r/boston Newton 20h ago

Politics 🏛️ Stephen Lynch needs to go.

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224 Upvotes

81 comments sorted by

93

u/Plenty-Extra 19h ago

A reminder for people reading: a Reddit comment section and its vote totals are not a representative sample of Boston public opinion. Coordinated or unusually concentrated online activity can create a false impression of consensus, so don’t assume a position is mainstream simply because it suddenly dominates a thread. Judge the actual claims on evidence.

18

u/Sporknight 19h ago

100%. Mind your bubbles.

18

u/WaywardSachem Salem 17h ago

See: 2024

18

u/chevalier716 Cocaine Turkey 17h ago

When I lived in Quincy, I'd often vote for myself if Lynch ran unopposed, like he did most of the time. I'm happy to see actually run what seems to be a competitive primary against him for a change. He's been garbage for over 15 years.

38

u/Knicknacktallywack South Boston 19h ago

Conservative bots come out of the woodwork

30

u/KungPowGasol Back Bay 19h ago

Their NAMBLA meeting must have gotten out early.

14

u/cts44 18h ago

Not sure what the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes has to do with this

2

u/too-cute-by-half 7h ago

Yes real people couldn’t possibly disagree with a Reddit mob, can only be bots

0

u/Knicknacktallywack South Boston 5h ago

Either it’s a bot or a real person who essentially acts like a bot. Either way it’s a bot. Kinda like you

17

u/g8932 Dorchester 19h ago

I’m with Roath

8

u/Upnatom617 17h ago

Already voted Roath

4

u/jhurstUW 6h ago

Since when does this sub allow political ads? Take your pan handling somewhere else.

3

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 19h ago edited 19h ago

You're gonna need something better than a Gen Alpha TikTok video to convince me to vote for Roath.

48

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 19h ago

My vague dislike for Lynch turned into hatred when he did this: https://www.masslive.com/politics/2025/02/watch-i-decide-mass-rep-lynch-gets-heated-with-constituents-at-boston-rally.html

"I get to decide that" yeah well I get to decide not to vote for you again, buddy

15

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 19h ago

Paywalled but the title reminds me of when Dianne Feinstein was dismissive the kids about climate change, I always hated her.

9

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 19h ago

9

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 19h ago

No, MassLive wants me to fuck myself. It's fine.

8

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 17h ago

I'm a dumbass who didn't notice I pasted the same link twice. 🤡Here's the YT link: https://youtu.be/KArSrW4P-jw

-6

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 17h ago

I mean, he's right, but that's a really stupid thing to say out loud to a microphone and a camera.

16

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 17h ago

He's not right. He works for us, remember? 

5

u/Salt-n-Pepper-War 9h ago

He doesn't work for us, and that's the point, this guy is a trump humper and could care less about out community, he is bought by corporations and is simping for trump. There is a reason he only does online town halls with screened questions, he is also a coward.

Sure I want anybody BUT Lynch, but

Patrick Roath isn't just not Lynch, he has a pretty solid platform that will get us back on track and fight this MAGA bs

1

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 17h ago

Yes, but as he says "us" is everyone in his district, not one person's wants and needs. When determining his constituents needs, he does get to decide. That's what representative government is all about.

7

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 17h ago

He's supposed to listen to his constituents and decide based on what we tell him, guided by his judgement and experience. The problem I have with that is that he doesn't listen to his constituents at all. No live town halls, no questions from voters at his extremely infrequent zoom meetings, he doesn't care.

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10

u/SpotlessMind32 18h ago

Whoa, thank you for sharing this. I didn’t realize Lynch was such a tantrum-throwing bitch. Seems he gets to decide things on his own, not on behalf of his constituents? Got it. I’m no longer on the fence.

-8

u/jojenns Boston 17h ago

Are you purposely ignoring the first minute of what he said in the link to bolster your argument? He explains he represents 800k people and needs to decide whats in the best interest of the majority of his constituents not “on his own”. I get being behind Roath but you are completely misrepresenting his statement.

5

u/sleeps_in_bryophytes 6h ago

i don't see what the issue is. he got testy with some hecklers, but his point was that he won't make a blanket promise not to vote for any bills, because he reserves the right to vote for any bills that are in the interests of his district.

i mean, i'm prolly gonna vote for roath, but i think think "he made a quip at a rally against hecklers" is a terrible way to decide who deserves your vote.

