LOWELL — It is outside of the typical election season for a state Legislature seat in Greater Lowell, but three candidates are vying for the 1st Middlesex Senate District seat on Tuesday to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death of state Sen. Edward Kennedy last year.
The three candidates are Republican Sam Meas, Democrat Vanna Howard and independent candidate Joe Espinola.
Sam Meas
Meas is one of many in Greater Lowell who arrived in the area as a child after fleeing his home country of Cambodia, which had faced one of the most infamous genocides of the 20th century under the Khmer Rouge before entering a war with neighboring Vietnam. In 1986 Meas arrived in the U.S. as an orphan, first arriving in Richmond, Virginia, in the foster care system.
There, Meas went to high school and then to Virginia Tech for college before moving to New England to start his career. He moved around to different financial jobs around the country at companies like State Street Corp., BlackRock and Fidelity, before returning to Massachusetts and starting a real estate brokerage business in Lowell. Meas’ address is listed as Lawrence on the ballot, because he lived there the day he won the primary, but he said he has since moved to Lowell.
Meas won the Republican nomination through a dedicated write-in campaign in last month’s primary, where no named Republican candidates appeared on the ballot. After getting more than 300 write-in votes across the district, Meas qualified to be properly on the general election ballot.
“I wanted to present an alternative to the establishment candidate,” Meas said in a phone call with The Sun Wednesday. “Massachusetts is a blue state, and most of the time when there is an election there are no challengers to it. I wanted my candidacy to represent what my Democratic opponent stands for and what I stand for. Win or lose, I was able to offer the people of this district a choice.”
One of Meas’ main priorities if he were to win would be to address the rising cost of living in Massachusetts, and in particular the cost of utilities Massachusetts residents depend on. He said that could include working with the governor to build a gas pipeline into Massachusetts from other parts of the country, which he said could help bring down energy costs.
In the same vein, Meas said he wants to bring in the commissioners for the state’s public utilities for a hearing in the Legislature to hear their reasons for the “exorbitant fees” residents are finding in their bills.
“National Grid and Eversource are for-profit corporations making millions, billions of dollars. Why are the ratepayers in our state being forced to pay for their infrastructure improvements?” said Meas.
Meas said he also wants to work with State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to ensure she is able to conduct an audit of the Legislature, which was overwhelmingly supported by voters in a 2024 ballot question.
“With a $162 billion budget the last fiscal year, we need to find out where that money went, how it was spent, and if taxpayer funds were used wisely or if there was massive fraud,” said Meas.
If Meas wins the special election, Massachusetts Republicans will still make up a small minority of the Legislature. His hope is to be able to get to know his Republican colleagues and work with them, but to also work with the Democratic majority when he can on different issues.
“The majority party has an absolute majority in the State House. Whatever things you need to get done, have to go through them,” said Meas. “But I believe with consultation, negotiation, compromise … we can accomplish anything.”
Meas said he intends to run again for the seat in the regularly scheduled election in November, regardless of whether he wins or loses the special election Tuesday.
Vanna Howard
Howard also comes from Cambodia, herself arriving in Massachusetts at the age of 11 in 1981 after her father, three of her siblings and her grandparents were killed in the Cambodian genocide. Like many Cambodian refugees Howard lives in Lowell, and currently represents the 17th Middlesex District in the state House of Representatives, a position she has held since being inaugurated in 2021. She had experience in government even before then, working in the office of former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in addition to volunteering with dozens of nonprofits.
Howard considered Kennedy a close friend, and after he died last year she felt shaken up for weeks, and said she hadn’t even considered running for his vacancy until others approached her asking her to do so.
“I am committed to continuing Ed’s work, especially on things like housing and affordability. On public safety, healthcare and education, and making sure young people get the same opportunities I got,” Howard told The Sun Thursday.
She identified a broad range of issues she wants to tackle, like working to improve all forms of travel by finding ways to reduce traffic, make better sidewalks and upgrade the many area bridges.
“I have already secured millions of dollars to improve things like that,” said Howard.
Another priority, Howard said, would be to help the state push back on what she sees as overreach by the federal government under the Trump administration.
