetts state and federal courts, and as a public-school teacher who specialized in alternative special education programming for at-risk kids. He has been recognized for his pro bono work in education law. He has also served on the Worcester Planning Board. He is currently an attorney with Duddy, Goodwin and Pollard.

DePalo was an outspoken critic of the Parole Board under the chairmanship of Gloriann Moroney (April 2019-October, 2022), faulting them publicly for failing to conduct commutation and pardon hearings, failing to issue parole decisions in a timely way, and failing to address racial and ethnic diversity issues in parole. On July 29, 2021, in a rare event, the Governor’s Council rejected then Governor Baker’s nominee for the Parole Board. In a video clip from the vote, Councillor DePalo used the opportunity to call for Parole Board reform: “justice delayed is justice denied.” He criticized the Board for inordinate delays in parole decisions, locking people up for technical violations while on parole, and the lack of commutations and pardons, all responsible for perpetuating racial injustice.

DePalo has called for a judicial system that reflects the geographical and racial composition of Massachusetts. In a letter to the Worcester Telegram, he pointed out that is has been over 20 years since there was a judge on the Supreme Judicial Court from central Massachusetts. And he noted that only 11% of MA judges are people of color.

According to Depalo’s website, he is committed to:

-ending persistent racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration rates

-using commutations and pardons as a tool to address inequities

-recognizing the Importance of mental health and addiction specialists throughout the criminal legal system

-protecting bodily autonomy and LGBTQ rights.

Tara Jacobs is the newest member of the Governor’s Council having been elected in Nov. 2022 to fill the 8^th district seat vacated by Mary Hurley’s retirement. The 8^th district spans all Western Massachusetts including communities in Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Worcester Counties. A map of the district is here. 

Ms. Jacobs, who is from North Adams, is a marketing consultant. She served as an elected member of the North Adams School Committee and the chair of the Trustees of the North Adams Public Library. She also served on the Berkshire County Commission on the Status of women, the Northern Berkshire Local Cultural Council, and the chair of the North Adams Democratic City Committee.

Ms. Jacobs pulled off a surprising victory in the Democratic primary, running against three candidates, all lawyers. Mary Hurley who retired from Council, endorsed one of Ms. Jacobs’ challengers and, according to state campaign finance records, Ms. Jacobs spent under $10,000, while her three opponents spent between $75,000 and $92,000 each on their campaigns. According to her campaign manager, Jacobs ran a grassroots, boots-on-the-ground, campaign. They traveled to all areas of the 8^th district to pick up votes wherever possible rather than concentrating solely on larger population areas.

Ms. Jacobs trounced her Republican challenger, John Comerford, 61.8% to 38.1% (170,120 votes to 104,839). Jacobs and Comerford could not have been further apart on the issues, with Comerford stating in the debate with Jacobs that judges are “100%” too lenient; he doesn’t believe in granting parole and “if people who are poor can’t do the time, then I suggest they don’t do the crime.” In contrast Ms. Jacobs spoke about the importance of pardons and commutations as a “symbol of hope and a reason to work towards rehabilitation.” She also expressed her belief that members of the Council should be active in recruiting qualified and diverse candidates to be judges and members of the Parole Board and make it a “priority to persuade the governor to select them.”

Ms. Jacobs’ website emphasizes her commitment to “Equity, Inclusion, Accountability and Social Justice for All.” She pledges to work on dismantling systemic injustice and promoting accountability and transparency on the part of the Governor’s Council.