Dan Totten
He/Him
- Currently
- Legislative Aide to Zondervan
- Election history
- 1st time running
He/Him
Although a first time candidate, Dan Totten has been in local politics the mid 2010s, working on the election campaigns of Massachusetts Representative Mike Connolly and Councilor Quinton Zondervan. Since 2017, Dan has worked as an aide to Councilor Zondervan where he helped draft legislation and worked with directly with constituents.
Dan is a democratic socialist as well as a member of the Democratic City Committee. In 2021, during a debate over whether the state democratic party had spread negative rumors about a gay candidate's relationships, another committee member used an anti-gay slur to refer to Dan, who is himself queer. Dan and other members of the City Committee worked to censure and expel that member. He has since written that he's stopping attending meetings, as "the space is just too toxic. Rich Liberal Social Club."
In the 2023 election, he has spoken out against other candidates' promotion of transphobic, Islamophobic, and racist content on Twitter.
Dan is also an advocate for defunding the police. He has supported alternate first-response models, protested in response to the recent police killing in Cambridge, and has tweeted that "abolition is the only answer".
Also on Twitter, he has supported the Boston chapter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, tweeting statements about an Israel-based defense contractor with an office in Cambridge ("Elbit Systems, get the [#$%&] out of our neighborhood!") and also retweeted the BDS mapping project, a controversial interactive map that the Anti-Defamation League criticized as antisemitic.
If we truly want to end the racist and classist status quo, we need to spend our time developing strategies that will specifically benefit the working class. Developers would be under no obligation to build additional units just because you told them they could. I have no issue with the concept that additional height and density are part of the solution – even in an already dense city like Cambridge – but I do not buy the trickle-down theory of economics that is being used to justify the upzoning of a multicultural neighborhood for market rate housing as somehow advancing racial and economic justice.
As a democratic socialist, I don’t think that capitalism and market-based reforms will make Cambridge an affordable city.
Some have said that this proposal will result in housing that won’t be nice for people to live in, but the truth is that taller buildings are a great living option for many people. Life at a greater height can come with many hidden benefits including less intrusion of street-level noise, an inspiring view, and/or a close-knit community.
Speaking personally as a market renter, I am typically faced with at most a 3% increase each year. I would all but certainly have to move away if my landlord ever raised rent by the 10% allowable under Mayor Wu’s proposal. So the threshold needs to be much lower. I think in a city like Cambridge the other area to really push on is vacancy decontrol. The apartment shouldn’t automatically become market rate when the tenant moves out, that is a major grift!
| Organization | Cambridge? | Union? | View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge Residents Alliance | on Sept. 30, 2023 | ||
| Cambridge Bicycle Safety | on Sept. 23, 2023 | ||
| Our Revolution Cambridge | on Sept. 17, 2023 | ||
| Boston DSA | this cycle | ||
| UAW Region 9A (includes Harvard Grad Student Union) | this cycle |
They asked candidates to sign a pledge, which starts: "I support rapid implementation of the citywide network of protected bicycle lanes..."
They asked candidates to sign a pledge, which starts: "I support rapid implementation of the citywide network of protected bicycle lanes..."
Housing policy, development, governance questions
Housing policy, development, governance questions
Distribution of funds, non-profits and their position in Cambridge
Distribution of funds, non-profits and their position in Cambridge
"questions about the issues that most impact Cambridge’s low-income populations" (available in several languages)
"questions about the issues that most impact Cambridge’s low-income populations" (available in several languages)
Seriously confronting climate change requires confronting capitalism itself...
Some argued that I “hijacked” the race by condemning overt bigotry. They say we should stick to the issues. So let’s do that: 43% of gender nonconforming kids at the high school considered attempting suicide in the last 12 months. How do you think they feel reading all this hate?
Clearly, there will be no peace for anyone until Palestinians are free from Israeli occupation and apartheid. I mourn the innocent Israelis and Palestinians who have been killed. Instead of demanding a peaceful end to the settler colonialism, the US is complicit in advancing it.
No justice, no peace! Rally today in Harvard Square, 8 months after Faisal was murdered by the police. Since then the city has done basically nothing and we still don’t even know who shot the gun. They said it couldn’t happen in Cambridge but then it did…defund racist policing!
At this very moment, @CambridgePolice & DPW are taking belongings from unhoused people in Harvard Square - including vital documents and other items needed for survival - a cruel and inhumane approach when people literally have nowhere to go.
Defund the m-[swearword] police!
Hi Yi-An, I'm pretty disappointed that this morning's staff memo was released to councillors a mere 5 minutes before the hearing, and that it was not made publicly available. The order that passed on June 5th specifically asked for a minimum of 48 hours, and then the hearing was graciously rescheduled over the summer because the staff needed more time. The memo itself appears to be dated September 8, which would have been a great time to share it publicly. What happened here? There has to be a way to conduct business in a way that is more respectful of everybody's time. This was not it.
Dan Totten, a former aide to Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan, said that he would always support union members in contract negotiations if elected: “I will choose a side and it will always be union members.”
Sept. 27, 2023 — Muskaan Arshad, Julian J. GiordanoDan Totten, a former aide to Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan, said that he would always support union members in contract negotiations if elected: “I will choose a side and it will always be union members.”
His platform also includes calls to raise the minimum wage for city employees to $25 an hour and to pass an ordinance to achieve universal after-school programs.
In the aftermath of the police killing of Bangladeshi American college student Sayed Faisal in January, Totten also said he supports “making the police review and advisory board a democratically elected body” and decreasing the Cambridge Police Department’s budget.
“Policing is also a very broken institution,” he said, adding that he would like the city to further its investment in the Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team — known as HEART — as a police alternative. Ultimately, he said, “abolition is the way forward.”
Sept. 25, 2023 — Julian J. GiordanoHis platform also includes calls to raise the minimum wage for city employees to $25 an hour and to pass an ordinance to achieve universal after-school programs.
In the aftermath of the police killing of Bangladeshi American college student Sayed Faisal in January, Totten also said he supports “making the police review and advisory board a democratically elected body” and decreasing the Cambridge Police Department’s budget.
“Policing is also a very broken institution,” he said, adding that he would like the city to further its investment in the Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team — known as HEART — as a police alternative. Ultimately, he said, “abolition is the way forward.”
At least 10 challengers have identified themselves as running for a council seat, and three among them are allies or aligned with Zondervan’s principles of climate concern, affordable-housing density, transit prioritization and a wish to see armed police performing fewer functions... longtime aide Dan Totten, who got special thanks in the Sunday press release as accounting “for more than half the work credited to my office.”
July 9, 2023 — Marc LevyAt least 10 challengers have identified themselves as running for a council seat, and three among them are allies or aligned with Zondervan’s principles of climate concern, affordable-housing density, transit prioritization and a wish to see armed police performing fewer functions... longtime aide Dan Totten, who got special thanks in the Sunday press release as accounting “for more than half the work credited to my office.”