Jesse Mermell: Patch Candidate Profile 4th Congressional District

BROOKLINE, MA — Nearly a dozen candidates, including nine Democrats and two Republicans, are vying to represent the Massachusetts 4th Congressional District as Rep. Joe Kennedy leaves to challenge Sen. Ed Markey for his seat in the senate. The 4th Congressional District runs from Newton and parts of Brookline, Wellesley and Hopkinton and down to the South Coast.

To get to know the 4th District candidates, Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Among those running in the Democratic Primary Sept. 1, is Jesse Mermell, 40, of Brookline. She's lived in town for the past two decades. She was the youngest person to be elected to the Select Board and served two terms there. She's been elected to serve the community as a Town Meeting Member, a Library Trustee and has been involved in a range of community issues and organizations —including as Gov. Deval Patrick's communications director — throughout the years.

Mermell's longtime partner, Pratt Wiley worked on the Obama campaign and is the CEO of President of Partnership, but her family including parents Bob and Jet and younger brother Pete, have never run for office. Neither, we suspect, has her dog Isabella.

Here's what Mermell had to say about her campaign and why she's running:

What politicians have inspired you and might you model your time in Congress after?
I’m inspired by my longtime friend and supporter Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. She’s taught me to ignore anyone who says to “wait your turn” - something I also learned from my former boss, Gov. Deval Patrick.

She’s taught me to be bold and to never underestimate the power of my experience, my vision and my voice. This was front of mind for me recently when a male opponent attempted to dismiss my 20-year career as simply being a “wonderful communicator and a good tweeter.”

I refused to accept that. I stood up for myself and outlined my substantial record fighting for social, racial and economic justice and delivering bold, progressive results for the people of Massachusetts.

This is the type of leadership I will bring to Congress for the people of the Fourth District – I will always stand up for myself and my constituents, I will always lead on my values and I will always fight for what’s right.

How would you summarize your campaign in 3 words?
Bold, progressive leadership.

The single most pressing issue facing our district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Health care. No one should ever have to choose between seeing a doctor and paying next month’s rent. Even as Massachusetts has near universal health insurance coverage, not everyone can access care and costs continue going up, with much of this growth driven by out-of-control prescription drug prices and sky-high patient cost sharing in the form of deductibles, cost-sharing and co-payments—including surprise medical bills. Not surprisingly, BIPOC and people with low to moderate incomes are the hardest hit.

The failure of our health care system is being seen in stark relief as millions of Americans lose their coverage in the middle of a pandemic because they lost their jobs. We need Medicare for All. It will guarantee that everyone has access to high quality, affordable health care. It will empower the federal government to negotiate for cheaper prescription drug prices. It will address gaps in dental coverage, mental health care, and long-term care services and supports. It will reduce administrative costs that insurance companies pass onto patients. We no longer can afford not to have Medicare for All.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?
There are real differences among the candidates in this race – in what we’ve accomplished, what we stand for, our priorities, and our leadership styles.

I’m one of only a few candidates who has consistently supported core policies that are necessary to make the progress we need, such as Medicare for All, free college and technical school tuition, student debt relief, and defunding the police.

I led the field on transparency by releasing six years of my tax returns and challenged my fellow candidates to do the same nearly two months ago. So far only three other candidates have followed my lead. I hope the rest of the field will join us soon since voting starts this week or explain why they are choosing to follow Donald Trump’s playbook.

I’m the only candidate who has built a broad, progressive, grassroots coalition. Our support is powered by the people – not corporate PACs, not the fossil fuel industry, and not self-written checks. And we are leading the field in terms of labor support, with endorsements from 21 unions, including the SEIU State Council, the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

We’ve also steadily built support from progressive leaders and organizations including Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, former First Lady Diane Patrick,NARAL, the Coalition for Social Justice and local leaders from across the district – including 43 from Brookline alone.

In what way has the current officeholder failed the district? What will you do better?
I think Congressman Kennedy has been a very strong leader for the Fourth District, for Massachusetts and for the nation. Leading is about priorities and my priorities show where I will spend every waking hour of my time in Congress. There are issues that I wish Congresswoman Kennedy had come around on sooner, such as legalizing marijuana and supporting Medicare for All.

I support the following:

Green New Deal, Medicare for all, Healthcare for all, Eliminating the filibuster, The 1619 Project in schools, Transgender troops in the military

I do not support:

Repealing the second amendment.

What should Congress do to help the economy?

Our economic recovery must be rooted in equity and racial justice, and centered on workers and the most vulnerable among us. America needs to finally build an economy that’s fair and works for everyone.

That means implementing a national paid leave program, providing financial stability for workers and families through $2,000 monthly payments for the duration of the pandemic and debt relief, providing additional aid to cities, towns and states, funding the postal service, reforming the Paycheck Protection Program to get real relief to small businesses, implementing an emergency Medicare program, providing affordable early education and child care and enacting a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

While these policies will help support individuals and the economy through the pandemic, we must acknowledge that we are primarily looking to fix what was already broken. This crisis has exacerbated the already deep inequalities in this country.

