An energetic, visionary, and proven leader, Eric Lesser will partner with our next Governor to make sure she is the most successful in the country. Together, they will work on the biggest issue our state faces: the skyrocketing cost of living. Eric has a plan to fix our broken transportation system, build more housing, create better jobs, protect our environment, and make our state more affordable and equitable.
Eric understands that Massachusetts has so much going for it. But despite our Commonwealth’s considerable advantages, it’s harder and harder to live here. It’s too expensive – housing is out of control, transportation is unreliable, and childcare costs are crushing families. Meanwhile, small pockets of our state boom while entire regions are left behind. Our current situation doesn’t work: it creates skyrocketing prices and gridlock in some places, and vacuums jobs and opportunity from others.
Eric’s signature policy, building high-speed passenger rail from Pittsfield to Boston, through Springfield and Worcester, will reconnect our Commonwealth. For Eric, a rail connection to Boston is about more than transportation: it’s about quality of life, economic development, and regional equity. In eight years of constant advocacy, Eric has taken this vision from an abstract fantasy to a solid plan. As Lieutenant Governor, he can finally carry it over the finish line.
Investing in rail would finally connect the forgotten corners of our Commonwealth to the red-hot economy in Boston, ensuring that every region stays on track. Indeed, West-East Rail would be the last step to creating a region-wide network – linking Greater Boston, Western Mass, Greater Hartford and New York City – that would promote large-scale commerce and growth across the Northeast.
Study: Regional connectivity could restore 20,000 - 40,000 jobs that are “missing” in the Springfield-Hartford area.
Expanding our transit is crucial to solving the housing crisis, one of the greatest challenges Boston faces. With fast and reliable transportation, people could live in Western Mass and work in Boston, reducing pressure on the market.
Eric also supports the South Coast Rail project, which is working to connect Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford, and surrounding communities to Boston.
Rail is a critical intervention in the climate crisis – it would be the biggest sustainability project in Massachusetts history, taking thousands of cars off the road and decongesting the Mass Pike.
Eric believes that our cities, towns, and regions should be able to pursue their own priorities on transportation. He has worked to empower municipalities and Regional Transit Authorities (RTA), bodies that have a key role to play in connecting their communities.
Eric is determined to fight for stronger systems of accountability and oversight at MassDOT, where recent events have exposed profound structural weaknesses in the MBTA and the RMV. Especially in a time of high gas prices, the people of Massachusetts need public transportation options they can rely on.
In 2016, Eric’s feasibility study for West-East rail was vetoed by Governor Baker. But Eric didn’t give up. He barnstormed the state to build a high-speed rail coalition, uniting the City Councils and Chambers of Commerce in both Boston and Springfield. Eric rallied supporters in Springfield’s Union Station, and took a TV news crew to travel with Western Mass-Boston commuters, showing the public how transportation could change the lives of everyday people.
We’re at a critical moment of opportunity: the Biden administration is preparing to distribute billions of dollars of infrastructure funding. As the only candidate with Washington experience, Eric is prepared to negotiate with the administration and cut the best deal for Massachusetts.
Eric has championed reforms to the Chapter 90 funding formula that consistently shortchanges many of our communities as they seek to make much-needed repairs to their roads and bridges.
To keep the MBTA on track, Eric believes that the next administration must streamline accountability and address the staffing shortages that led to critical failures in safety and reliability this summer.
When the Merit Review Director of the RMV failed to keep reckless drivers off the road by not processing a decade-long backlog of out-of-state violations, Eric led the fight to make our roads safe. He called for the resignation of the Merit Review Director and wrote legislation requiring the RMV to act within thirty days to suspend the Massachusetts license of anyone who loses their license in another state.
To help catalyze change at the local level, Eric wrote legislation allowing municipalities to raise revenue for their own local projects with ballot questions. This would give local residents the autonomy to create and finance their own new programs, catered to their own specific needs. Eric’s bill also allows multiple cities and towns to form a regional district, which can launch coordinated efforts.
To further strengthen our local Regional Transit Authorities, Eric has secured millions of dollars in funding, including electric vehicle grants that will allow our regions to lead the way on the climate transition.