Fitchburg Democrats: ‘Political change has to start locally’

FITCHBURG — An unforeseen upheaval at a Fitchburg Democratic City Committee meeting earlier this month resulted in a complete leadership overhaul.

“Recent political events have many people fired up and ready to do something — anything — to help,” new Fitchburg Democratic City Committee Chair John Adams said. “My understanding is that the FDCC has been a small, steady group of the same people for decades. Suddenly dozens of newcomers wanted to join and take part. That caused some friction. Also, the committee had been run informally all those years and with so many new people there was a rush to try to formalize processes, which led to disagreements and confusion.”

He said that about 13 longtime core committee members along with around two dozen new members like him gathered on April 9 at Slattery’s restaurant for the FDCC election meeting.

“Disagreement arose as to whether the new members had been properly processed and should be allowed to vote,” Adams said. “I had signed up to be a member and paid my dues the previous meeting. I even asked at the time if I needed to do anything else and Treasurer Joe Byrne told me I was all set. I expected to be able to vote, as did the other new members present. Any irregularity was the responsibility of the FDCC officers, not the new members.”

He went on to say the former committee Vice Chair Jim Walsh proposed that the members who had been on the committee for a long time should vote on whether to allow new members to vote. It passed 10 in favor of them being able to vote and three voting “present,” according to Adams.

“That motion was adopted and the election took place immediately after, same evening,” Adams said. “After that everyone except the chair seemed satisfied to let the election proceed. Jim ran the election and it went smoothly.”

Someone nominated him to be chair and although he wasn’t necessarily seeking an officer position, Adams said “I firmly believe that political change has to start locally with every town clerk, every school board and city council election. I wanted to take part in that.”

He is joined by FDCC Vice-Chair DJ Tardiff, Treasurer Cindy Jackson, co-Secretaries Anastasia Pimentel and Suzi Sanford, and Joseph Benavidez, who does affirmative action and outreach — all Fitchburg residents.

Immediate past FDCC co-Secretary Zachary Bos shared his thoughts on what led to the leadership change, saying that over the last year the committee “has experienced a significant increase in participation and engagement.”

“From March 2025 to April 2026 voting membership across the city’s six wards approximately doubled,” he said. “That growth has been accompanied by a surge in local organizing activity — demonstrations, civic engagement efforts and community initiatives, much of which has been reported on in your newspaper, which has brought new energy and new perspectives into the committee. At the reorganization meeting, that shift was reflected in the outcome of the vote for our committee officers.

“A majority of members supported a new slate of officers who represent, in most regards, a younger and more progressive outlook,” Bos continued. “As with any period of rapid growth and change, there were disagreements about process and participation, and those disagreements contributed to a more contentious meeting than usual. Ultimately, the results show the decision of a strong majority of the membership. The outgoing officers deserve thanks for their service, and the newly elected officers deserve support as they take on their roles and set about making the FDCC a more active and inclusive hub for Democratic organizing in Fitchburg.”

Adams is also on the steering committee for Indivisible Fitchburg.

He said the FDCC’s mission “is to identify and help elect qualified candidates at all levels who represent the best values of the Democratic Party” and that there are currently 72 voting members.

“Some I know well,” he said. “I look forward to meeting and working with all of them over the coming year.”

Sanford said that for her, as a city resident for nine years “somewhere along the way I realized that if I want this city to thrive, I need to show up for it. The right people in the right roles makes all the difference.”

Benavidez also expressed his views, saying “apathy is a barrier to both change and progress.”

“Taking on this responsibility feels daunting but supporting my community is important to me,” he conveyed. “I understand firsthand what it’s like to need help and wait for something, anything, to happen. And I don’t want that for the people of Fitchburg.”

“I believe it’s important to help your community in any way that you can,” Tardiff echoed. “I especially hope to motivate more young people to educate themselves, get involved, and be the change they wish to see in the world.”

Adams said he wasn’t even aware that the FDCC existed a year ago.

“I had no clear picture of how the Democratic Party really worked, I just knew I had to do something to push back against the fascist takeover of our country,” he imparted. “I walked into a standout protest outside City Hall last year and immediately joined Indivisible.”

He attended an FDCC local caucus meeting in February with the goal along with others to get as many people as possible to be delegates at the upcoming Massachusetts Democratic Party’s 2026 Nominating Convention on May 29 and 30 at the DCU Center in Worcester.

“People remarked they had never seen so many people at the caucus,” Adams said. “Even so, my ward is allowed three delegates and three alternates and there were six people from my ward, so it wasn’t hard to choose.”

He signed up to be a member of the FDCC and paid his dues at that meeting, which are $20 annually but waived if one can’t afford it.

After the new FDCC officers were voted in, they got right to work submitting the necessary paperwork and having the new members and officers certified with the Fitchburg city clerk and the Democratic State Committee.

“That has all gone smoothly and I am so excited to see what we can do now for the people of Fitchburg,” said Adams.

Adams said the plans for their next meeting  — “and the rest of this year are coming together.”

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 3, at 6 p.m. at Slattery’s. The meetings are always open to the public.

“We need people power, and the committee roughly doubled in size. That’s really exciting,” he added. “We need that energy, those new ideas, and as much time and effort as people can volunteer. You must be a registered Democrat and resident of Fitchburg to join the committee, but we welcome input from anyone.”

Those interested in joining or would like more information on the FDCC can email [email protected], follow the Fitchburg Democratic City Committee public Facebook group, and they will be adding other social media platforms over the next month or two.

Adams shared that one item of business at the June meeting “will be to let members work out a plan for future meetings. For now, we plan to meet at least quarterly as a whole with many other working groups meeting as needed.”

When asked why the FDCC important, especially in these tumultuous political times, Adams said “in 2010 Citizens United sold our democracy to the highest bidder.”

“Now we have a similar wave of progressive, populist energy,” he declared. “We need to harness it and focus it on delivering real solutions to kitchen table problems. We need to win small local elections and rally behind candidates who will overturn Citizens United and return power to voters. Until we achieve that, any other gains we make are built on sand.”

Adams said he isn’t surprised that committee voters want change.

“Our country is going in the wrong direction and millions of people are pushing back. People want change inside the Democratic Party too,” he noted. “We want to get rid of corporate influence in our elections and many new challengers are rising up in the Democratic Party running grassroots campaigns. Their success will depend in part on how well we do our job at FDCC.”