Oct. 8, 2026 — State Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida, R-Abington, and Democratic challenger Rosemary Aahanna-Hill sparred over the incumbent’s attendance record and how much state money the Seventh Plymouth District brings home at a WATD forum Thursday, but agreed the state’s Chapter 70 school aid and local aid formulas need another look.
The Full Story
Moderator Christine James, WATD reporter Tom Gorman and Monday Night Talk host Kevin Tocci questioned the candidates at the hourlong forum, carried live by WATD and Abington CAM.
Sullivan-Almeida, who said she was born and raised in Abington, opened by citing her work on local aid and special education funding and called for “a true independent audit” of the Legislature. Aahanna-Hill cited a decade of municipal finance experience and her seat on the Whitman-Hanson School Committee, and said she has saved Whitman and Abington millions of dollars, including by correcting the debt structure of the regional South Shore vocational school.
Attendance
Tocci asked Aahanna-Hill about her social media posts questioning the incumbent’s attendance and voting record. “This is not my dispute. These are documented,” she said, adding that the job “requires you to be on the floor.” She said her posts drew on published information about a 72-vote cycle.
Sullivan-Almeida said her attendance over her tenure is almost 99%. She said she was 12 days postpartum when Beacon Hill Roll Call asked about her absences, answered after its deadline because she was on maternity leave, and missed session days to sit for the bar exam in February 2025. “I stand behind every vote that I’ve ever taken,” she said.
She said the criticism rested on an August 2025 article rather than the full session. “Don’t mislead people by small information,” she said.
Asked about claims by the incumbent’s supporters that her posts were AI-generated, Aahanna-Hill said she has dyslexia and uses AI tools to help format writing that “is my writing and my work.”
Social Media
On a listener’s question, Sullivan-Almeida said, “I absolutely do not support blocking or deleting or hiding messages or comments” on officials’ pages. Aahanna-Hill said her page asks for good-faith, respectful conversation and that she removes comments “if they’re there to be cruel or nasty or they’ve gotten out of hand.”
Local Aid and Taxes
Aahanna-Hill said that when state aid does not keep pace with inflation, the difference falls on towns and parents. “So, yes, absolutely, that formula needs to be changed,” she said.
Sullivan-Almeida said a budget amendment she filed to raise unrestricted general government aid by 10% failed along party lines. “We have the funds. It’s not a revenue problem. It’s a spending problem,” she said.
Asked how to keep towns solvent, Sullivan-Almeida pointed to the state’s right-to-shelter law, which she said has cost $5 billion to $10 billion. Cutting that spending, even by half, would let the state double or triple local aid, she said. Aahanna-Hill said she looks at “root causes,” naming insurance, electricity and special education costs, and proposed a single-payer health insurance model she said would save each municipality about $2 million.
On state taxes, Sullivan-Almeida said, “We could survive with a little bit of a break for you and I in our taxes.” Aahanna-Hill called taxes “an ecosystem” and said losing the Fair Share Amendment’s revenue “would be devastating,” citing school lunches.
Earmarks
Sullivan-Almeida listed earmarks she said she secured: $30,000 for a centralized fire station study in Abington, $20,000 for an amplifier system to fix radio and cell coverage at East Bridgewater’s middle school, $25,000 for an Abington Affordable Housing Trust consultant and $50,000 for a well and irrigation system at a Whitman park.
Aahanna-Hill said the district was “one of four districts that didn’t have earmarks.” “So it really isn’t a party thing,” she said, tying funding to how a legislator works with colleagues. Pressed by Tocci for examples, she said she works “quite regularly” with Whitman Select Board member Dawn Byers and that flagging busing overpayments “saved us millions.”
Sullivan-Almeida said that if the state prioritized local aid, towns would not need a legislator to “file this earmark for a $30,000 project.”
Housing and Water
“Water is life,” Aahanna-Hill said, adding that the MBTA Communities Act should be “more carrot and less stick, but it should exist.” Sullivan-Almeida, citing what she called a total water ban in Abington, said, “We shouldn’t be forcing towns into housing if we don’t have the infrastructure to do so. But we do need more housing.”
Closing
Aahanna-Hill said she has saved Abington and Whitman more than the incumbent has brought back. “We’ve had zero earmarks two years in a row,” she said. Sullivan-Almeida thanked Alex Bezanson, her 2018 Democratic opponent, for endorsing her, and cited police and fire union support.