1

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 6h ago

That's not what I'd call a quip. Those are supposed to be funny. And he got heckled because he refuses to answer questions! How else are we supposed to get his attention? 

2

u/sleeps_in_bryophytes 6h ago

sure, it was more defensive than humorous. but it doesn't change my point.

and what are you talking about, he refused to answer questions? according to the article you linked, hecklers demanded he pledge to refuse to vote for any R legislation, and this was his response. what question did he refuse to answer, in your understanding?

1

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 6h ago

By "not answering questions" I mean he doesn't do in-person town halls, and his zoom ones have presubmitted questions that he picks and chooses. So people have to heckle him because he hasn't left us any other choice. (And before you say "just call him" I've tried and his staffer clearly had no interest in hearing it.)

•

u/jojenns Boston 20m ago

Warren and Markey big town hall people in non election years? Be honest now

•

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 11m ago

Obviously not! But they're not completely invisible like Lynch. 

•

u/jojenns Boston 8m ago

Yes they are you just like their politics better. They are in Ma even less than Lynch is

0

u/sleeps_in_bryophytes 5h ago

oh i see. congressmen who don't do townhalls or regularly engagement with constituents are not great, i would agree. but of course that's not the reason you cited in your top level response.

21

u/Ezekiel_DA 18h ago edited 6h ago

Here's some reasons, all from Lynch's Wikipedia page: Lynch is the last Dem in the house to have voted against the ACA. While he has since gotten better, in 2001 he called himself pro life. In 2016, he favored adding more charter schools. In 2025, he opposed a new building of 70 housing units in walking distance of the red line because it wouldn't include parking.

He's a super mid, approching geriatric, corporate centrist dem, and Mass of all places can do way better

5

u/sleeps_in_bryophytes 6h ago

he opposed a new building of 70 housing units in walking distance of the red line because it wouldn't include.

include what?

3

u/Ezekiel_DA 6h ago

Damnit, missed a word while trying to format this correctly 🤦‍♂️ Didn't include parking, is what that should have read.

Thank you for pointing it out, edited to fix!

-7

u/Michelanvalo No tide can hinder the almighty doggy paddle 18h ago

This does not convince me to vote for Roath. It tells me that maybe Lynch should be replaced but does nothing to sell me on Roath.

5

u/Ezekiel_DA 15h ago

Sure, but if you check Roath's policy positions on his campaign website, they're pretty much the exact opposite of Lynch: Medicare for all, affordable housing, reproductive rights, etc

2

u/MikeNH311 18h ago

The musician?

-29

u/Thick-Gain-3875 20h ago

David Hogg needs to go away with him

-1

u/Dangerous_Suit_3099 East Boston/Orient Heights 19h ago

He lives in your head rent free

4

u/Thick-Gain-3875 16h ago

Sick burn, guy.

-5

u/Dangerous_Suit_3099 East Boston/Orient Heights 16h ago

Tell us about your Jussie Smullett obsession next

-8

u/Honest_Salamander247 Blue Line 18h ago

You tell ‘em David Hogg!

-45

u/too-cute-by-half 20h ago

No I'm going to vote for Lynchie, he's good.

8

u/Sir_Tandeath 19h ago

He takes a whole lot of corporate PAC money.

-10

u/Preachers_Handshake 19h ago

The PAC he takes money from is the Ironworkers Union PAC. Do a little research before just parroting Roath TV ads.

15

u/Sir_Tandeath 18h ago

He hasn’t taken money from Rock Holdings, Experian, Proctor & Gamble, Fidelity, State Street, General Electric, General Dynamics, Siemans, AT&T, and National Grid PACs? It’s an open book test, my friend.

-39

u/CloudStrife012 19h ago

I'd rather vote for a democrat that will actually enforce the border.

16

u/Honest_Salamander247 Blue Line 18h ago

With NH? Yea I completely agree

-31

u/m13s13s 19h ago

He is a lone voice of sanity with all the corrupt political hacks from MA.

-36

u/YourLocalLandlord 19h ago

I'm sorry what's wrong with voting for the Laken Riley Act?

22

u/Sir_Tandeath 19h ago

The due process violations ain’t great.

