Rick Jakious never planned to run for Congress, but when his former boss, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), announced he would vacate his seat, many urged Jakious to consider entering the race.
“You don’t always get to pick your moments,” Jakious said.
Jakious officially launched his campaign for Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District on October 28, saying he wants to “make government work for every family across the 39 cities and towns of the 6th District.” Earlier this month, Moulton announced a U.S. Senate bid against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), creating the open seat.
“Now more than ever we need people who are willing to step up,” Jakious said. “I think that what I’m hearing from other candidates and politicians, to me, was only part of the answer. It felt like there was a different way and a different approach and that’s what really inspired me to do this.”
That approach?
“I think we obviously need to push back incredibly hard against the Trump administration,” Jakious said. “When 20 million people are about to see their health insurance premiums go up by 70%, when (on November 1) 30,000 families in this congressional district are going to lose their SNAP benefits, we need to push back against those things, but I think there’s too many politicians who think that going on to cable news and shaking their fists, that they’ve checked the box and they’re done.”
Jakious, 48, said there also needs to be a “plan for the day after Donald Trump.”
“The question is what will be left and what will we do with it,” he said. “You have to almost go back to the root cause of all of this: why did people hand a book of matches to a madman and say burn the whole thing to the ground? Why does nobody seem to even know or care that the government has presently shut down? And it’s because they’ve lost faith in government. They don’t think government listens to them, and they don’t think government does anything for them.”
Jakious grew up in the Midwest with parents who didn’t discuss politics at the dinner table. He said he didn’t know their political affiliations until adulthood. But they still instilled the idea of “service,” through church, through Boy Scouts and even through Jakious’ original intention to attend West Point prior to a football injury that medically disqualified him.
Now, after nearly a dozen years working with Moulton, Jakious said he’s seen both the good and bad of government. He has served the 6th District as district director and, more recently, as Moulton’s chief of staff.
Jakious recalled the case of Tim White, a formerly homeless veteran struggling with substance use and living in transitional housing. White, 62, went missing in May 2020 and his body was later found about 20 yards from his room, in an emergency exit stairwell of his building, on the grounds of the Veterans Affairs hospital operated by Caritas Communities. Investigators determined the stairwell was never searched.
“The VA police, the Bedford VA Police, were incompetent and corrupt and weren’t doing their job,” Jakious said. “It was their job to look for this person, and he died alone in a stairwell.”
On the other hand, Jakious said he has also seen government succeed, and felt “like I’ve been part of making it work.” He shared about a veteran father who reached out to the 6th District’s office and said he was living out of his truck. He didn’t know he qualified for a Housing and Urban Development housing voucher, which was able to then help him stabilize his life, take back his children and get a job.
“That little government intervention completely and totally turned his life around,” Jakious said.
Jakious’s nonprofit background includes serving as CEO of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, where he led statewide efforts to strengthen nearly 35,000 organizations, and earlier roles with City Year, a Boston-based education nonprofit. He told the Swampscott Tides that this is the “type of stuff that really gets me excited,” and that the work really “made me think about what my role and responsibility was in the world of righting wrongs or improving people’s lives.”
“It’s where we can make real change,” Jakious said, listing local accomplishments such as dredging the district’s three major rivers, securing GE’s $10 million Lynn investment, and helping pass the 988 mental health hotline bill. “At the end of the day for me, it’s about delivering at the local level.”
Jakious said he wants to return to a time when the government “operates in the background,” when it made people’s “lives simpler and easier and better” instead of becoming “a blood sport or people’s hobby and identity.”
“We need to figure out how to improve people’s quality of life again,” Jakious said.
So now, Jakious joins a growing Democratic primary field for the 2026 election that includes Daniel Koh, a former aide to President Joe Biden and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh; State Rep. Tram Nguyen; Lynnfield attorney John Beccia; software engineer Bethany Andres-Beck; and former State Rep. Jamie Belsito.
He said he’s not focused on his opponents.
“I’m trying to run my own race, my own theory of the case, my own background,” Jakious said. “I think I have my own reasons why and philosophy and how I want to lead and govern, and I’m going to get out there, and I’m going to make the case.”
In the meantime, Jakious is running his campaign from the top floor of a converted barn in Swampscott, where he’s deep into his “39 in 30” tour, visiting all 39 cities and towns with in the 6th District in 30 days. He said he hopes to meet voters, hear their priorities, and share his vision for “a government that works for people.” He has visited coffee shops, stopped by Town Halls and went to a Senior Center to try and “do a mix of everything.”
“It really goes back to my thesis statement of local impact and if Congress can’t get things done nationally – and it’s proven that it can’t – then what the hell good is a member of Congress? But you have both the bully pulpit and the ability to bring resources to bear at a local level and really genuinely impact people’s lives,” Jakious said. “The best way to illustrate that is get out there and do it.”
Jakious also sent hand-written letters to each of the 1,800 elected officials within the 6th District, introducing himself and saying “you work hard on local issues. I want to be your partner.”
Living in Swampscott, Jakious sees his small-town roots as an advantage.
“I have built a ton of relationships with mayors and city counselors and Select Board members and town managers and fire chiefs and whatnot,” Jakious said. “If I had been elected official in a big city then they’re probably going to be skepticism of ‘how much time and energy are you going to give me versus that city that you ran,’ and I think that I can make a credible case. I can genuinely be a member for all 39 cities and towns, both because I come from a smaller town in the district and because I’ve been doing it for 11 years.”