I will continue fighting for a fair economy by investing in transportation, housing and infrastructure, fighting for equal pay, empowering South Coast communities through job training programs in the burgeoning offshore wind industry and advancing the creation of good-paying “Green Tech” jobs, securing a national Paid Family and Medical Leave Act and a $15 federal minimum wage, and strengthening labor protections.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:
Protecting and expanding reproductive rights is a central part of my platform. We know that reproductive justice is economic justice and racial justice. As a former leader of Planned Parenthood, I’m uniquely qualified to lead on this issue at a time when our rights face grave risk. I’m proud to have the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Recently, we had huge win for access to safe, legal abortion when the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law restricting access to safe, legal abortion. But then they turned around and gutted the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, something I fought for when I worked at Planned Parenthood.

It’s only a matter of time until Trump and his cronies launch another attack on abortion access. The job falls to Congress and state legislatures to protect and expand these rights, and I’m ready to lead that fight in Congress. Being pro-choice isn’t just a position I hold, it represents work I’ve done and progress I’ve fought for throughout my career.

I was the first candidate in this race to release a comprehensive plan for reproductive rights. It was our first policy proposal of the campaign and underscores the necessity of bold, immediate action on this issue.

My plan calls for codifying Roe in federal law, repealing the Hyde Amendment, an impediment to the ability of low-income people to access abortion care that has disproportionately impacted people of color, rescuing the Title X program that provides family planning services to low-income Americans and fully funding it, keeping federal money out of fake women’s health centers, funding comprehensive sex education programs and ending the global gag rule.

What accomplishments would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?
The next Congresswoman for this district will face some daunting challenges as she leads through the crises of COVID-19, systemic racism and economic inequity that plague our country, not to mention trying to take on Republicans in Congress.

But I’ve spent my career leading on the progressive fights that matter most to Massachusetts families – and winning. I helped secure contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act when I worked at Planned Parenthood, made major changes at the local level to protect our environment when I was on the Select Board in Brookline, and fought for Paid Family and Medical Leave, earned sick time, a $15 minimum wage and equal pay when I was the President of the progressive business group, the Alliance for Business Leadership.

I have 20 years of hard fights under my belt, leading on the issues that matter most to working people. I know there will be many more hard fights waiting for me in Congress, but I am ready to hit the ground running – with my friend and supporter Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and our hard-charging Congressional delegation.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...
When I interviewed with Gov. Patrick to be his Communications Director, we had a long conversation about being told that “that isn’t how we do things around here” - the all-too-commonplace phenomenon of proposing a new idea of approaching something from a different angle and being shot down by the powers that be. The Governor told me that whenever someone gives him that feedback, it makes him more certain than ever that he’s onto something. I’ve carried that with me since then – always remembering the value of shaking things up.

My favorite aspect of this district is...
Besides all of the incredible ice cream shops (including four Dairy Queens!), I’ve never failed to be impressed by the resiliency and compassion of the people of the Fourth District. We’ve seen the very best of it through this crisis. We have some of the most prestigious hospitals in the nation that are fueled by the work of selfless nurses, doctors, first responders and staff. We have major manufacturers that have stepped up and converted their operations to produce protective equipment for our frontline workers.

We have incredible educators who are standing up for themselves and for their students to keep everyone safe. Communities across the district have been organizing drive-through donation sites for local food banks. And so many people have been stepping up to check in on their friends and neighbors, particularly those who are the most vulnerable. I’m inspired by the resiliency of the people of the Fourth District, and I will be so proud to represent them in Congress.

What else would you like voters to know about you and your positions?

I never could have imagined that the fights of my life – the fights to create a fair economy, to address disparities in health care, to create opportunity for everyone – would become even more important than they were when I got in this race in Fall River last October. So much has changed but the issues that we centered in our campaign from the start have only come into sharper focus.

Since day one of this campaign, I’ve talked about keeping our country healthy and now, in the midst of a global pandemic with more than 150,000 Americans dead and communities of color the hardest hit, the need to fix our broken and unjust health care system is more apparent than ever.

Since day one of this campaign, I’ve talked about tackling inequality. And now, as countless Americans have taken to the streets to demand racial justice, as the demand to dismantle the structural racism that permeates every corner of American life is louder than it has ever been, as more than 50 million Americans collect unemployment while the stock market climbs, the divides in this country are clearer than ever.

The issues may be in sharper focus, but they are not new. And they are certainly not new to me.

Campaign website, social media:

jessemermell.com, Twitter: @jessemermell Facebook: Jesse Mermell for Congress Instagram: @jmermell

Also read:

Jesse Mermell Announces Run For Congress

Are you running for office in Brookline? Contact Jenna Fisher at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Brookline Patch.