Leading Massachusetts: Politicians to watch in 2025

In a state as complex as Massachusetts with its 351 cities and towns, it takes a lot of people to make all the wheels turn.

Some serve on Capitol Hill. Some serve on Beacon Hill. Others make their presence felt on local school boards, school committees or in volunteer and non-governmental organizations.

These are MassLive’s picks for the political personalities — and the rising stars — to watch in the Bay State in 2025.

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk

At first glance, it seems a little counterintuitive to describe state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, 46, who has been in the state Legislature since 2009, as a rising star.

The North End Democrat chairs the powerful, budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, a post he’s held since 2019.

For all of that time, he’s tag-teamed with Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Michael Rodrigues, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth, quietly settling spending disputes and steering fiscal blueprints onto the desks of former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, and his successor, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.

Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, started his career on Beacon Hill as an aide to then-state House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.

He won a special election in 2009 to fill his old boss’s seat when he resigned amid an ethics probe. DiMasi was later convicted on federal bribery charges.

Before his ascension to the top of the Ways and Means Committee, Michlewitz was the House’s point man on legislation regulating and taxing short-term rentals and, in 2016, the law that regulates ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft.

In 2023, he was one of the principal obstacles to an ultimately approved proposal to allow the New England Revolution, a Major League Soccer team, to build a new soccer stadium along the banks of the Mystic River in Everett.

Last year, Michlewitz served as a key intermediary in Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s failed push to rebalance the property tax scales in the state’s largest city.

As the lower chamber’s lead budget writer, he has been one of the main voices in the ongoing effort to fund the state’s emergency shelter system, which serves both migrant new arrivals and permanent Massachusetts residents.

In press briefings during budget season and debates on other key issues, Michlewitz is frequently at the side of current House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, and he is widely seen as the Quincy pol’s eventual successor.

In a brief interview, Michlewitz told MassLive that he “believes showing up is important,” even as his legislative responsibilities have multiplied.

“I’m also very lucky in the sense that my district wraps around the State House,” he said. “It basically allows me to be in a lot of different places at once. I walk 10 minutes to work, and I can walk my district in about a half-hour.”

He deferred when he was asked about one day serving as the House’s presiding officer.

“I always have prided myself on focusing on the job at hand, no matter what job it was in my career,” he said. “(If) you do your job well, and focus on the right things, opportunities will arise.”

State Rep. Leigh Davis, D-3rd Berkshire

Davis, a first-term lawmaker, came out of the gate strong at the start of the new legislative session, filing a barrage of bills to ensure the Berkshires get noticed on Beacon Hill.

One big one: A bill petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to take Berkshire County out of the Greater Albany media market and reassign it to the Springfield market — all the better to help residents get local news and catch up on Sox scores.

In a high-profile instance, Davis is one of two Massachusetts legislators spearheading an effort to pass a bill that would criminalize sexual activity between an adult “in a position of trust, authority or supervision” over children aged 14 to 17 and children of this age in their care.

If passed, the new restriction would apply to all types of educators, coaches, child care providers and mentors, among other such positions.

That bill came in response to explosive revelations that multiple former students had accused a popular former history teacher at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield of having groomed them for sexual relationships. Hamstrung by current law, local prosecutors closed the case without filing charges.

In 2009, Davis, who was born in Washington, D.C., and her three children moved to Great Barrington from their home in Galway, Ireland, where she was a lecturer and chair of the Film and Television program at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, according to her campaign’s website.

Upon her arrival in Great Barrington, she soon started volunteering for local groups, including HospiceCare in the Berkshires. Volunteers in Medicine and the Great Barrington Land Conservancy.

Davis has worked for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, The Berkshire Eagle, Eagle Mill Redevelopment and Construct, an affordable housing nonprofit, according to her campaign’s website.

She began her public service career in 2013, serving on Great Barrington’s Finance Committee. She was later elected to the town’s Selectboard and chaired the Selectboard & Planning Board Housing Subcommittee.

Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis (MassLive file)

Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis

Through his work as Worcester County Sheriff, Lew Evangelidis, 63, has led efforts to rehabilitate incarcerated people by focusing on educational and vocational courses and also treatment for substance abuse and mental illness.

In 2021, he oversaw the opening of a new intake facility at the House of Correction in West Boylston.

“This is the model for what corrections will be doing in the future,” Evangelidis said at the time. “And we’re blessed to have it here in Worcester County.”

