Mermell, Auchincloss neck-and-neck in 4th District’s Democratic primary

Democratic candidates are locked in a tight race for the nomination to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who left for his failed challenge against Sen. Ed Markey.The Democratic field includes Jake Auchincloss, Becky Grossman, Alan Khazei, Ihssane Leckey, Dr. Natalia Linos, Jesse Mermell and Ben Sigel.Whoever emerges with the victory will face Air Force veteran Julie Hall in the November general election, as she is projected to defeat fellow Air Force veteran David Rosa in the 4th District’s Republican primary.Hall, 62, is a former Attleboro city councilor and rose to the rank of colonel during her 30 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, including some time as a medical chief operating officer. During her time on the Attleboro City Council, she advocated for small businesses as well as veterans.A Republican has not held the 4th District U.S. House seat since 1947.The Democratic nomination was the last congressional race without a clear winner Tuesday night. Mermell, 40, became the youngest member of the Brookline Select Board when she was elected in 2007. The Boston College graduate then became the communications director for former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and was a senior leader at Planned Parenthood. Two former Democratic candidates for the 4th Congressional District seat, Cavell and Zannetos, dropped out of the race in recent weeks to back Mermell.Auchincloss, 32, has served on the Newton City Council since 2015 and has been reelected twice. He is also chair of the city’s transportation and public safety committee. After graduating from Harvard College, the Newton native joined the U.S. Marine Corps and rose to the rank of captain. He also previously worked as a product manager at a cybersecurity startup that protected small businesses from online threats, and later as a senior manager at Liberty Mutual’s innovation lab.Grossman, 40, is an At-Large member of the Newton City Council who was elected in 2017. Her focuses include improving school building facilities, addressing the city’s infrastructure and transportation challenges and supporting local efforts to combat the climate change crisis. Before joining the city council, Grossman was an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County and an associate at the law firm of Goodwin Procter.Linos, 38, is a social epidemiologist and the executive director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She also serves on the Poor People’s Campaign COVID-19 Health Justice Advisory Committee. The Brookline resident is a three-time Harvard graduate and says she is focused on the issues of climate change, health access and systemic racism. Leckey, 35, is a former Wall Street regulator at the Federal Reserve. She also worked in public finance and worked on public policy for a large Philadelphia food bank in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The Brookline resident immigrated to the United States from Morocco at the age of 20. She worked to pay her way through community college and ended up earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and math from Boston University, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college in the process.Khazei, 59, is a social entrepreneur who has founded multiple nonprofits, including City Year. He launched City Year in Boston in 1988 and it now serves communities in 29 cities across the country. The Harvard Law School graduate helped President Bill Clinton build AmeriCorps in 1993 and helped save the organization in 2003 when former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay tried to eliminate it.Sigel, 44, is a Braintree native who worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, of Texas. Most recently, he has served as Mintz Levin’s director of client and community relations and as the president of the Hispanic National Bar Association in New England for the last 18 months.The 4th District includes the Boston suburbs of Newton and Brookline and winds south through Attleboro, Fall River and Taunton.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