Transparency on Beacon Hill, the cost of health care, and challenges facing each of the candidates for 10th Middlesex State Representative were among the topics discussed by the two candidates running for the seat representing parts of Watertown, Newton, and Waltham — incumbent John Lawn and challenger, Alison Leary.
The 10th Middlesex district includes parts of Watertown precincts 9, 10, 11, and 12. Both candidates are Democrats who will be on the ballot for the State Primary election on Sept. 1, 2026. The televised debate on Aug. 4 was co-hosted by Watertown News and WCA-TV.
Watertown’s other State Representative, Steve Owens, does not have a challenger in the 2026 election.
Transparency
Leary, who has served on the Newton City Council since 2013, said that she wants to bring more transparency to the State House.
“I would make certain the legislature and the governor’s office subject to open meeting law and to show full records, and the legislature has been very resistant to that,” Leary said. “For me, it means meeting openly. It means having your votes counted and visible.”
Lawn, who lives in Watertown and was elected as State Representative in 2011 after serving on the Town Council, said transparency also is important to him.
“I believe in total transparency, and we have all our meetings — our hearings are public, all our votes are public, summaries of every bill are listed on the website,” Lawn said. “We put attendance on the website and it shows who is at each hearing and every vote.”
Leary also said the State Legislature, including Lawn, “eviscerated” the audit proposed by State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. Lawn said the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court deemed the audit unconstitutional, and added that the Legislature agreed to four things sought by the Auditor, and she requested more, which is being reviewed by the SJC.
Health Care
Lawn currently serves as chair of the Health Care Finance Committee, and affordability of health care is one of Leary’s primary issues. She said she would push for Medicare for All.
Lawn said, “I wrote the law to try to rein in private equity in healthcare, and I just hope to continue this work I’m doing on healthcare affordability, and that is really such a challenge.”
He added that recently he authored bills to give prescription drug rebates and that increase access to primary care, “which is one of the root causes of healthcare costs.”
Leary said, “One of the things that I’m concerned about in particular is the incredible cost of healthcare. It’s just exploding with no relief in sight. Our total healthcare spending in 2024 exceeded $83 billion. That’s probably more than anyone pays, anyone else pays in practically the world.”
Housing
Both candidates spoke about how the cost of living in the area has become a real challenge for many, particularly the cost of housing. A question from Housing for All Watertown asked whether the candidates would support a bill that would allow the construction of duplexes in Massachusetts by right.
Leary said that she thinks the state needs to go beyond duplexes by right.
“The cost of housing — we’re losing our young people, our young professionals — it’s impacting our whole economy. We must do something about it,” she said. “And I think allowing duplexes by right is very reasonable, and I think it will finally help build the supply because we can’t just do it by offering lower income housing. We need to build diverse housing. We need to build market rate housing.”
Lawn said he would like to see a balance, and said that while some communities like Watertown have added a lot of housing, others have not. He said he voted for the MBTA Communities Act.
“We have neighborhoods that should be protected. Every community is different. There should be some local control because there are characteristics of neighborhoods that should be preserved,” Lawn said. “And there are areas, especially manufacturing sites like we had on Pleasant Street, they were very appropriate areas. And we need to really build workforce housing. We need to build more public housing, and I’ve funded money to help do that.”
Trust of Voters
Both candidates were asked about incidents that might give voters concern about supporting them in the State Primary.
Debate moderator Jim Vershbow, asked: “Representative Lawn, in July of 2025, you were arrested for a DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. Can you reflect on that incident and what you have learned from it personally, and how it has perhaps changed you both personally and professionally?”
Lawn responded: “I think leadership starts with accountability, and I took accountability, and I apologize, and I made sure that that took my consequence to that, and I think that showed leadership, and I moved on to that, and I have a loving, supporting family. And the comment I made then, and still is the comment I made now, I take full ownership and responsibility for that.”
Vershbow asked Leary: “During a recent debate, you said that many residents in Newton’s Nonantum neighborhood don’t share your views on issues like housing and immigration. The direct quote was, ‘The people that you are serving in Nonantum, I know all those people I work with, all those people-they don’t want housing. They don’t want immigrants. Many of them are Republicans. They don’t share my values.’ Some voters may worry that you’ll be more responsive to people who agree with you politically than those who don’t. How would you reassure every constituent that you’ll represent them equally, regardless of their political beliefs?”
Leary responded: “I did send an apology to that because I spoke in a very broad stroke there, and that was not fair to my constituents. I intend to represent everyone, and of course we all have differences of opinion. There’s a long convoluted road sometimes to policy. I’m well aware of that, and I do want to be. I want to listen to all voices, and I’ve always been that way because being able to listen to different voices and get different opinions usually results in a stronger program, better policy, and improvements for our communities. I realized I misspoke, and it happens sometimes. But I’m but I’m happy to be a part of everyone’s every listen to everybody’s voice.”
The candidates responded to several other questions. See a replay of the 10th Middlesex Candidate Debate by clicking here.
Watertown News and WCA-TV will also be hosting a debate between the candidates for the Suffolk and Middlesex State Senator — Will Brownsberger and Daniel Lander — on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. on WCA-TV’s Public Channel (Comcast 9 & RCN 3) and stream live worldwide at WCATV.org/Public.