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Freshman state Rep. Mark Sylvia’s campaign monitored filings for months leading up to the Sept. 1 primary election, looking for anyone who might be vying for his seat representing the 10th Bristol district on Beacon Hill.
Sylvia, 52, knew his seemingly uncontested race, run on priorities including tamping down the rising cost of living and providing cities and towns with more accessible state funding, could change at any moment.
Key election dates
- The Massachusetts general election is Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- The voter registration deadline is Oct. 24.
- The vote by mail application deadline is Oct. 27 at 5 p.m.
- The early voting period is Oct. 17 to 30.
And it did, eight days before the primary, when Brendalee Smith, 68, threw her hat into the ring. Director of community development for a South Coast church and CEO of a company making glare coatings for LCD screens, Smith mustered 185 write-in votes in the Republican primary to become Sylvia’s challenger on the November ballot.
While organizing a candidate forum, Smith realized she didn’t agree with the then-uncontested Sylvia. That’s what led her to launch her campaign, she told The Light.
“At the time, I wasn’t following the election as specific as I am now,” Smith said. But after pondering the race, she “thought it was my duty to get involved, to give people a choice.”
Now, voters in the 10th Bristol district will have that choice come Nov. 3: between a newcomer to state elected office and a freshman politician at the end of his first term, looking for another.
It’s a potential swing district: Kamala Harris won 49.7% of the presidential vote there in 2024, while 47.5% went to Donald Trump.
Two takes on energy policy
Both candidates cited cost of living as a top priority their supporters want them to tackle. That includes rising energy utility costs for the residents of the 10th Bristol district, which includes all of Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester, plus two precincts in Acushnet and three in New Bedford.
“I’ve always been very supportive of clean energy, but not at the cost to ratepayers such that it’s unsustainable for them to afford their energy bill,” said Sylvia, who has been a state energy commissioner and an undersecretary for energy.
He said energy affordability legislation passed by the House earlier this year “struck a really good balance” to provide some short-term relief to ratepayers. That includes redirecting funds collected from utility operators when “they can’t provide enough of the clean energy that’s required” and using it for environmental initiatives, Sylvia said.
The House bill “mandated that 70% of the total that has been collected, which was in the hundreds of millions, would go back in the form of credits to ratepayers on their utility bills,” he said. (The House bill and a Senate energy bill are now in a conference committee, with negotiators seeking a compromise that can pass both chambers.)
Smith said if elected, she would “unpack all of the fees” in utility bills, including some collected to fund environmental initiatives.
“I would like to know… is it beneficial to us?” Smith said. “Do we even need to put money into that particular initiative?”
Funding for cities and towns
Sylvia, who has served as Fairhaven town moderator and Plymouth’s town manager, supports creating a state department to make headway on constructing public buildings, funded by cannabis-tax funds. He says it’d be similar to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
“We’ve experienced in our district, a number of communities, that need to build new fire stations, new police stations, town halls, annexes, you name it,” Sylvia said, “and 100% of that cost is borne by the community.”
Legislation Sylvia co-sponsored to create the new building authority is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee.
For Smith, who is also from Fairhaven and served a one-year term on the town’s School Committee in 2024, figuring out how to best fund cities and towns first requires figuring out “where all the money that we have in the government” is going, she said during last week’s candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters and The Light.
She was referring to a 2024 ballot question, overwhelmingly supported by voters, aimed at allowing the state auditor to audit the “accounts, programs, activities, and functions” of the state Legislature.
Abortion: ‘Front and center’ or not?
Smith said she and Sylvia disagree on new abortion legislation signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey in August.
The policy removed restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks and now allows the procedure “upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
“My question to everyone who voted for that, especially the ones who initiated it, would be… why was that necessary?” Smith said.
The abortion law was front of mind for people at almost “100% of every door” Smith knocked on, she said, adding that people wanted to know where she stood on the issue.
“When I answer anyone’s question, it’s how I feel personally… I’m answering on behalf of me,” Smith said. “But, in my interviewing and door knocking, I’m finding that I do represent the majority of our voters in this area, for sure.”
Sylvia said people at the doors he’s knocking on are concerned with cost of living issues, and some are frustrated with “the slowness of action in the Legislature.”
“The abortion issue is not front and center in people’s minds,” he said.
Election Day
Sylvia has raised more money and outspent Smith on the road to Election Day, according to state campaign finance reports from the end of September.
Smith raised just shy of $4,000 so far and has spent all of that with no cash on hand, according to the reports. Better Future for Massachusetts, a political action committee formed to “influence public opinion and candidate selection by promoting family centered values,” spent $3,650 on texts, signs, postcards, and direct mail in support of Smith, campaign finance records show.
Sylvia has raised a total of $60,031 and has spent much of that — but retains almost $24,000 cash on hand. He hasn’t received any PAC money during this run; in 2024, he received support from the 1199 SEIU, a union representing healthcare workers, and the Environmental League of Massachusetts, according to campaign finance reports.
At a mill-building coffee shop in the city’s South End, Smith said that if elected, she’d likely delegate more business decisions to her team at AMEL Technology, the company marketing the LCD screen coatings. And it would be hard, but possible, to give up her role at New Life South Coast as community development director.
She said running for public office has been an opportunity to ask God “what he’s leading me to do.”
“And I think that is to lead with a righteousness type perspective,” Smith said, adding that religion is “definitely part of my life that I include in every area.”
Sitting in the backroom of a different coffee shop along New Bedford’s waterfront, Sylvia seemed confident, yet not cocky, that his time spent figuring out what his constituents want from him — and his track record in Boston — would serve him well come Election Day.
He said he wasn’t surprised to see a challenger, and that during the primary he did sway 100 conservative voters to support him.
“That just happened,” he said. “I’m a… proud Democrat, but I’m also a proud representative and I’m a representative for my entire district.”
Nathan Collins is an investigative journalist and a Report for America corps member, covering the fishing industry, oceans and the blue economy. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions. Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@newbedfordlight.org.
