Keller @ Large: Gubernatorial Candidate Sonia Chang-Diaz Calls For More Urgency On Beacon Hill

BOSTON (CBS) – Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Democratic candidate for Massachusetts Governor, joined Jon Keller to discuss her campaign.

Chang-Diaz says more urgency is needed to help working families and address issues such as rising housing prices, student debt and universal early childhood education.

"In my time in office I have seen that we don't actually have to wait, we can do a lot better than this," Chang-Diaz said. "We can achieve real systemic change when we decide to, but we need a lot more urgency in our work on Beacon Hill and the governor's office is a huge lever for injecting that urgency."

Chang-Diaz said she supports a statewide mask mandate in schools and said more should have been done to address the COVID spike over the holidays that led to a high demand for testing. "It was totally predictable," Chang-Diaz said. "We could have done a lot better at getting prepared for that."

Despite a price tag in the billions, Chang-Diaz is calling for universal childhood education and care. "We are one of the wealthiest states in one of the wealthiest countries in the world," Chang-Diaz said. "This is something we should have done years ago, and other states are lapping us on this."

Chang-Diaz is running against Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Harvard professor Danielle Allen in the Democratic primary for governor.

Former State Rep. Geoff Diehl and businessman Chris Doughty are running as Republicans.