The 2026 District Attorney Primaries: What the Results Mean for Defendants in Suffolk, Middlesex, and Norfolk Counties

Massachusetts held its state primary on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. By the next morning the district attorney contests in Suffolk and Middlesex counties were decided. The Norfolk County contest was close to decided. The district attorney is the elected official who decides whether and how the Commonwealth prosecutes a case once it is in court. The results matter to anyone with a pending charge in those counties. This post reports the results, identifies the decisions a district attorney controls, and explains what changes when an office changes hands.

The Results as Reported

The results below come from press reports published on September 1 and 2, 2026, and are unofficial.

In Suffolk County, the incumbent district attorney, Kevin Hayden, won the Democratic primary over Linda Champion and Rachael Rollins, who previously held the office. No Republican filed for the seat, so the primary decided the office for the term that begins in January 2027.

In Middlesex County, the incumbent district attorney, Marian Ryan, won the Democratic primary over David Solet, a former prosecutor in her office. No Republican filed, and the primary decided that office as well.

In Norfolk County, the seat is open because Michael Morrissey did not seek another term. Seven candidates ran in the Democratic primary. Djuna Perkins, a former prosecutor, won narrowly over Adam Deitch, a former federal prosecutor. Perkins faces Joe Pagliarulo, a former prosecutor running as an independent, in the general election on November 3, 2026. Norfolk County is the only one of the three Greater Boston districts with a contested general election for district attorney.

In the Cape and Islands district, the incumbent, Robert Galibois, held the seat.

What a District Attorney Decides

The district attorney decides whether the Commonwealth proceeds on a charge once it is in court, whether to seek an indictment and move the case to the Superior Court, and whether to enter a nolle prosequi under Mass. R. Crim. P. 16. The district attorney also decides whether to move for pretrial detention under G.L. c. 276, § 58A, what plea to offer, and what sentence to recommend. The power to make those decisions is executive power under Article 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.

Under Article 30, a judge may not dismiss a legally adequate charge over the Commonwealth’s objection before a verdict, finding, or plea. The Supreme Judicial Court so held where a judge had dismissed indictments in the interests of public justice, because the decision to prosecute belongs to the executive. Commonwealth v. Cheney, 440 Mass. 568, 573 to 575 (2003).

A clerk-magistrate, an assistant clerk, or a judge authorizes the complaint on a finding of probable cause under Mass. R. Crim. P. 3 and G.L. c. 218, § 33. The district attorney does not issue it.

A judge, a clerk, or a bail commissioner sets bail under G.L. c. 276, § 58. A jury decides guilt or innocence and issues a verdict at trial, or a judge does in a jury-waived trial. The judge imposes the sentence within the range the statute provides. The full allocation, decision by decision, is on the page on what a Massachusetts district attorney can and cannot decide.

What Does Not Change on Election Day

A pending case continues on the same schedule and under the same law after a primary. Court dates stand. The statutes that define the offenses and the sentences do not change. The Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure, the law of evidence, and the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court bind every district attorney’s office in the same way. The judge assigned to a case decides the motions in it under the same law after the election as before.

The prosecutor’s disclosure duty binds every office in the same way. Under Mass. R. Crim. P. 14(a)(1)(A), the prosecutor must disclose exculpatory facts to the defense automatically and without a request. The duty covers facts in the possession, custody, or control of the prosecutor and of persons under the prosecutor’s direction and control. It also covers facts held by persons who participated in investigating or evaluating the case and who regularly report to the prosecutor’s office or did so in the case.

The same subsection requires disclosure of any written or recorded statements, and the substance of any oral statements, made by the defendant. It requires the names, addresses, and dates of birth of the Commonwealth’s prospective civilian witnesses, and the names and business addresses of its prospective law enforcement witnesses. It requires the relevant police reports and the other categories the rule lists. Under Rule 14(d) the duty continues as new material is obtained.

The duty is also a constitutional one under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and a professional one under Mass. R. Prof. C. 3.8. No incoming or returning district attorney can narrow it.

What Can Change When an Office Changes Hands

Within the decisions that belong to the district attorney, policy changes with the person who holds the office. A district attorney sets office policy on which charges to prosecute and which to decline, and on when to seek an indictment. The district attorney also sets policy on when to move for pretrial detention under § 58A and what position to take on bail. It sets policy on diversion and treatment alternatives, and on the plea offers and sentencing recommendations that assistant district attorneys may make.

Those policies are lawful because the executive branch makes those decisions. Once the Commonwealth has begun a prosecution, “the decision to nol pros a criminal case is within the discretion of the executive branch of government, free from judicial intervention.” Cheney, 440 Mass. at 574, quoting Commonwealth v. Gordon, 410 Mass. 498, 500 (1991).

