[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelly. Shelly is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and change maker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. Thanks so much for joining me today. If you don't mind just introducing yourself with your name pronouns and who you are Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: I'm Christine Barber she her hers I'm the state representative for Somerville and Medford the 34th Middlesex District and running for state Senate Which is Somerville Medford Cambridge and Winchester the second Middlesex District Thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, we're gonna talk Much more about that in just a minute. But before we get into talking about your campaign, I'm hoping you can answer the question that we ask everyone that you have answered before, which is, what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I was thinking about this. I knew you'd ask. And it's such a hard decision. There's so many good places. I think last time I actually said Goldilocks because I love Lindsay's bagels and I could eat them as a meal. at all times. But I really love El Tecuba and really like what they're doing with that space. So I think I'm going to go with El Tecuba as a somewhat newer restaurant in the square.
[Danielle Balocca]: It's a good one. I just actually heard yesterday that I think that they hosted some of the middle school, like Spanish students for like a special lunch. It sounded really fun. Yeah. So yeah. So we're here to talk mostly about your campaign for state Senate. Um, so I'm wondering if you could just tell us a little bit about kind of how you arrived at this moment to, to, to kind of shift tracks from state representative to, um, running for Senate state Senate.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, so I've been state representative for my sixth term for Somerville and Medford and it's an amazing community and I really love that work and I've been honored to do it. It really goes back to though why I got into this work. The daughter of a public school teacher, my mom worked as a public school teacher and my dad worked in a manufacturing plant and they really taught me the values of women leading, of social justice, of workers' rights. And after college, I did a volunteer program and did community organizing working with low-income women. And it was after welfare reform, which really upended the lives of low-income women, and we did community organizing. and brought them to the state house where they could share their voices about what they really needed, which was child care, health care, training for good jobs. And that was a really formative experience for me of people who have the most urgent needs being able to share their voice to get really good policy made. And I eventually got into working on health care and especially Medicaid to expand access to health care and try to get to universal health care. And I worked on Massachusetts health reform as a legislative staffer and then as a advocate worked on the Affordable Care Act. So for most of my career, I've been working on policy and really making sure to listen to people who have kind of the most urgent needs and the most vulnerable to make sure that policy is working for them. So as state rep, that's the work I've done and been able to get a lot of results at the state house and excited for the district and the state Senate. It is all of Somerville, Medford, and includes Cambridge and Winchester, which are newer areas to me, but it's a district that is super civically engaged, wants things to be different, wants to look out for neighbors and make sure that everyone is safe. has what they need here. And I'm really excited about just working with residents to get even more done in the Senate and be able to organize and make that happen.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the things you've already gotten done as a state rep and kind of, you know, if there's any highlights for kind of what's helping you like move into maybe a bigger position here.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, and I should also say it's not lost on me. So Senator Pat Jalen has done this work for decades at the State House. She's an incredible mentor of mine who I've been able to work with, but leaves impossibly big shoes to fill. And she's just been an amazing, effective leader. So I don't want to not mention what an incredible leader Pat is and that I feel really lucky to have worked with her for a number of years. So as I mentioned, I was a health care advocate before I ran for office. And health care is a right. And I really believe that. And I've spent a lot of my work opening up access to health care. So I passed a bill last year, which is a bill that I wrote to cap co-pays for insulin and for inhalers because people shouldn't have to choose between medication and groceries or paying the rent. And that was something that we were seeing, especially for communities of color and low-income families that insulin and inhalers are just things you need to stay healthy and should not be things where you're figuring out how to pay for them. I also passed a law to expand connector care, which is like subsidized healthcare under the ACA. So Massachusetts, we actually allow that to go up to 500% of the poverty level. So the more moderate income people can get subsidized care. And that was something that I worked on and that we got passed into law. I've worked on contraception access, access for transgender folks, and just making sure that people have access to all sorts of healthcare. That's one that I'm really proud of.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think maybe the last time we talked, you were working on something for IDs for undocumented folks.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah. Yeah. So one of my proudest accomplishments is the work and family mobility act. And yeah, I think we did that on an earlier episode. So that. bill people organized for about 17 years to get it passed. And I worked on it because local residents here in Medford and Somerville asked me to take it up as a key priority for immigrant communities. And that bill allows people to get a driver's license regardless of their immigration status. And so we fought really hard. We had an amazing coalition across the state and I worked with my legislative colleagues to build support. And it was actually really hard to build support at the time for that bill. But it took us about three and a half years, and we did get it passed. And we had to withstand a veto by then Governor Baker. But we were able to get that law passed. And now tens of thousands of people have driver's licenses, and it keeps them safe so they're not stopped for driving without a license. And it actually helps now. with all the challenges with ICE is that it's one way to keep people safe because they have a license, they can get to work, they can take their kid to school and not have to worry about that of not driving without a license as one piece of it. So working with that coalition has been really incredible.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, it seems like you've had like a pretty good reach and had like a lot of influence already as a state rep. I wonder like, what do you see as different about the role of a state senator?
