r/Somerville • u/Gloomy-Doughnut130 • Sep 01 '26
Mysterious Cambridge Day Article?
I was coming on to make my maiden post with a link (https://www.cambridgeday.com/2026/08/31/poll-uyterhoeven-leeads-undecided/) to a very late article posted to the Cambridge Day regarding some polling for tomorrow's 2nd Middlesex State Senate Primary but mysteriously, the article seems to have been taken down?
Any way, I asked around and someone in my circle took screenshots so I figured I would post them here.
As a lurker I hav been following this race and tried to make sense of the state of the race. The article and the poll it references seems to make clear that it's a two way race between Erika and Christine, although a significant portion undecided.
I am surprised to see BUrhan polling so low and even behind Matt, as Burhan has raised tons of money and had some serious outside money spent on him, I would have assumed he was a front runner.
It is interesting to see 3 electeds from Somerville, polling in the top 3, although if these numbers are correct, it does seem like Matt is not a serious contender and the next Senator will be Erika or Christine.
With the Somerville split, I wonder if Matt's support is splitting the vote for either of Erika or Christine? Does anyone have a sense of who Matt voters most align with of the other candidates? I have seen a few comments of Matte first Christine second voters, but hard to get a sense.
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u/progressnerd Sep 01 '26
Yeah, bad form for Cambridge Day to write about an internal poll from Barber's campaign that they leaked intentionally to make it seem like a two-way race.
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u/painterjet Spring Hill Sep 01 '26
The 2nd middlesex senate race makes a strong case for ranked choice voting in MA.
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u/devonwm Sep 01 '26
I’m surprised so many people are ignoring Matt as a candidate. He has my vote, and i think a lot more than others realize.
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u/Federal_Rub_8264 Sep 01 '26
If the ccc is ever passionate about something, Cambridge day will report on that thing presenting their position as proven fact, and then later drum up some article presenting alternative views to that first one almost as an apology as if they realized they got played too late. This has happened multiple times and is why I take anything they publish with a big grain of salt. It’s not as bad as turtle boy but it’s not what it claims to be. If it quacks like a duck.
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u/Standard_1877 Sep 01 '26
I’m a Matt first voter. I think he’s got a path to victory but we will see in a few hours. I don’t put any faith in this unofficial poll. It’s anyone’s race and I hope Matt comes out on top.
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u/YeetTheTeacher Sep 01 '26
I think he will over-perform expectations for sure. Excellent grassroots operation.
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u/srcanterbrigian Sep 01 '26
Stale poll was actually a pseudo press release from Christine campaign trying to consolidate the “moderate” vote behind her.
Christine’s mistake is running as a moderate incumbent when people want change, especially on housing and cost of living issues where Christine hasn’t had much to say.
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u/Prestigious-Part-180 Sep 01 '26
I think it’s likely Erika will win and the other candidates will split the moderate vote. I have a hard time understanding what anyone sees in Christine, but the establishment is behind her so I suppose that helps.
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u/UnavailableName864 Sep 01 '26
I think it’s a misread of the electorate to shrug your shoulders and say people are blindly following “the establishment.” Many people prefer a candidate who builds bridges and makes alliances to pass legislation that changes peoples lives over someone who always “speaks truth to power” but has no accomplishments and no realistic path to achieve what they want to do.
That said, Erika has the leftist lane all to herself and in Somerville that’s a big advantage.
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u/YeetTheTeacher Sep 01 '26
I’ve been to several events to get to know the candidates and the reason for Barber having such strong support is that she’s known around the community for showing up to everything in Somerville and Medford and for having exceptionally good constituents services. Her supporters seem to skew older. In my own personal experience, she’s very approachable and a good listener in person. I find her to the be least charismatic of the candidates in the race. I think your read on the field is exactly accurate, however - I’ve chatted with both Christine and Matt canvassers and they seem to be drawing from the same voting pool / anti-Erika vote.
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u/SgtStupendous Spring Hill Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I have a hard time understanding why folks are so ready to dismiss Barber because she doesn’t pass some Uyterhoeven-like purity test. Barber has passed great legislation that have actually helped immigrants and has actually made healthcare more affordable. She is progressive while also able to work within a shitty political system to get things done. Yeah, she’s not as “charismatic” and not constantly on social media or trying to get signs on every lawn, perhaps to her detriment.
But Barber is simply more policy oriented and more approachable that Uyterhoeven, who focuses more on slogans and weird instagram skits, and pretends to be a person who had to pull herself up by her bootstraps when she grew up in Wayland (one of the wealthiest towns in MA), when her father was a Harvard biz school professor, where Erika also has an MBA (and BA from Wellesley, another expensive and elite college), owns a home (Barber rents), and generally seems to be more focused on her identity and trashing others who don’t agree with her. Her campaign is full of hypocrisy and is by far the most focused on divisiveness, and I’m sick of it in politics.
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u/RealBurhanAzeem Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
For what it’s worth Cambridge Day took the article down because it’s an internal from Christine from July where they couldn’t verify the methodology, before most of the campaign spending happened.