Below is a press release from the David Solet For Middlesex District Attorney:
MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MA — David Solet, a veteran prosecutor and 2025 Middlesex County Prosecutor of the Year, recently announced major endorsements from numerous top law enforcement unions and organizations in his campaign to unseat incumbent Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
The growing coalition backing Solet’s Democratic primary campaign includes police unions representing patrol officers and superior officers in Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, Marlborough, Winchester, Concord, Ashland and Townsend, as well as regional and statewide organizations, such as the Middlesex Sheriff’s Officers Association (NEPBA, Local 500), State Police Association of Massachusetts (SPAM), the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MassCOP) and the New England Police Benevolent Association (NEPBA). The primary election is September 1.
“Our members have worked with both of the candidates for a long time. We are with David Solet,” said John Claflin, President of Newton Police Superior Officers Association, one of the unions announcing endorsements. “His commitment to victims stands out. His trainings for police about evolving areas of the law – cyber scams, Internet stalkers, digital evidence – have helped us to do our job better, in a rapidly changing world. And he is the only candidate who has been willing to lead in closing legal loopholes that are putting people in danger.”
Chris Sullivan, President of the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association said: “Our members have been working with David Solet for more than twenty-four years. They respect his intellect, but even more, they know first-hand his commitment to victims, and his commitment to helping us get it right, even if that means a phone call in the middle of the night. We also strongly support his commitment to fighting the flow of illegal firearms into Cambridge. Illegal guns are a constant officer safety threat, and a danger to the working people and families in our community, and we need a District Attorney who is truly committed to that fight.”
The union that represents the Middlesex Sheriff’s Deputies, NEPBA Local 500, also endorsed Solet. Dan Shea, the union’s president, said: “Our members concluded that David Solet is the clear choice for District Attorney. He’s worked closely with our members for years: in one of his cases, his close communication with our team helped prevent a killer we had in custody from using a hitman on the outside to assassinate a key witness. Our members want a District Attorney who will take strong action when they are assaulted by violent inmates, and who will aggressively prosecute people who try to smuggle narcotics into our facilities.”
Solet thanked the union leaders, saying he would commit to working closely with law enforcement to strengthen the work of the DA’s Office, to modernize the office, and to seek justice for victims of crime from every walk of life.
“Receiving these endorsements from multiple organizations representing the men and women who wear the uniform in communities throughout Middlesex County, is humbling,” Solet said. “These people know who I am, and what I’ve done as a prosecutor, and they have confidence in what I will do in the future.”
As DA, Solet will work to:
— Stop the flow of illegal guns, putting resources into identifying the source and aggressively prosecuting the traffickers;
— Advocate to reform the statute of limitations for Aggravated Rape, currently at just 15 years, with no exception for offenders identified through DNA evidence;
— Close a loophole in the state’s dangerousness law that prevents prosecutors from seeking to detain offenders charged with serious crimes like bomb-making and aggravated rape of a child;
— Vigorously advocate for the “Trooper Thomas Clardy Law” to reform our OUI laws to allow the effective prosecution of motorists driving under the influence of drugs.
— Work to reform laws governing hate crimes, which are currently considered misdemeanors unless they include acts of physical violence;
— Urge the Legislature to enact fair pay for public defense counsel;
— Restore the relationship between the Middlesex DA’s Office and Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, which educates students about how to protect themselves and their classmates from harm, and helps teachers and school administrators navigate the legal landscape as they seek to protect their students and staff;
— Work to strengthen laws to protect elderly citizens from exploitation;
— Provide additional resources to the Cold Case Unit he founded, to bring long-awaited justice to victims;
— Ensure that the office’s prosecutors are focused on conviction integrity, to identify and prevent the mistakes that can lead to wrongful convictions.
“There is a fundamental difference between me and my opponent in our approach to protecting the citizens of Middlesex County,” Solet said. “When it comes to protecting the public, the District Attorney needs to be a leader, not a follower. Instead of bending, my approach will bring integrity in prosecutions back to the office, end the reliance on 20th century tactics to fight 21st century crimes, and have the courage to uphold the law equally to seek justice for all victims.”
A prosecutor for twenty-four years, Solet has sought justice for victims of domestic violence, child exploitation, gun violence, narcotics trafficking, and public corruption. He was a longtime member of the office’s Special Investigations Unit, which prosecuted organized crime. After that, he served as Chief of the Middlesex County Cold Case Homicide Unit, investigating hundreds of unsolved homicides and dozens of unsolved sex assaults. An honors graduate of Harvard Law School, Solet is a Major in the JAG Corps of the United States Army Reserve, where he has been a defense lawyer and attorney for victims of sexual assault. He previously served as Chief Legal Counsel to the state Secretary of Public Safety under Gov. Charlie Baker.
For his work, he was named Middlesex County Prosecutor of the Year in 2025, and has received a number of other awards from law enforcement organizations.
Solet is a two-time co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s (BBA) Criminal Law Steering Committee (2014-2016 and 2019-2020), and served on the BBA’s Death Penalty Working Group, which strongly recommended against the restoration of the death penalty. Solet currently sits on the BBA Council (its Board of Directors), and the BBA Executive Committee. He is the proud father of two daughters, both graduates of Newton North High School, and now lives in Cambridge.
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