Somerville City Councilors J.T. Scott of Ward 2 and Ben Ewen-Campen of Ward 3 officially announced their resignations last week, effective on Dec. 31.
The resignations follow Ewen-Campen’s victory in the Democratic primary for the 27th Middlesex State House district. With no declared Republican or third-party candidates, Ewen-Campen is running unopposed for the seat — currently held by Erika Uyterhoeven, who was elected to the State Senate — in the November general election.
Scott, who first ran for City Council in 2017 at the urging of tenant rights advocates, said he was resigning to “change my relation to institutional power,” writing on his website that he was not able to accomplish many of his goals when joining the City Council.
“It is time for me to step back from legislation and prepare for my next phase of public service,” Scott wrote.
Ewen-Campen’s impending resignation reportedly influenced Scott’s decision to step down. According to Scott, the timing “allows the city to schedule one special election for both seats and minimize the time that either ward is without a representative on the Council.”
Scott urged his neighbors to step forward to fill his role. “I mean it sincerely when I say that YOU can do this job as long as you care deeply for your community and are ready to work hard to serve it,” Scott wrote.
So far, no one has announced their candidacy to fill Scott’s Ward 2 seat. One candidate, Derrick Rice, a software engineer who works in data privacy and protection, announced his intent to run to replace Ewen-Campen in Ward 3.
Rice has around six years of experience in municipal policy, including collaboration with the City Council, which he described as “the most democratic body we have in the city.”
“I feel like I know a lot about what the job is from having worked so closely with numerous city councilors and seen the process of City Council as certain issues have gone through that body,” Rice told the Daily.
He began his community engagement by serving on the board of a community arts organization, with his interests expanding to include political activism after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
“I really desperately didn’t want to be marching because one of my neighbors had died. I wanted to be marching because we want to prevent it, and that really started to show me how our local issues and conversations work, which leaves a lot to be desired,” Rice said.
He added that he was excited about the opportunity to run for Ewen-Campen’s seat. He said that he “would have never run against” Ewen-Campen and holds a lot of respect and admiration for him.
According to Rice, the stipend for the 11-member City Council falls short of a living wage, so many continue to work full time.
“No one who is in [the] city council, not one of them, is doing this because they have some career ambitions. They’re doing it because they love this community and they want to contribute to this, and they think that this is the way they can do that. That’s true for me as well,” Rice said.
Before a date for the special election is announced, the City Council must vote on and officially call for the election. Both Scott and Ewen-Campen requested that City Council President Lance Davis submit an order for the next meeting calling for a special election to fill the vacated seats. Discussions around the election are expected to begin during the City Council meeting on Oct. 8.
“Once a special election date is voted on by the City Council, Somerville’s Elections Department will work to establish an election calendar within the requirements of the City Charter and Massachusetts election law,” Victoria MacGregor, Somerville’s public information officer, said in an email to Daily. “This includes factoring in a preliminary election in the event multiple persons pull nomination papers for the vacant positions.”
Rice worried about low voter turnout at the special election, hoping more community members will participate in the decision-making process. Consequently, once the election date is announced, he plans to knock on as many doors as he can.
“I think the first and most important thing is I’m going to be out talking to my neighbors,” he said.
At-large Councilor Will Mbah, who was elected to the State House to replace Christine Barber after her loss to Uyterhoeven, is also expected to resign at the end of the year. Social worker Marianne Walles, who placed fifth in the 2025 election, will take Mbah’s seat, according to city law.