At the facility, each new inmate is evaluated by professionals to diagnose precisely where they should be placed to ensure they have the best chance at rehabilitation so they can contribute positively to society when they leave.

“ People come up to me, and they’ll say, ‘I’m doing great Sheriff,‘” he said. “‘I got a job. I got a family. I’m taking care of them. I’m sober.’ I can see in their eyes. That’s a wonderful experience. If you don’t love that, you’re in the wrong job.”

Evangelidis previously served for eight years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives but wanted a new challenge. In 2010, he launched a successful run for sheriff after he heard that then-Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis was running for state auditor.

“I said, ‘You know what? This job could be different than it’s always been. It doesn’t have to be about patronage politics.‘” he said.

During his time as sheriff, Evangelidis said professionalism increased within the department and increased the standards of public safety. Promotions are done by merit, “ a crazy concept in some political worlds, but you don’t get promoted unless I stay out of it,” he said.

Evangelidis said he plans to serve the balance of his third term, which runs until 2028.

But independent of a petition for him to run against Gov. Maura Healey, he takes his age, his party registration as a Republican in a blue state, and the love of his current job all into consideration, along with the divisions at every level of American politics.

“ I’ve been a Democrat in my life, I’ve been independent, I’ve been a Republican,” Evangelidis said. “… I believe in people and doing the right thing. And I don’t think that’s partisan … I made the decision not to rule anything out, keep my options open, (and) have a voice in this conversation.”

Springfield City Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce, Ward 5

Long before he ran for Springfield City Council, Lavar Click-Bruce hated politics. But after years of being a coach and a mentor, he decided to run for the Ward 5 seat in a special election in September 2022.

Click-Bruce, 46, has stayed connected with the community and worked to lower homicides in the city after 32 people were killed in 2023. That number fell by almost half the following year.

Public safety has been one of his top priorities, he said. He credited the drop in homicides to increased and productive communication between elected officials and their constituents.

Instead of being reactive, the city has been proactive in having families keep individual members accountable and offer the right resources, including for mental health.

“A lot of this stuff starts at home, I believe that,” Click-Bruce told MassLive. “I grew up in a mixed race neighborhood, single parent as well, so I know the struggles. But we have to take accountability and make sure that we’re reporting when our loved ones or our kids or cousins or nieces or nephews are doing wrong, we have to report that.”

In March, he was appointed to a new role leading youth engagement for the Springfield Safe Neighborhood Initiative under the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office. The goal of the program is to reduce crime, Click-Bruce said.

He plans to run for reelection in the upcoming 2025 election.

State Rep. Shirley Arriaga, D-8th Hampden

A U.S. Air Force veteran and a former teacher in the Chicopee public schools, state Rep. Shirley Arriaga, D-8th Hampden, 34, literally has one eye on the future.

She is a co-chair of the Legislature’s Massachusetts Future Caucus, a bipartisan body whose mission is to “(work) directly with our nation’s leading young policymakers on both a federal and state level to bridge the partisan divide and lead a new era of collaborative governance.”

A former aide to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-1st District, Arriaga won election to her seat in 2022.

She has “always put the needs of others before her own. Her work around economic development, youth sports and small business (support) has been phenomenal,” one of her constituents said in response to a MassLive questionnaire.

Arriaga is sponsoring some 18 bills in the new legislative session. Among them is a proposal to legalize Kei vehicles, a Japanese light truck.

Last September, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles reversed itself and allowed owners to once again register the popular Japanese import.

On Beacon Hill, Arriaga has “earned a reputation … as a legislator who knows that the job is not just voting at the State House, it is about being responsive to calls from constituents who need her help in Chicopee,” veteran Western Massachusetts political consultant Tony Cignoli said.

That kind of work is “essential,” Cignoli continued. And with her sister Abigal Arriaga serving on Chicopee City Council, “they double the access and listening level for their mutual constituents,” he said.

During her 10 years with the Air Force, Arriaga was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

State Sen. John C. Velis, D-2nd Hampden/Hampshire

A U.S. Army captain previously deployed to Afghanistan, state Sen. John Velis, 46, assumed his latest role after a six-year stint in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

During his current tenure, he’s served on the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery and the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, both of which he is now the chair.

In these roles, he was able to push the SPEED Act in 2022 and the HERO Act in 2024 to become laws, respectively, under former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and current Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.

