Politics

Western Massachusetts state senator announces campaign to be lieutenant governor

"I want to ensure every corner of the Commonwealth is prepared to participate in the economy of tomorrow, from Wellfleet to Worcester to Williamstown."

State Sen. Adam Hinds during a launch event Wednesday morning in Pittsfield. Ben Garver / The Berkshire Eagle via AP

October 13, 2021

Another Massachusetts state lawmaker is joining the fray of candidates seeking statewide office.

State Sen. Adam Hinds, a third-term Pittsfield Democrat, announced his 2022 campaign Wednesday to be Massachusetts lieutenant governor, citing the need for “leaders who bring people together to take on big challenges.”

“When you run for office, people want to know why,” Hinds said in a campaign launch video. “I do this work because I just had a child who will be part of our first generation to have fewer opportunities than their parents, struggling with rising housing costs and the impacts of climate change. I am determined to leave a better world for my child, and for yours.”

A former United Nations negotiator in the Middle East, the 45-year-old Buckland native said he knows the “importance of correcting historic wrongs” and that the COVID-19 pandemic “showed us vulnerability in one neighborhood makes us all vulnerable.”

“I want to ensure every corner of the Commonwealth is prepared to participate in the economy of tomorrow, from Wellfleet to Worcester to Williamstown,” Hinds, who chairs the legislative committee on revenue and “Reimagining Massachusetts Post-Pandemic Resiliency,” said.

He joins fellow Democrat and Acton state Rep. Tami Gouveia in the race for the state’s secondhand post, a position that traditionally involves working with local municipal officials across Massachusetts.

According to The Berkshire Eagle, Hinds said during a launch event Wednesday morning in Pittsfield that his campaign would feature proposals to make child care universally accessible and affordable, expand access to housing and jobs, and improve public transportation, including through providing fare-free options.

“It’s my sense that given this moment, the role of lieutenant governor can be a center of gravity for rethinking and redesigning our systems and our institutions and really leading an all-of-government approach for doing that,” he said, adding that the flexible nature of the lieutenant governor position “allows you to do that.”

Hinds would follow in the footsteps of former Republican lieutenant governor Jane Swift, who represented the same Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden state Senate district from 1991 to 1997.

Ben Downing, who represented the Western Massachusetts district prior to Hinds, is also running for governor in 2022.

Hinds also joins Senate colleagues Sonia Chang Diaz and Diana DiZoglio, who are running for governor and state auditor, respectively, on the slate of 2022 candidates.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito have yet to declare whether they will run for a third term in 2022.