JANUARY 31, 2026
Dear Cambridge and Somerville Constituents —
It’s been a long, grueling month.
Like all of you, I've watched the videos and processed the horrific murder of Renee Good, followed by the horrific murder of Alex Pretti. The reaction from the Trump Administration has been nothing less than fascist.
Everyday, I learn about outrageous stories in our community as well. Parents who are afraid to send their children to school, hardworking immigrants abducted off the sidewalk explicitly because of the color of their skin, and sexual assault victims who are afraid to go to court because their attacker threatens to tip off ICE.
Meanwhile our gas and electric bills are out of control and our healthcare system seems like it's perpetually on the brink of collapse. Notably, re: health care, Massachusetts is now pouring some $600 million into mitigating the impact of the Trump/MAGA cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies. And yet, so much has happened this month that it's hard to believe it was only a few weeks ago that Trump launched his illegal attack on Venezuela.
For my part, I’ve leaned into the work, and I'm drawing hope and determination from the fierce resistance of the people of Minneapolis. Inspired commemorations on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day also fortified my spirit. It struck me how Dr. King never lost faith, even in the darkest moments. He fundamentally was not cynical, and despite all the evil he witnessed, he always believed in the capacity for people to move government to live up to its stated ideals through collective struggle and nonviolent action.
I spent the better part of the first ten days after Renee Good’s murder talking practically around the clock with top advocates and legislative leaders, gathering the latest information and pushing for action to protect our immigrant neighbors and defend everyone’s constitutional rights. I recounted the sum of these efforts in a blog post that was widely circulated, "9 things the legislature should do in response to the ICE crackdown."
Finally this week, we saw momentum build on Beacon Hill. On Wednesday, I was invited to stand alongside the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus as they introduced the PROTECT Act. This new bill will do more to protect our immigrant constituents from ICE. And just yesterday, Governor Healey announced a ban on new 287(g) agreements and introduced broad new legislation of her own.
Meanwhile, House Leaders scheduled high-level meetings to discuss plans for taking action on immigrant protection legislation. I’m scheduled to participate in those meetings next week. Yesterday, the LUCE coalition slagged off these significant steps forward — I agree we should do more than what was introduced this week — and at the same time, I also think it's significant that the Governor, the House Speaker, and the Senate President are all now prominently indicating a desire to take action. The thing to do now is articulate specifically the ways we can build on these steps forward, so that is what I will be doing on Beacon Hill next week.
Last week, I also attended the State of the Commonwealth address, where Governor Healey announced plans for some modest winter utility bill relief. While I welcome her effort, I also went on TV and produced a video of my own to explore what the plan means in the medium- to long term.
Essentially, the Governor is drawing funds were in the hands of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in order to offer ratepayers a one-time 15% reduction on their February and March electric bills. These funds had been intended to support the development of new renewable energy production, which would lower costs in the medium to long term for everyone. In addition, she announced that 10% of everyone’s gas and electric bills for February and March will be deferred until later months this year.
While I appreciate the effort to provide some modest near-term relief, I’ve also been clear this plan doesn’t ask the investor-owned corporate utilities to sacrifice anything. And I’ve been vocal in the press and in meetings with House Leaders that we can’t pit the urgent need for affordability against our climate goals. Rather, we must demand real affordability and climate justice. And the only way to do that is to hold the investor-owned utilities accountable.
On Tuesday, Eversource and National Grid asked the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to let them charge interest on the Governor’s modest winter utility bill relief plan. So the next day, I drafted a letter in opposition — some 51 legislators signed on — and in just a few hours, the investor-owned utilities backed down and withdrew their request to seek those interest payments.
When I heard the corporate utilities wanted to charge you interest on the Governor's modest relief plan, I thought it was a slap in the face. Thank you to my all my legislative colleagues and to the Governor who joined me in pushing back. It’s a small yet meaningful win for our constituents. Moving forward, we must do all we can to fight for affordability while simultaneously advancing our climate goals.
Thank you, as always, for being an informed and engaged constituent. Here's hoping next month gets better for our democracy and the most vulnerable among us. Let's keep standing up for our immigrant neighbors — and for everyone's affordability and constitutional rights.
Yours in service,
Rep. Mike Connolly