“It is important in the age of Trump to have a strong state government to protect our residents,” said Howard.
Howard pointed to The Protect Act, a bill recently introduced into the state House of Representatives aimed at limited local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such bills, Howard said, are necessary to push back against “the cruelty, chaos and fearmongering that has happened since Trump retook office.”
“I am walking around with a U.S. passport for the first time in my life,” said Howard, noting she knows people in Lowell who have been racially profiled in Lowell within the last year.
Beyond immigration, Howard said the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency hurt the state’s economy over the last year, resulting in local budget constraints. Having served twice on the House Ways and Means Committee, Howard said that experience will be valuable in the state Senate.
“It is important to have these experiences … Not just in the State House, but I lived and worked in the city of Lowell for more than 30 years. I’ve been accessible, available and worked with so many nonprofits” said Howard. “Things don’t just happen, you have to plan, collaborate, network and organize. Every day I’m out there listening to people’s concerns, not just when I’m campaigning.”
Howard said she is thankful for the voters who lifted her past the primary race last month.
“They were so committed to change because of what is happening nationally and locally, especially with the Trump administration,” said Howard. “They know me, they know where I stand as a refugee, as a survivor of the genocide, survivor of domestic violence, as a single mother when I was homeless. A lot of people can relate to those things.”
Joe Espinola
Espinola is running without a party, though in 2018 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the state Senate as a Republican against state Sen. Barry Finegold in the 2nd Essex and Middlesex District. Growing up, though, he was a Democrat before switching to be an independent with the exception of the prior state Senate run. He has won elected office in the past, having served on the Greater Lowell Technical High School Committee from 2011 to 2018.
Espinola has spent his life in Greater Lowell, having lived in Lowell’s Back Central and Highlands neighborhoods, as well as Tyngsboro and now Dracut. He served as a corrections officer at MCI Concord starting in 1989 before later joining the Lowell Police Department. His law enforcement career was derailed by cumulative injuries after 22 years between his service as a corrections officer and in the Lowell Police.
Before Kennedy died last year, Espinola said he had been talking with him about the future of the 1st Middlesex District.
“I had conversations with him about possibly seeking his seat, if he were to ever decide to step aside. I never expected he would pass away so suddenly,” said Espinola.
He said he joined the race when it was only the primary between Howard and state Rep. Rodney Elliott.
“I saw the two people running, and I did not agree with any of their votes,” said Espinola. “They were against the audit, they were against giving Dracut an extension on MBTA Communities, they voted 100% with leadership on everything that is taxing the heck out of the district and making everything unaffordable.”
Espinola is not against helping immigrants in the community, but when the cost of living rises for citizens, and taxpayers foot the bill for services to immigrants, “it becomes an affordability thing and less a migration thing.”
“We’ve always been a giving community, we’ve always been helpers, we’ve always done things for our neighbors, nobody is against that, but how much can we keep taking from our own selves and still survive,” said Espinola.
Espinola also understands the need for clean energy and protecting the environment, but he worries that the cost of the way the state implements these energy sources will “cripple the taxpayer.” While the state often carries longer term goals for clean energy and reducing carbon emissions, Espinola said he would support shorter term, more realistic goals.
“Something realistic, we don’t mind paying a little, but more than half of the bill goes to green energy right now,” said Espinola.
He pointed to the Mass Save program to help households become more energy efficient, which he said errs in its mission by offering a rebate system, pricing out households who can’t afford the initial costs.
“If lower income people can’t afford to upgrade, the energy is going out the window. We should help them with things like grant funding, not rebates that take a lot of money up front,” said Espinola.
Espinola is a supporter of the legislative audit, but said he is willing to support a compromise if one is needed to make it happen.
“The far left and the far right do not represent this district, and the numbers show they are not this district,” said Espinola later.
The 1st Middlesex District consists of the city of Lowell, along with the towns of Dracut, Dunstable, Pepperell and Tyngsboro. Voting in the special election concludes Tuesday, March 3. Whoever wins the special election will then have to run again for the seat in November if they wish to keep it.
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