Greg Schwartz, the new state representative for Massachusetts’s 12th Middlesex congressional district, first interacted with local politics in 2001, when he joined a Democratic committee in his then-home of Jamaica Plain to advocate for the construction of a new bus depot.
It didn’t go well.
The depot was built, but despite his efforts, it stood further away from housing in the neighborhood, something Schwartz said he and his neighbors saw as a missed opportunity to connect the community.
He said that experience taught him a valuable lesson about democratic participation.
“There’s a limit to how much they’re going to listen to you,” Schwartz said.
Today, Schwartz finds himself in a greater position of responsibility than he had 23 years ago. In the time since, he’s worked as a primary care physician for close to 25 years, served on the Newton City Council, and advocated for healthcare reform on the state level.
He said his experience as a citizen interested in politics has informed the way he interacts with his constituents.
“You always want to try to make sure that your time and effort is being valued,” Schwartz said. “And I think that there were times when people felt they were being listened to, but not heard.”
Schwartz holds doctorates in both medicine and law from Yale, a combination of his two life-long passions.
Schwartz said his interest in medicine grew from his experiences with his mother’s chronic illness.
“I got to college planning to be pre-med because of my interest in medicine and experiences growing up, interacting with the medical field, with my mom having been dealing with a chronic illness,” Schwartz said.
But he also had a passion for politics. As an Harvard undergraduate, Schwartz said he was inspired by the political leaders who would come to speak there.
“A lot of people who were running for president came, people who are doing all kinds of [work], at the state level, at the federal level—people who had a say in how our policies were implemented,” Schwartz said. “It made me feel less alienated from the system and kind of excited to be a part of it.”
Schwartz was fascinated by the fact that leaders who had such influence on the nation, people like then-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Michael Dukakis, were so accessible to the public.
“To feel like, there were people that you could go down after the speech and talk to who had a role,” Schwartz said. “It was fairly inspiring and encouraging, a little daunting, a little intimidating, but accessible.”
He decided to get involved himself, majoring in government and taking internships as a legislative aide to then-U.S. Rep. Ted Weiss. After he graduated, he spent a year working for a member of parliament in London.
These experiences are what led him to pursue both medical and law school, Schwartz said.
“When I was looking forward to pursuing the medical career, I had an opportunity to also do a law degree, and I felt from those experiences that that was a really valuable set of skills and training to bring to bear on policy, when and if I might be involved in that,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said that in law school, he didn’t just learn what the law was, but also how the law can be used to achieve more justice in the world, something he sees as valuable for his new position as state representative.
“The state legislature is kind of the real place where that kind of experience can really be brought to bear,” Schwartz said. “I’m really excited to dust it off and try to make some sense of how to use the law training to make policy.”
At the same time, Schwartz sees his medical background as especially useful to consider healthcare issues at the state house.
“I’m really excited about bringing this experience to the state legislature and help with some of the healthcare initiatives that they’re already engaged in,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz won the contested Democratic primary for the representative seat over Rick Lipof and Bill Humphrey, and he will run unopposed in Nov. 5’s general election.
Schwartz said since the toughest competition is over, he can focus on preparing for office by meeting with advocates.
“I have been able to spend a lot of this time that would otherwise probably be focused on campaigning, instead focusing on learning and connecting with leaders and advocates in many different areas,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said he is still passionate about political participation, even though now he’s on the other side of the table: a representative instead of a citizen.
“That’s so inspiring to me, that if you decide to get involved, you can actually have your voice heard as a citizen,” Schwartz said.
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