What Burhan will deliver

Massachusetts has a housing crisis because one hundred years ago, the state began making it illegal to build affordable housing. Burhan knows how to undo those laws and unlock new housing. In Cambridge, he passed the Affordable Housing Overlay and re-legalized triple-deckers and starter homes. As state senator, he'll roll out that model statewide.

He'll also make sure the whole state does their part. Right now, communities like Cambridge and Somerville are building, while the state has to sue other towns just to allow any multifamily housing at all. Burhan will push for a housing-by-right law near transit — modeled after California's SB79 — to override local zoning and allow taller, denser housing within a half-mile of transit stops.

The T can be faster, cheaper to run, and more reliable. It just hasn't happened because the people making decisions don't ride it. Burhan's plan: extend the Red Line to Arlington, the Green Line to West Medford, and build multiple connectors to make transfers faster. He'll fund this construction by implementing congestion pricing and curtailing the MBTA's spending on redundant consultants.

He'll also fix the MBTA longer term by empowering riders. Today, suburban drivers have more say than Boston metro riders. Burhan will propose a new governing body that gives the people who depend on the T more governance control, because a better T means faster commutes and a stronger local economy for everyone.

Energy bills hit every family hard. Third-party electricity suppliers have never once saved a customer money. This is corporate greed that exploits consumers, and Burhan will move to ban them on day one. He'll also expand Cambridge's Community Energy bulk-purchasing model to every community in the district. It has proven results: $95 million returned in savings to Cambridge residents, or nearly $2,000 per household.

Childcare bills hit young families especially hard. It's more than tuition at UMass, often forcing young parents out of their careers involuntarily or pushing new families out of the district altogether. This is why Burhan passed universal pre-K in Cambridge, saving the average family $21,000. As state senator, he'll expand that model statewide.

The Trump administration is attacking higher education and medical research, both industries where Massachusetts is a leader. NIH cuts are hindering the research institutions that employ tens of thousands of people. Vaccine program cuts are dismantling the public health programs that families depend on.

Burhan's answer is to build a more resilient and self-sufficient Massachusetts. He will incentivize businesses to ensure new technology gets manufactured here, not just invented here. And if Washington isn’t willing to fund vital research, he’ll work to develop joint funding between other New England states.

Massachusetts invents clean energy, but the manufacturing jobs and climate benefits go elsewhere. Burhan will change the green drain by making it easier for manufacturers to stay. He will speed up the permitting process for wind energy, which currently takes a decade to build. And he'll push the state to subsidize geothermal wells and fusion development — because those technologies are good climate policy and an economic strategy for what comes after fossil fuels.