Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, September 18, 2026 Beacon Hill Roll Call Volume 51 - Report No. 37 September 7-11, 2026 By Bob Katzen THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local representatives voted with their party’s leadership in the 2026 session through Sept. 11. Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 125 votes from the 2026 House session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls that were not votes on local issues. The votes of the 130 Democrats were compared to the votes of Democratic Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). Mariano missed eight roll call votes so on those eight roll calls, we used the vote of Mariano’s Majority Leader Rep. Mike Moran (D-Brighton). The votes of the 24 Republicans were compared to the votes of House Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading). On the 125 roll calls, Mariano and Jones voted the same way on 75 roll calls (60 percent) and voted the opposite way from each other on 50 roll calls (40 percent.) THE DEMOCRATS: A total of 100 (76.9 percent) of the 130 Democrats voted with Mariano 100 percent of the time. There were only 30 Democratic representatives who voted differently than Mariano on any roll calls. And 14 of those only voted differently from Mariano just one time. The Democratic representative who voted the least percentage of time with Mariano was Rep. Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) who voted with Mariano only 86 percent of the time. Garry did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking her to comment on this. The other four Democrats who voted the opposite of Mariano the most times are Reps. Alan Silvia (D-Fall River) who voted with Mariano 93.1 percent of the time; David Robertson (D-Tewksbury) who voted with Mariano 94.4 percent of the time; Erika Uyterhoeven (D-Somerville) who voted with Mariano 95.1 percent of the time; and Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge) who voted with Mariano 95.2 percent of the time. Beacon Hill Roll Call asked those four representatives why with Jones the least percentage of times are Reps. Nick Boldyga (R-Southwick) and Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) who both voted with Jones 86.7 percent of the time; David DeCoste (R-Norwell) who voted with Jones 88 percent of the time; Donald Berthiaume (R-Spencer) who voted with jones 88.7 percent of the time; and Joe McKenna who voted with Jones 88.8 percent. Beacon Hill Roll Call asked they voted so many times the opposite of Mariano, while 100 of their colleagues voted with Mariano 100 percent of the time. Only Rep. Silvia responded. Reps. Robertson, Uyterhoeven and Connolly did not respond. Rep. Silvia responded: A spokesperson from Silvia’s office told Beacon Hill Roll Call, “Rep. Silvia does not vote against the speaker simply for the sake of opposition. Every vote is considered on its merits and through the lens of what best serves the residents of the 7th Bristol District. When those priorities align with House leadership, he is pleased to support them. When they do not, he has the independence to vote according to his conscience and the needs of the people he was elected to represent.” Beacon Hill Roll Call also asked all 100 representatives who voted with Mariano 100 percent of the time to explain why they did so. Only two responded. Rep. Alice Peisch (D-Wellesley), Speaker Mariano'sAssistant Majority Leader, said, “Of course, I vote with the speaker 100 percent of the time, as do most Democrats, because his position reflects my views and the views of the majority of the caucus.” Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) said, “You’ve got the question backwards. Speaker Mariano votes with the members. What you see on the floor is a result of what the members collectively prioritize. And through the committee process we communicate how best to present the issues.” The other 98 representatives who voted with Mariano 100 percent of the time did not respond to Beacon Hill Roll Call. They are: Reps. James Arciero (D-Westford), James Arena-DeRosa (D-Holliston), Shirley Arriaga (D-Chicopee), Bruce Ayers (D-Quincy), Jennifer Balinsky Armini (D-Marblehead), John Barrett (D-North Adams), David Biele (D-South Boston), Hannah Bowen (D-Beverly), Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford), Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn), Simon Cataldo (D-Concord), Tackey Chan (D-Quincy), Michelle Ciccolo (D-Lexington), Rob Consalvo (D-Hyde Park), Mark Cusack (D-Braintree), Leigh Davis (D-Great Barrington), Michael Day (D-Stoneham), Kip Diggs (D-Barnstable), Mindy Domb (D-Amherst), Kate Donaghue (D-Westborough), Daniel Donahue (D-Worcester), Paul Donato (D-Medford), Michelle DuBois (D-Brockton), Patricia Duffy (D-Holyoke), Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield), Carole Fiola (D-Fall River), Christopher Flanagan (D-Dennis), Brandy Fluker-Reid (D-Mattapan), William Galvin (D-Canton), Sean Garballey (D-Arlington), Judith Garcia (D-Chelsea), Jessica Giannino (D-Revere), Carlos Gonzalez (D-Springfield), Danielle Gregoire (D-Marlborough), Richard Haggerty (D-Woburn), Ryan Hamilton (D-Methuen), Christopher Hendricks (D-New Bedford), Kate Hogan (D-Stow), Kevin Honan (D-Boston), Tara Hong (D-Lowell), Daniel Hunt (D-Dorchester), Kristin Kassner (D-Hamilton), Patrick Kearney (D-Scituate), Mary Keefe (D-Worcester), Sally Kerans (D-Danvers), Meghan Kilcoyne (D-Clinton), Michael Kushmerek (D-Fitchburg), Kathleen LaNatra (D-Kingston), John Lawn (D-Watertown), David LeBoeuf (D-Worcester), Jack Lewis (D-Framingham), David Linsky (D-Natick), Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D-Melrose), Jay Livingstone (D-Boston), Hadley Luddy (D-Orleans), Bill MacGregor (D-Boston), Adrian Madaro (D-East Boston), John Mahoney (D-Worcester), Joseph McGonagle (D-Everett), Paul McMurtry (D-Dedham), Rita Mendes (D-Brockton), Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston), Thomas Moakley (D-Falmouth), Samantha Montano (D-Boston), John Moran (D-South End), Michael Moran (D-Brighton), Frank Moran (D-Lawrence), James Murphy (D-Weymouth), Brian Murray (D-Milford), James O'Day (D-West Boylston), Edward Philips (D-Sharon), BridgetPlouffe (D-Brockton), Angelo Puppolo (D-Springfield), Adrianne Ramos (D-North Andover), Orlando Ramos (D-Springfield), Sean Reid (D-Lynn), Estela Reyes (D-Lawrence), John Rogers (D-Norwood), Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin), Daniel Ryan (D-Charlestown), Amy Sangiolo (D-Newton), Aaron Saunders (D-Belchertown), Adam Scanlon (D-North Attleborough), Greg Schwartz (D-Newton), Priscila Sousa (D-Framingham), Thomas Stanley (D-Waltham), Mark Sylvia (D-Fairhaven), Andrew Tarr (D-Gloucester), Joshua Tarsky (D-Needham), Chynah Tyler (D-Roxbury), Steven Ultrino (D-Malden), Andy Vargas (D-Haverhill), Tommy Vitolo (D-Brookline), Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody), Richard Wells (D-Milton), Bud Williams (D-Springfield), Christopher Worrell (D-Boston) and Jonathan Zlotnik (D-Gardner). THE REPUBLICANS: None of the 24 GOP members voted with Jones 100 percent of the time. The Republican representative who voted the least percentage of times with Jones is Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver) who voted with Jones only 78.4 percent of the time. “For too long the Republican party has played ‘Democrat Lite,’ hoping for scraps from the table of funding to bring home to their districts,” Gaskey told Beacon Hill Roll Call. “I was sent to Beacon Hill to stand up and say, 'No more.'I ran on change and helping the Republican party differentiate from the Democrats and using my vote to stand up against radical far left policies that hurt my district and constituents is one way of doing that.” Rounding out the top five GOP representatives who voted those four representatives why they voted against Jones on several roll calls. Reps. Boldyga, Lombardo, DeCoste and Berthiaume did not respond. THE UNENROLLED: Rep. Susannah Whipps (U-Athol) is the only unenrolled House member and is not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic party. We based her record on how many times she voted with Democratic House Speaker Ron Mariano. She voted with Mariano 97.5 percent of the time. THE CRITICS: Aaron Singer, the producer and director of the documentary “Shadows on the Hill”: "The lockstep votes make more sense when you consider the levers leadership holds over everyone else. Four in 10 families struggled to afford healthcare last year, yet every House Democrat voted to make the Senate healthcare bill friendlier to the insurance industry. What's more likely: 100% of Democrats thought that rewrite was best for their district, or nobody wanted to cross the guy who controls their pay, power and perks?" Mary Connaughton, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Government Transparency at the Pioneer Institute: “These numbers reveal just how damaging a run amok stipend system can be - one that rewards loyalty to the speaker over true representation of the people.” Paul Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance: “It proves the legislative system is broken. Not much more can be said of it.” Scotia Hille, Act on Mass Executive Director: “Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns are home to an incredible diversity of residents, voices, ideas and opinions. And a functional democracy should reflect that.The results from this legislative session once again show that a single voice matters in the Statehouse: that
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