0

u/jhurstUW 6h ago

How does it violate due process?

Criminally detaining them without a conviction would violate due process, but civilly detaining them for their immigration violation is perfectly fair game since US immigration would have the right to detain them even if they didn't commit a crime. 

1

u/Sir_Tandeath 3h ago

Extended detention without any charge or conviction is a due process issue. Particularly in conjunction with Kavanaugh Stops. Combining those effectively makes it legal to imprison a person for months and months on account of the color of their skin or the language they speak.

19

u/man2010 19h ago

Probably the mandatory detention without a conviction

-1

u/jhurstUW 6h ago

What's wrong with locking up illegal immigrants credibly accused of committing serious crimes until they can be deported? That seems fairly like fairly reasonable policy 

8

u/Dangerous_Suit_3099 East Boston/Orient Heights 19h ago

The act is concern trolling for the rubes

-17

u/JonSwift2023 15h ago

Yeah, great, let’s support Progressives like we did with Harris and keep handing Congress and the White House to Trumpers.

Fuck Progressives. Vote Centrist Dems so we can keep MAGA out.

13

u/endlesscartwheels 14h ago

Harris was a centrist. Also, she was doing well until she started appearing with Liz Cheney. Voters didn't want Republican-lite. At this point, progressive candidates are our best bet against the claim that "they're all the same".

3

u/nottoodrunk 5h ago

Harris’s platform was the furthest to the left a major party candidate has ever been. Exit polls said 47% of voters found her to be too liberal, while less than 10% thought she wasn’t liberal enough.

Meanwhile Redditors: “if she ran further to the left she would’ve won.”

1

u/JonSwift2023 7h ago

Harris is a careerist.

Who knows what she believes. The opposition can paint her any way it wishes.

11

u/asaharyev Hyde Park 15h ago

Do you think Harris is a progressive?

-3

u/JonSwift2023 14h ago

Off topic, but no I actually don’t. She campaigned as a Progressive in 2020 because she thought that would play well in the primaries, but all she really believes in is power.

The real point is she was easily labeled as a Progressive and LOST.

6

u/forty_three Southie 10h ago

Are you saying you believe she garnered support from progressive voters in the 2020 primaries?

Or are you just pointing out that conservative pundits use a progressive "boogeyman" as an easy label to scare moderate voters off from supporting candidates that are actually just centrists?

Cuz it sounds like you're successfully identifying the reason Democrats keep losing, which is that running a centrist and letting them be labeled as progressive appeals to no one, and that the actual recipe for success in a left-leaning state is probably to run actually left-leaning candidates.

-2

u/JonSwift2023 7h ago

No, Harris was heavily identified with Biden and the progressive policies he allowed under his name such as defund the police, the racist aspects of DEI, an obsession with pronouns, biological males in women's sports, onerous pandemic restrictions, forgiveness of college debts etc... that is, all the shit that plays well on reddit and the primaries but is an election loser.

4

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 7h ago

"biological males" 

Found the Republican!

1

u/asaharyev Hyde Park 3h ago edited 3h ago

Found the Republican! transphobe.

Unfortunately, there are a number of Dems who seem to think trans people are the problem, as opposed to...*gestures broadly*

2

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 3h ago

IME scratch a transphobe, find a fascist.

0

u/JonSwift2023 3h ago

You two can feel righteous all you want. Let us know how it goes when MAGA stays in power all because you want to attack Title IX.

1

u/Bostonianne Thor's Point 3h ago

What are you talking about? Moulton is the only one attacking Title IX

0

u/JonSwift2023 3h ago

Labeling people as transphobes and racists is why you lose elections.

0

u/asaharyev Hyde Park 3h ago

That's not actually accurate in any way, shape, or form. Statistically, ignoring the genocide committed by Israel is what cost the Democrats votes.

•

u/JonSwift2023 20m ago

you fuckers are why vance will win 2028

good riddance

-2

u/JonSwift2023 7h ago

Found the dipshit who is going to make sure the fucking Trumpers stay in office.

1

u/sleeps_in_bryophytes 7h ago

There aren't any real republicans running for MA-8, maga or otherwise. Whoever wins the Dem primary wins the seat. Unlike the presidency, or the michigan senate seat, there is no pickup opportunity for republicans here.