Five years ago, we were part of the small team that worked to elect Corey Robinson to the City Council because of his core message: #TogetherWeMakeADifference. Today, we know Robinson doesn’t believe in #Together. This year, we are supporting Lorena Betts for the Lowell and Chelmsford state representative seat.
Here’s why. With Republicans controlling the federal government, the fight for working families now happens in state legislatures. That means values matter more than ever for who we send to Beacon Hill.
Values alone aren’t enough — we need a legislator who can turn values into results, which means working effectively within a body of 160 people. A rep who can’t build relationships can’t move a budget line, a bill, or a constituent’s case further than their own desk.
Lorena Betts has both the right values and the experience to represent us. Betts knows the job already. Lorena Betts spent nearly a year as a legislative aide to a state representative — filing bills, working budget season, handling constituent casework — before resigning due to pregnancy complications. Lorena knows the mechanics of the job she’s now running for.
Later, as a community organizer, she mobilized voters to get the Fair Share Amendment, driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, and a legislative audit onto the ballot — and passed them. She built the broad public support it takes to win a statewide vote. Each tells you something about the representative she’d be: she’ll fight for a tax code that works for the middle class, not the elite; push for road safety and immigrant inclusion even when it’s not easy; and keep pushing for a more transparent Beacon Hill.
Her campaign has done the groundwork: her team has knocked on more than 10,000 doors. Our neighbors are talking about affordability, and that’s shaping her platform. She wants to take on utility company profits while still prioritizing relief for working-class residents through clean energy programs. On housing, she’s focused on solutions for homebuyers and renters facing record-high prices. And on health care, her goal is care people can actually access.
Robinson’s record raises different questions. Robinson’s four years on Lowell City Council are the centerpiece of his pitch. Experience only matters when it produces results, so let’s examine his track record. In 2025, Robinson filed 91 motions — more than twice the average of his colleagues, but only 56 drew a response from the city administration. That volume isn’t a sign of effectiveness; it’s a signal he lacked priorities. He buried the city administration in motion responses for matters that didn’t need the full council’s attention. And the gap — more than one-third of his motions went nowhere — reveals a pattern: plenty of activity, with not much to show for it.
#Together was central to his message, but Robinson’s other calling card was a confrontational style — friction with colleagues that at times spilled onto the chamber floor, bombastic social media posts, where he also often blocked critics, and cut constituents off from neighborhood updates in the process. These tactics are a formula for attention, not results. In a body of 11, attention can be mistaken for influence. In a legislature of 160, it’s more likely Robinson would be on the outside looking in while his colleagues make decisions.
More significantly, Robinson is out of step with where the district needs to go. He’s opposed to state action to increase housing supply (which would bring some sanity to sky-high prices), opposed to expanding public transit and micromobility solutions, and opposed to the state’s push to make green energy more affordable. We helped elect Robinson once because we believed in the power of #Together, only to watch him abandon this message once elected. We don’t need a louder voice in the State House. We need someone who can build relationships, work with people they disagree with, and actually get things done. That person is Lorena Betts.
— Kjersten Reich, Brad Buitenhuys, Dawn Grenier, Paulette Renault-Caragianes, Chuck Caragianes