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, so one of the things that I've been able to do well is get things passed and get money for the district. And it is harder, some would say harder than it should be to do that in Massachusetts, but I've been successful in building coalitions, both working with advocates on the ground, grassroots advocates, because that's always really important on issues to have the voice of people who are most affected. And then working with my legislative colleagues and working with people who have different experiences in different districts, but to get them on board. And we definitely did that with the driver's license bill. I've been doing that with a bill. I filed this session to stop ICE from deputizing our local and state law enforcement. And I worked really closely with the Black and Latino caucus to get that into a bill, the PROTECT Act that we passed a couple weeks ago in the House and the Senate just passed. So it's a lot of coalition building and organizing inside the statehouse. In the Senate, there are fewer people. There's 40 senators and there are progressive senators who have a few progressive senators who have been elected recently. And I'm really excited about leading in the Senate and getting more done and being able to organize to get progressive legislation really on the agenda and get more passed and get the results that we urgently need right now.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, and it's a big geographical area, a lot of people that this different district would cover. And it's pretty diverse, I would say, or I would imagine. So it seems like a big job and a lot of people to try to please, yeah.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, and we've been, I've been canvassing a lot all around the district, which is, so going door to door is honestly one of my favorite parts of the job and the best way to get to know it, because having one-on-one conversations with people and seeing some of the different neighborhoods, you get a sense of what's going on for them, what their concerns are, and that's really the best way to get a sense of, especially the newer areas for me to represent. And to some extent, you hear the same thing. I'm hearing a lot about people scared about immigration and just wanting to stand up for neighbors, people frustrated about affordability, cost of health care, cost of housing. and just wanting something different than what's going on. And I've been able to talk about, okay, well, I've gotten results and I have a track record and I would love to work with you on these pieces.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I think you've spoken like kind of maybe to this in a way, but I wonder if how you think about like yourself as maybe different or set apart from the other folks that are running for the same seat.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, so, There are five of us running, it's a democratic primary. So all of us running, there's five people running in the democratic primary. And we're all pretty progressive, we all share progressive values. But what sets me apart is that I've really delivered results. And for me, progressive leadership isn't just about promising things or having progressive ideas. It is about delivering results for people, especially when there's really urgent needs right now. And so I have done that in working with immigrants and working on housing and health care, work on climate and delivering a lot of money to the district too. So I helped to get money to bring the Green Line extension a number of years ago, which has been really transformative to Somerville and to the neighborhoods of Medford that I represent. Um, money for, um, things like the mystic community market, which is the big food bank in my district and to the wise and other early education programs. Um, and to many of the parks, um, like McDonald park and riverbed park along the mystic river and really keeping those up. Um, and then delivering for our schools, which is also one of the top things I hear on the doors. Um, I was able to get money in the budget this year to support, um, some of the career technical education programs at Medford high, which are incredible programs that students are really, um, asking for and, um, making sure that they have enough opportunity to, to be able to build out those programs and really support the students there.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great. Yeah. It sounds like a lot of, already great relationship building connections to folks and like seeing these things in action and when you were talking about the licenses for undocumented folks that was a very long process and I think sometimes people politicians can lose sight of like these things that are really important because they take so long and like something new and exciting will come up but so it sounds like you have a lot of, you know, dedication to these really important causes. One of the, and I think one of the new things that, or maybe, I don't know how new this is, but one of the things that we're hearing from you now is about this cell phone bill for students, right? So could you talk us through that one a little bit?
