Mass. DAs are increasingly in the spotlight. So why are incumbents so hard to unseat?
By Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff,Updated February 2, 2026
Marian T. Ryan in the Democratic primary.Submitted and Globe PhotoKaren Read’s murder trials and the investigation into Sandra Birchmore’s death put a spotlight on the power and influence of district attorneys in Massachusetts. But so far that hasn’t translated into more competitive races this election cycle, showing the grasp incumbents can hold over a top law enforcement position.
Voters this year will pick new top prosecutors in two districts: Norfolk, where the Read and Birchmore cases originated, and Bristol. The incumbents, Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey and Bristol District Thomas M. Quinn III, are not seeking reelection after serving more than a decade in the position.
In Middlesex County, voters will see a Democratic primary challenge to Marian T. Ryan, who has held the office since 2013.
No candidates have yet emerged to challenge incumbents in the state’s eight other DA offices.
Peter Ubertaccio, a politics professor at Stonehill College, said the built-in advantages of incumbency along with the support DAs generally enjoy from local legal and law enforcement communities keep the political landscape largely uncompetitive; potential challengers are less likely to emerge.
The state’s political culture has also largely insulated local prosecutor races from national debates over criminal justice and public safety, he said.
“By and large, DAs don’t run afoul of public sentiment in such a way that creates an opening for challengers to incumbents,” Ubertaccio said.
The 2022 election cycle underscores how hard it is to disrupt the status quo in prosecutors’ offices.
There were competitive races for six of the 11 offices.
The DA jobs on Cape Cod and in Essex County were open for the first time in two decades. Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, a Republican, defeated a Democratic opponent, the third to challenge him since he won the job in 2002.
Quinn defeated a Democratic primary challenger and Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden won his first four-year term by besting Ricardo Arroyo, then a Boston city councilor.
Hayden — like Quinn, Ryan, and Cruz — entered the job as a gubernatorial appointee after his predecessor, Rachael S. Rollins, left to become US attorney for Massachusetts.
One challenger managed to topple an incumbent DA. Berkshire District Attorney Timothy J. Shugrue defeated Andrea C. Harrington, a one-term incumbent, by winning 63 percent of the Democratic primary vote.
Rahsaan Hall, who unsuccessfully challenged Cruz in 2022, said many voters know little about the state’s district attorneys.
A 2017 poll by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts found 38 percent of registered voters didn’t know DAs are elected officials.
That lack of familiarity, coupled with the state’s relatively low crime rate, undercuts voters’ willingness to pick a new district attorney, Hall said.
“One of the things that impacts voters’ willingness to elect someone new is a feeling that they are not safe,” said Hall, now the president and chief executive for the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. “If they feel they are safe, they don’t see the motivation to change course.”
Ryan is facing her second primary challenge since she was elected to her first full-term as Middlesex DA in 2014.
Her challenger is David Solet, a Cambridge resident who spent 24 years in the DA’s office before resigning in September to run.
He most recently served as chief of the Cold Case Homicide Unit and was recognized last year as the office’s prosecutor of the year.
Solet said he wants the office to do more to prevent gun violence by targeting the flow of illegal firearms into Massachusetts and more aggressively pursue legislative fixes to improve public safety.
His priorities include eliminating the statute of limitations for adult rape, expanding the list of offenses for which prosecutors can seek dangerousness hearings, and strengthening laws against drugged driving.
“The incumbent district attorney has been unwilling to step up to protect people because she doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers of people she considers political allies,” Solet said last month. “Focusing on reelection does not always lead to good outcomes for the people we’re supposed to protect.”
He’s raised $140,810 since October. Ryan ended last year with $636,769 in her campaign account as she seeks a fourth term.
In a phone interview, Ryan identified four priorities: protecting public safety, defending the rule of law against intrusions by the Trump administration, investing in youth, and using innovation and data to guide prosecutors’ work.
“I’ve never been more qualified,” said Ryan, who joined the DA’s office in 1980. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know that what used to be enough in being a prosecutor, which was just that you dealt with the cases before you, really isn’t enough. You’ve got to have that focus on prevention, on intervention, on looking at what are alternatives.”
Chris Keohan, a political consultant for Shawmut Strategies Group who helped Shugrue and Quinn win in 2022, said Ryan would be difficult to unseat.
“You have to come up with a real reason that she should be ousted and I don’t see that path for someone right now,” said Keohan, who is not working on any DA races this year.
In Bristol County, two candidates so far have entered the contest to succeed Quinn.
One is Seth Aitken, a first-time candidate and Republican from Swansea who organized his campaign committee in July.
Seth Aitken is running for Bristol district attorney as a Republican.Seth Aitken Aitken became the first Republican to seek the Bristol DA’s office since 1974 amid signs of a rightward shift in the southeastern part of the state.
Aitken, who worked as a prosecutor under Quinn and his predecessor, C. Samuel Sutter, said he wants to provide more training and mentorship for lawyers in the district courts, devote more attention to crimes against the elderly, and establish a unit to investigate public corruption, an area he said needs more scrutiny.
“It’s so critically important to the voters and the taxpayers,” Aitken said. “This is kind of where I’ve seen enough smoke in my time to say that it’s worth investigating.”
On the Democratic side, state Representative Christopher Markey of Dartmouth announced last month that he plans to run for Bristol DA. Before being elected as a lawmaker in 2010, Markey worked under Paul Walsh Jr., who was Bristol district attorney for 16 years.
State Reprentative Christopher Markey of Dartmouth is running for Bristol district attorney as a Democrat.Christopher Markey Markey said he started as a victim witness advocate and rose to second assistant district attorney.
“I want to be the best law firm in Bristol County,” he said.
In Norfolk County, four Democratic candidates lined up to challenge Morrissey before he announced last month that he would not seek a fifth term.
Clockwise from top left the four Democratic candidates vying for Norfolk DA. They are Adam Deitch,
Djuna Perkins, Jim Barakat,and Craig MacLellan.Globe and Submitted PhotosThe candidates seeking the Democratic nomination are defense attorney Jim Barakat, Adam Deitch, a former federal prosecutor, Craig MacLellan, a Cohasset School Committee member and former state prosecutor, and Djuna Perkins, also a former state prosecutor.
So far, no Republicans have declared they intend to run.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.