Incumbency combined with voter inertia are a mighty force in keeping officials in office, be they high-performing or flawed.  Nowhere is this truer than in down-ballot races, when all the excitement is at the top (e.g., the 2026 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, the race for Massachusetts governor and controversial referenda (e.g., statewide rent control in the Commonwealth.) But less prominent down-ballot races are still critically important, notably the contest for Middlesex County District Attorney.

At the helm of this largest county in New England, Marian Ryan , approximately 70 years old, is working hard to retain her longtime incumbency as district attorney. The only female among Massachusetts’ 11 district attorneys, Ryan has held the top job since 2013 has worked in the office for a total of 45 years. Perhaps not surprisingly, she has support from many in the political establishment. At a recent gathering in Newton, for example, she was lauded by a range of elected officials, who praised her as “compassionate, effective and experienced.” Gatherings like this are doubtless happening across Middlesex, the county’s 54 municipalities comprising a quarter of the Commonwealth’s population (1.8 million people).

Those present repeatedly cited her treatment of victims of crime and their families as well as her opting for diversion programs for non-violent first offenders, offering them support services to turn their lives around. As important as prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law when warranted, the gathered elected officials credited Ryan with the wisdom to exercise discretion about when not to prosecute.

Ryan herself proudly claims that her team has “the most robust conviction integrity program in the country” and calls Middlesex “one of the safest counties in the United States.”  In the last two general elections, she has run unopposed.     

So, given the power of incumbency and predictable loyalty of other elected officials, why would a member of Ryan’s own leadership team resign his position in order to challenge that apparently sterling track record?  Making the case for change is David Solet, 49, a highly accomplished prosecutor in the very same office, someone whom Ryan herself recently honored as Middlesex County Prosecutor of the Year for 2025.

Is he mounting the campaign against his former boss just because he thinks that simply being in the Middlesex D.A.’s office for 45 years, 12 years running it, is just too long?  It wouldn’t be the only race in Massachusetts where a legitimate challenger is making generational change the basis for his candidacy: witness Seth Moulton taking on Ed Markey for U.S. Senate. Solet says his challenge is about much more than generational change. So, what is it about, and who is David Solet?

A Cambridge native and summa cum laude graduate of Princeton, Solet went to work in the Middlesex D.A.’s office right out of Harvard Law School. He was there from 2001 to 2025, except for four years as chief legal counsel to the Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety.  Under Ryan’s leadership, Solet held key positions — Chief of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, Chief of the Cyber Protection Unit, and General Counsel supervising ethical practices in the office. As an assistant D.A. under Ryan, he was responsible for successfully prosecuting hundreds of criminal cases from organized crime, street crimes, murder, sexually dangerous persons, child exploitation, police misconduct, and more.

Obviously, Solet knows Ryan well. He says his decision to run against her is “professional not personal.”  And even some of Ryan’s supporters agree that Solet is “a credible opponent.”

Solet paints a big picture. He asserts that, given the prominence of Middlesex County throughout New England, its District Attorney must be a vigorous leader on Beacon Hill for necessary changes in the law, pressing hard to close legal loopholes. For months, he said, he pushed for greater protection of public safety by eliminating the statute of limitations for rapes of adult victims by strangers, just as it was eliminated for murder or for rape of a child. But, as an assistant D.A., he doesn’t have standing to lobby the legislature or take on the criminal defense bar to make that change in cases of rapes of adult victims. Only in December, after Solet’s resignation, did  Ryan herself came forward on the issue, stating support for the change.  (I posed questions to Ryan’s office, but they did not get back to me.)

Another concern for Solet are loopholes in laws governing bail where, in addition to determining whether the accused is a flight risk, a dangerousness hearing is held to determine if releasing the defendant is a danger to public safety. The legislature, he notes,  needs to add certain serious crimes not now covered,  (like aggravated rape of a child, or bomb making), and the District Attorney, he adds, should be pressing legislators, some of whom are defense attorneys, to fulfill that responsibility.

Another of Solet’s concerns is the need to crack down harder on hate crimes. Ryan did file a bill for stiffer penalties for hate crimes (H. 1766, now refiled as #1995), but, says Solet, her proposal just to mandate diversity awareness training is not an adequate punishment. For his part, Solet would treat certain hate crimes as felonies (not misdemeanors) opening up the possibility of punishment by time in state prison.

Beyond the need to push for improving laws, Solet criticizes what he sees as Ryan’s failure to prosecute vigorously enough some laws already on the books in Massachusetts.  He notes, for example, that, while Massachusetts has the most stringent firearm licensing laws, the office must go more aggressively after gun traffickers, using serial numbers, informants and other investigative tools used, for example, in drug cases.

He also wants the office to do more to prosecute gangs, not waiting for the most extreme acts of retaliatory violence but dismantling gangs’ capacity to operate by targeting lower-level gun and drug crimes as well as armed robbery.

There are administrative issues as well. Solet claims that more also needs to be done to staunch the departure from Middlesex of many talented young prosecutors for private law firms.  Those willing to forego private practice salaries do so because of a commitment to public service. They want their professionalism rewarded by respecting their competence and experience and allowing them to exercise more discretion in building their own cases.  Solet believes that Ryan’s tight reins on staff decision-making drags cases on, delaying the administration of justice and undermining staff professionalism.

Solet, who has been connected with the D.A.’s office for some 20 years, insists that what was good enough to lead the office years ago isn’t the same as what’s required today. To him, nowhere is that clearer than in the handling of Cold Cases, where sophisticated scientific developments (like forensic genetic genealogy) enable a more vital and conclusive delivery of justice. (A wrongly convicted man was freed after spending17 years in jail for a 1980 murder he did not commit. Years later, Solet took it up as a Cold Case and was able to identify the real killer.)

In this long campaign, both the candidates will exert maximum effort to build support. But, in this down-ballot race where typical voter inertia favors the person already in office, will Solet’s points of distinction persuade enough voters for Middlesex County D.A. to look beyond the powers of incumbency?  Recent fundraising reports suggest Solet, who has already raised more than $100,000, is definitely getting measurable traction. But, given a nationally watched Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, a vigorously contested gubernatorial battle and hotly contested referenda questions,  voters will have to do their homework. This race is definitely one to learn more about and to follow.

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