In an online candidate’s forum Wednesday evening, Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk district attorney who is trying to win her job back, lost no opportunities to tell the crowd how she’s better for the role than her successor, Kevin Hayden, making frequent references to his administration and calling him out by name.
“Kevin inherited a beautiful office from me. I inherited a dirty diaper from [former DA] Dan Conley,” she said. “I feel responsible for what has happened since I left. You wouldn’t know who Kevin Hayden was without me.”
Rollins was elected district attorney in 2018, and was then appointed by President Joe Biden to be the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts in 2021. Republican Governor Charlie Baker appointed Kevin Hayden to the seat to finish out the term.
Hayden then ran for and won his seat in 2022. He’s now running for his second full term, starting with this three-way fight for the democratic nomination in the primary race on Sept. 1. One of Rollins’ challengers in 2018 has returned to run in this primary, Linda Champion.
The forum on Thursday night was for all three of the Democratic candidates for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s race. There is no Republican challenger on the ballot, meaning the winner of the primary will be the presumptive winner of the general election in November.
The forum, organized through the Georgia-based nonprofit Greatest Minds, was a one-on-one online chat. Each candidate got an hour to talk, despite frequent interruptions due to unmuting from participants in the forum both intentional and accidental. All three discussed their backgrounds and families.
Hayden started the evening off talking about how his father led him into public service. Rollins talked about her children, and her experience as a foster parent, and Champion reflected on her time as a foster child.
Hayden first focused on his accomplishments so far, emphasizing that there’s more work to do. He talked of his efforts to expand his office into the community in order to be fair when it comes to pursuing criminal charges.
“If they (prosecutors) don’t know and understand the communities they serve, they can’t possibly be effective in the courtroom,” said Hayden.
Rollins used her time to compare the way she ran the office for the three years she was there to how it’s been run since.
“We have a passive DA right now who is in the mayor’s pocket,” said Rollins.
Hayden touted Mayor Michelle Wu’s endorsement of him for the seat, but Rollins suggested that the mayor has a lot of influence in his office.
“I’ve been the DA before, and so has Kevin. I am very proactive. I don’t wait for people to tell me things. I don’t wait for murders to happen,” said Rollins. “I am thinking about how we can disrupt crime and be innovative.”
By the time the forum got to Linda Champion, it was after 10 p.m. and the online forum started to get unsettled. One participant was virtually removed for constant interruptions and racial remarks. But Champion, lit by the dashboard in her car where she had pulled over, made her argument why she’s the right person for the job.
“I don’t have all of the answers, but I know this. I know that every life has value. I know that every child is deserving of an opportunity and a chance. I know that I’m willing to be in in that seat to give the opportunities and the chances that we need to give so that people can have a better life,” she said.
All three candidates addressed federal immigration agents and the impact on the job of the district attorney.
Hayden said he never imagined he would be taking meetings at the State House to try and find ways to implement laws that would restrict ICE agents from taking not only criminals, but witnesses out of his court rooms.
“When I cannot prosecute a case in court because they snatched my defendant out of court in the middle of trial. That does not help public safety when victims and witnesses will not come to court because they’re afraid of what Ice might do that hinders public safety,” said Hayden.
Rollins was sure to mention that she filed a lawsuit against ICE “before it was cool” in 2019.
“First and foremost, I’ve sued ICE before and we won,” said Rollins of a 2019 case. “We now have thePROTECT Act, which is a state statute, and our legislative branch of our government has done great work, but we didn’t have that.”
Champion said that helping ICE isn’t her job, and that she’s maintained the same position since she ran in 2018, that she needs to protect their victims in court.
“We have to make sure that victims are safe, we have to make sure that witnesses are safe, and we can’t do anything to compromise them or their well-being,” said Champion.
