Rep. Marjorie Decker Will Seek Re-Election as MacKay Launches Rematch

State Rep. Marjorie C. Decker will seek re-election next fall, she confirmed in a statement to The Crimson on Wednesday — setting the stage for a rematch with labor organizer Evan C. MacKay ’19, who came within 41 votes of unseating her in 2024.

Decker has represented the 25th Middlesex District — which encompasses all of Harvard’s Cambridge campus — for more than a decade. Her statement, issued hours after MacKay’s campaign launch, quashes speculation that she would sidestep what could be a bitter fight to keep her seat in favor of a State Senate run to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Jehlen.

“I am fully committed to serving our community as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,” Decker wrote in a statement. “I am running for re-election this year.”

MacKay, a former Harvard labor leader, posed one of the most potent threats to Decker in 2024, conceding the primary with a razor-thin margin of 41 votes. In that race, Decker earned support from nearly the entire Democratic establishment, including Governor Maura T. Healey ’92 and U.S. Sen. Ed J. Markey (D-Mass.).

“It is an incredible honor and privilege to represent the community I grew up in and love,” she wrote in the statement. “I am grateful to everyone who has reached out with encouragement, and support following Senator Pat Jehlen’s announcement that she will not seek reelection.”

MacKay said they respected Decker’s “decades of experience and public service” in an interview with The Crimson after Decker’s campaign launch, but argued that “the status quo of the State House is not meeting this moment.”

MacKay added that they differed from Decker on “the importance of transparency and accountability and anti-corruption” in state government.

Decker’s extensive fundraising has been the subject of recent scrutiny, outraising and outspending many of her colleagues on Beacon Hill and relying largely on lobbyist donations for her political expenditures. She has already begun to fundraise aggressively ahead of the election this fall, with more than $37,000 in her account in early December, according to campaign finance records.

“I recognize and appreciate her experience, but I think that there is a hunger for something new,” MacKay said, adding that their near-win in 2024 reflected “a real desire for more activity and fighting spirit within the state house.”

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.