The Supreme Judicial Court has described the district attorney as the people’s elected advocate for a broad spectrum of societal interests, from ensuring that criminals are punished for wrongdoing to allocating limited resources to maximize public protection. Gordon, 410 Mass. at 500.

Three rules govern the effect of a policy change on a case that is already pending.

First, a prosecutor may withdraw a plea offer at any time before the defendant accepts it, under the contract principles to which plea bargaining is analogized. Where there is no detrimental reliance and the offer is withdrawn, the defendant is left with the adequate remedy of having a trial. Commonwealth v. Johnson, 447 Mass. 1018, 1020 to 1021 (2006), quoting Commonwealth v. Smith, 384 Mass. 519, 522 (1981).

The test for enforcing a prosecutor’s promise is whether the defendant’s reliance on it was reasonable and whether the defendant in fact relied on it to their detriment. Johnson, 447 Mass. at 1020. In Johnson the prosecutor’s superiors ordered the offer withdrawn. The judge found that the defendant had not accepted it. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the defendant had no right to enforce it. An offer made by one administration can be withdrawn by the next.

Second, once a judge has accepted a guilty plea under Mass. R. Crim. P. 12, the disposition belongs to the court. A later administration cannot withdraw the plea or vacate the conviction. A motion to withdraw a guilty plea is the defendant’s motion, treated as a motion for a new trial under Mass. R. Crim. P. 30(b). A judge may allow it at any time it appears that justice may not have been done. Commonwealth v. Scott, 467 Mass. 336, 344 (2014).

Third, a nolle prosequi entered under Mass. R. Crim. P. 16 is the prosecuting attorney’s written declaration, with a statement of reasons, that the Commonwealth will not further prosecute the charge. Under Rule 16(b), a nolle prosequi entered after jeopardy attaches, without the defendant’s consent, has the effect of an acquittal. A nolle prosequi entered before jeopardy attaches does not carry that effect. Whether to charge the offense again is then a charging decision for whoever holds the office at the time.

A dismissal ordered by a judge is a judgment of the court. A change of administration does not disturb it. A new district attorney inherits the office’s prior decisions in the cases where they were made.

Suffolk and Middlesex Counties

In Suffolk and Middlesex counties the incumbents won. The press reports no opponent on the November ballot, so the offices continue under the same district attorneys. For a defendant with a case in the Boston Municipal Court, the Chelsea District Court, or the Suffolk Superior Court, the office policies in place on September 1 remain in place. The same is true in the Middlesex District Courts and the Middlesex Superior Court. The four-year term that begins in January 2027 belongs to the same officeholder in each county.

Norfolk County

In Norfolk County the office changes hands whoever wins in November. Under G.L. c. 12, § 12, the winner of the November 3, 2026 general election takes office on the first Wednesday of January after the election and serves for four years. That day is January 6, 2027. Until then the current district attorney and the current assistant district attorneys hold the office and make its decisions.

For a defendant with a case pending in the Quincy, Dedham, Stoughton, Wrentham, or Brookline District Court, or in the Norfolk Superior Court, the three rules above apply directly. An offer that is outstanding in the fall can be accepted before January or withdrawn after it. A plea accepted by a judge before January is a disposition that the new administration cannot reopen. A nolle prosequi entered before January keeps the effect Rule 16 gives it.

Whether to resolve a case before the transition or after it depends on the particular case, the particular offer, and the policies each candidate has described. That is a judgment counsel makes with the client.

The Attorney General’s Role

Under G.L. c. 12, § 27, the district attorney appears for the Commonwealth in the Superior Court in all cases in which the Commonwealth is a party or interested. The Attorney General, when present, has the control of those cases. That authority does not depend on any county’s election. A defendant whose case the Attorney General’s office prosecutes deals with an office elected statewide, not by the county.

What This Means for a Defendant Today

A defendant with a pending case in Suffolk or Middlesex County should expect the same office, the same policies, and the same assistant district attorneys. A defendant with a pending case in Norfolk County should expect the same until January 6, 2027. Some office policies may change after that date.

In every county a clerk-magistrate, an assistant clerk, or a judge authorizes the complaint. A judge, a clerk, or a bail commissioner sets bail. A jury decides guilt or innocence and issues a verdict at trial. In a jury-waived trial a judge does so. A judge imposes the sentence. No district attorney election chooses the clerk-magistrate, the judge, or the jury. The prosecutor’s disclosure duty is owed in full regardless of who holds the office.

Attorney Joe Serpa represents defendants in the District Courts and the Superior Courts of Suffolk, Norfolk, Middlesex, Essex, Worcester, and Bristol counties.