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, so this is something that I've been hearing about from parents and teachers for a while is the challenge of cell phones in schools. And so we passed in the house a bell to bell cell phone ban in public schools that included also a social media prohibition for children under 14. And we've all seen the studies about mental health and young people and what social media and cell phone use is doing to their brains and to their social emotional learning. We know that there's algorithms that are specifically built for addictive design and to exploit young people and all of us, but especially young developing minds. So the Mass Teachers Association and many of the groups we worked with on this bill really support the bell to bell So basically, schools will allow for a way so parents can reach their child. And if a child, of course, has health issues or other things, that there'll be ways that they can address communicating, but making sure that children are in school to learn and to really focus and not to be on their phones and distracted in that way.
[Danielle Balocca]: And I'm curious if there's been any resistance to this idea.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah. I've definitely heard some resistance and some parents who want their kids to have cell phones in schools. And I hear that. And it's not taking away, of course, young people's cell phones. It's just when they're in the school day, they would not have them during that time. The social media ban. To be clear, when we pass that, there is no specific way cited for how you'll verify age, and that has been one of the things that's come up. So we asked the Attorney General to come up with, through a public process, how to verify age, because that is a challenging piece. Um, and I did work with the LGBT caucus on the House floor on an amendment to protect LGBT kids who want to, you know, who do use social media sometimes as a lifeline when they're not in a, when they're in a perhaps unsafe or, um, situation where there isn't other support and, um, trying to make sure that we're supporting all kids in addressing this. And I would just say, this is the House version. So the bill is not final. And as I continue to hear from constituents about some concerns, I'm working on the Senate side too. So in the final version, we can try to get this right. We're also working on a big data privacy bill, which includes not just young people, but all of us. So that will also come into play on this. And we're looking at things like location shields. So if you're getting health care access, health care services, especially if you're getting reproductive care or gender affirming care, that these apps and things that track us everywhere will have more settings. So we're also looking more broadly at data privacy in this whole debate.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, cool. It's really interesting. So before we kind of wrap up, I'm wondering if you have if there's anything else that we haven't talked about that you think is important for folks to know.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, so I really appreciate the time. And what I would say is it's an urgent time where so many people are under attack in our communities, both by the federal government and by just the challenges that we have with affordability. And in talking to people around the district, I'm hearing a real need for urgent solutions, and I have the record where I have been able to pass things to do that, and I want to, in the Senate, be able to pass bills, get more money, and make sure that I'm delivering, and that's what I've done in the House, and have the record to show that I can do that in the Senate as well. Um, and I would just say, you know, as we go forward, I hope to hear from more people, um, about what they're concerned about and talk about, like, let's, let's make some changes and what can we do at the state level to address, um, so many of these things. I think that's something people don't know that at the state level, we do a lot of work on education and healthcare and things that impact our everyday lives. And I definitely want to work with, with folks on that.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. I think like we, with everything that's happening in the world, that's like really awful. think a lot of people, you know, I hear a lot of people say like, Oh, well, at least we live in Massachusetts. And like, I, it's, I don't know, I think that's kind of dismissive of all the work that has to be like constantly done to make sure that like, we stay that like, you know, we like kind of maintain our progressive values and that we keep some of those like, policies and laws that are important to protecting everybody.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I do think we're the last line of defense. And I take that really seriously, that the state needs to stand up and protect people here. And that means we have to pass things. So we passed the Roe Act and the Shield 2.0 Act to make sure we're enshrining abortion care, reproductive care, and gender-affirming care in our state law. So as the feds are rolling back those protections, we're standing up. I've done some work to make sure we're holding on to all of our health care access and funds for health care because that has also been rolled back at the federal level. And then supporting immigrants and making sure those are things we're doing at the state level to stand up for our neighbors. But yes, there is work that we need to continue to do and get past here to actually put that into law and make it real for people on the ground.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you. Any events coming up that people can meet with you at or ways to give feedback or get involved in your campaign?
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah. So I'm actually having an event at Tamper in Medford Hillside on June 2nd. 5 to 7 p.m., so come. You can hear about the campaign, get involved, or if you're just interested, I would love to chat with you and meet people there. My website is christinebarber.org. I'm easy to find on Instagram and Facebook, and there's ways on my website and other platforms to email me, call me. I'd love to hear from people about your concerns or just issues that you care about.
[Danielle Balocca]: All right, Christina, well, thank you so much.
[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Giedonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Medford Bites!