The SPEED Act allows the spouses of United States Armed Services members to have an accelerated professional license process so they can financially support their families. The law set up resources for service members exposed to burn pits and airborne hazards, as well as state support to sign up for the federal Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The HERO Act was a sweeping bill that increased benefits for veterans, supported businesses that hire veterans, updated the definition of a veteran and codified medical and dental benefits, among other reforms. With Gov. Healey’s support, Velis called the legislation an “equal parts governor’s bill, equal parts legislators’ bill” before she signed it into law.

“ It is now widely known that we are the best … state to be a veteran,” Velis said. “And when I leave (the Veterans and Federal Affairs) committee, you damn well better believe that it’s going to be better than I found it. So just really, really important work.”

For the 2025 to 2026 legislative session, Velis is also the chair of the Joint Committee on Aging and Independence and is a member of four other committees, including State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

State Rep. Marcus Vaughn, R-9th Norfolk

A two-term incumbent, state Rep. Marcus Vaughn, 39, took the statewide stage in January when he was tapped to give the Republican response to Gov. Maura Healey’s State of the Commonwealth address.

The choice was a deliberate one. Vaughn’s district is the site of a state prison turned migrant shelter — and he’s been vocal on one of the state’s most pressing public policy challenges.

Vaughn, who won reelection to his Wrentham-based seat with 57% of the vote last November, is a vocal opponent of the gun reform law that Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed into law last year.

During his 11-minute rebuttal, Vaughn took issue with Healey’s argument at her Jan. 16 speech to a joint session of the Legislature that “the state of the commonwealth is strong.”

The opposite is true, he argued, further solidifying his place as one of the state’s conservative rising stars.

“Massachusetts faces a crisis of affordability, with an unsustainable cost of living driving a mass exodus of residents,” he said. “Folks are not buying what Gov. Healey is selling. And the proof is in the lived experiences of the residents of Massachusetts. This exodus is no accident. It is a direct result of one party led by entrenched Beacon Hill party bosses and their partners in the Healey-Driscoll administration.”

That was enough for Massachusetts Republicans to describe Vaughn as “the future of Massachusetts Republican politics.”

“Since taking office, he has been a steadfast champion for his constituents and a bold voice for commonsense in a legislature where it is often lacking,” Logan Trupiano, a spokesperson for the state Republican Party, told MassLive.

“As co-chair of the newly formed Futures Caucus, he is leading the charge to unite young legislators and push for a fairer distribution of local aid and earmarks, challenging the outdated system that shortchanges newly elected representatives’ districts,” Trupiano said.

Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Cape and Islands

It’s already well-established that a crisis of housing affordability and access is one of the Bay State’s biggest public policy challenges. Last year, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a massive housing bond bill into law that will go a long way toward addressing it.

And now, as the Senate’s chairperson of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing, state Sen. Julian Cyr is going to have a big say in how that bill gets implemented and how housing policy will be shaped for the next two years.

“Housing is the most urgent challenge facing our region and the commonwealth,” Cyr, D-Cape and Islands, told The Inquirer and Mirror on Nantucket last month. “Young people, families and even businesses are being priced out of our communities because we’ve fallen behind on housing.”

The senator has also focused on health care policy and, in February, filed An Act to ensure health care as a right, a bill that calls for a study to determine the feasibility of a single-payer health care system in Massachusetts.

Cyr, 39, of Provincetown, serves as assistant majority whip as a member of the Senate’s leadership team. His district spans 19 communities on the Cape, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

He started his political career when he was a junior at Nauset Regional High School. That year, the district faced deep budget cuts if the community didn’t pass a property tax override vote. The fate of 40 teachers and staff, including Cyr’s beloved choir teachers, were on the line, he told MassLive in a 2023 interview.

“So I led a group of students to run a campaign to convince voters to approve the override, and we were successful,” he recalled. “That was the first time where I realized where I could step into my community and really instigate change.”

Cyr, who is gay, got involved with LGBTQ health organizing while an undergraduate at New York University. Work with the Clinton Global Initiative and former Gov. Deval Patrick’s campaign followed.

His most valuable experience, he recalled, may have come from working at his family’s restaurant.

“If you can wrangle a vacationer in August, you can be a state senator,” he said with a laugh.

Cyr told MassLive that he had not entertained dreams of running for office until his predecessor announced they were stepping down. He won election to the Legislature in 2016. He was reelected to a fifth term last year.

“I decided to run. I was a queer kid from the smallest town on Cape Cod. And here I am,” he said.