Massachusetts Peace Action endorses Andrea James for Governor of Massachusetts.
Andrea James has spent decades organizing for criminal justice reform, racial justice, economic justice, and the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Massachusetts. Through her leadership of Families for Justice as Healing and related organizations, she has consistently challenged policies rooted in punishment, inequality, and systemic racism.
MAPA has worked alongside Andrea James and Families for Justice as Healing on issues of shared concern, including advocacy around the prison moratorium bill and broader efforts to shift public resources away from incarceration and toward human needs. Through that work, we have seen firsthand her deep commitment to grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and advancing policies centered on human dignity and community wellbeing rather than punishment and exclusion.
MAPA appreciates Andrea James’ willingness to speak directly about the connections between economic inequality, mass incarceration, militarism, genocide, war, and the concentration of political and corporate power. Her campaign emphasizes investment in housing, healthcare, education, and public services rather than policies that criminalize poverty, deepen inequality, and increase the prison industrial complex in our state.
As an independent candidate, James is also helping create political space outside the two-party system at a time when many Massachusetts voters feel alienated from establishment politics. Her campaign has focused attention on communities and issues that are too often marginalized or silenced in our state political discourse.
We believe Andrea James will bring an important voice for peace, justice, human dignity, and grassroots democracy to the governor’s office. Her long record of organizing and advocacy reflects values that align closely with MAPA’s commitment to social and economic justice, peace, and opposition to systems of violence and oppression.
She is running against Maura Healey, the incumbent, who supports pro-Israel measures in Massachusetts like partnership with Sheba Medical Center and uncritical endorsement of the state commission on antisemitism’s recommendations. Healey has a lackluster record on supporting immigrants, is too aligned with law enforcement, promotes nuclear power and other anti-environmental policies, is skeptical of rent control and has done little to address housing costs.
The first order of business is to collect 10,000 signatures to get Andrea on the ballot. Contact us to work to elect Andrea as governor!