State Sen. Becca Rausch, a Needham Democrat, is running for reelection to the Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts State Senate. The general election is Nov. 3, 2026.
Rausch has served in the Massachusetts Senate since 2019. The district covers parts of Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex counties, including Needham.
Candidate information
Party: Democratic
Hometown: Needham, Massachusetts. Rausch was born in Albany, New York.
Education: Shaker High School (1997); bachelor's degree in American studies and women's studies, Brandeis University (2001); juris doctor, Northeastern University (2004); master's in law, University of California, Berkeley (2011), according to her Wikipedia page and BallotReady.
Experience and public service
Rausch has served in the Massachusetts Senate since 2019 and currently represents the Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex District, according to BallotReady. Before that, she served as a Needham Town Meeting member from 2017 to 2018.
Her professional background includes work as a law clerk at the Massachusetts Appeals Court for Judge Kenneth Laurence. She served as an eDiscovery attorney and assistant general counsel at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services from 2014 to 2017, according to BallotReady. She also worked as an attorney at PerkinElmer, Inc. in 2018 and as an educator at Northeastern University School of Law in 2014.
On the issues
Rausch listed the following among her priorities on her campaign website:
Education: Rausch said she supports full funding of the Student Opportunity Act, publicly funded, tuition-free, full-day kindergarten and universal pre-kindergarten, and centering teachers, students and parents in public education discussions.
Environment and energy: Rausch said she supports working toward 100% renewable energy, reducing single-use plastics, leading legislative work to green existing buildings and passing comprehensive climate bills.
Healthcare: Rausch said she advocates for universal access to quality, affordable health care, youth mental health supports, maternal mental health care and infectious disease prevention infrastructure.
Transportation: Rausch said she supports improving transit infrastructure reliability, expanding services to increase rider access, safeguarding reduced fares and investing in community-based transit options.
Government reform: Rausch filed a Senate amendment to create a shield law protecting journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources. The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed the measure in July 2026, as reported by the Boston Globe. "We need to fix this problem. As we see repeated attacks on the press, we need to fix it now," Rausch said from the Senate floor, according to the Globe.
Sources: Public campaign materials, published candidate profiles and the public records linked above. Policy statements are attributed to the candidate; funding or implementation details are included where available.
The Needham-Dedham Times did not receive a direct questionnaire response from the candidate and does not endorse candidates.
