Day One to me is Day 357

Candidates like to say that we will be “ready on day one.”

I use the phrase myself. It is a way of telling voters that you understand the job, have the necessary experience and will not spend your first term figuring out what to do.

But the more I think about it, the less I believe that day one should be the day you are sworn into office.

For me, day one was January 15, 2026: the day I found out that my representative announced that she was running for State Senate and I learned that our House seat would be open. That was when I started thinking seriously about what I’d like to do in office, researching the policy areas where I had gaps in my knowledge, and having conversations with people about what they’d like to see.

The next General Court convenes on January 6, 2027. That would be day 357 in my process of being active in the policymaking process, because I believe the way you campaign helps determine the way you govern.

What is a campaign?

For most of my conversations with people in politics, a campaign is treated as a game.

• How many votes do you need?

• Who is supporting you?

• What’s your fundraising total?

But a campaign is not just about how a candidate gets elected. It’s where a candidate tells voters what they plan to do in office and where voters get to scrutinize them. It’s the preparatory stage of government.

The 2008 Democratic presidential primary offers an example. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did not merely tell voters that they both supported universal healthcare. They debated how to achieve it.

One major disagreement concerned the individual mandate. Clinton argued that everyone should be required to obtain coverage. Obama opposed that requirement during the campaign, arguing that affordability was the fundamental problem. After taking office, however, Obama changed his position, and the mandate became part of the Affordable Care Act.

That debate did not settle every question. But it forced both candidates to develop real plans and defend the choices within them. It also gave voters some understanding of what the eventual administration intended to do, even if in this case Obama flipped on one of the elements of it.

That is far more valuable than campaigning on platitudes and pablum.

When candidates discuss only broad goals, better schools, affordable housing, reliable transportation, voters may know what values they hold, but voters do not know what they will actually do. Because there are a lot of different ways to approach each one of those aims, and in a primary when everyone agrees on the ends, the means are where the decision lies.

When candidates put forward specific proposals and subject them to public debate, they can enter office able to say: I talked about this. Voters questioned me about it. They heard the arguments for and against it. They elected me knowing that I intended to pursue it.

That is a mandate with some meaning behind it.

The one-page governing plan

I began my campaign with a substantial policy background and I have tried to make policy a central part of the campaign. I’ve been developing proposals, talking about them publicly, listening to people across Somerville and Medford, and revising my ideas as I learn more.

This is not just to win the election, but to ensure that after Election Day I can develop the one-page governing plan that a veteran consultant told me is the basis for a successful legislative term.

Representatives who enter office without a sense of what they want to do outside of generalities miss the window where bills are introduced and support won.

Those who go in with a million things to accomplish are pulled in too many directions to get anything done.

For me, I want to have one page of bullet points of issues to focus on in my first legislative session. Other things may come up during the two-years, but this will give me a concise list to ensure that I can maximize my results despite being a freshman in the State House.

That page will include major efforts where I can join an existing team; one or two larger priorities where I can take a leading role; and a longer list of smaller, more specific changes that may be achievable but still improve people’s lives.

I’m developing this throughout the campaign (the plans on my website and in this newsletter are the bulk of those policies) and after the election, I’ll begin in meeting with advocates, activists, local officials and future colleagues to talk about the strategy to achieve them.

I’ll also be talking with representatives about who has the best constituent services so I can learn from them in advance and set my staff up for success.

My goal is that when I walk into the State House to be sworn in, I already understand what I want to pursue during the full first term, what belongs in the budget and what it will take to move each proposal forward.

So I do not intend to be ready on day one.

I’ve been getting ready since day one.