Former Ward 5 at-large Newton City Councilor Andreae Downs endorsed Alison Leary for state representative on Wednesday, Aug. 26, citing Leary's stance on utility regulation and her response to a toxic contamination episode in Nonantum.

The endorsement, published as a letter to the editor in the Newton Beacon, lands six days before the Tuesday, Sept. 1, Democratic primary for the 10th Middlesex seat. Leary, a Ward 1 city councilor, is challenging incumbent Rep. John Lawn of Watertown.

Downs credited Leary with leading the response to what Downs described as a Trichloroethylene (TCE) vapor contamination episode that sickened Nonantum residents. "When a mysterious vapor—Trichloroethylene (TCE)—was sickening Nonantum neighbors, Alison took the lead in leveraging state and local resources to find the source and mitigate its health effects," Downs wrote.

Downs also wrote that Leary understands how utilities "game communities to increase their profits and keep the state addicted to fossil fuels." She called the state legislature "one of the few bodies that can ignore the Open Meeting Law and Public Records Law" and said Leary would push for transparency and Medicare for All.

No response from the Lawn campaign to the endorsement appears in public statements as of publication.

The 10th Middlesex district covers Nonantum, Newton Corner, and the northern parts of Newtonville and West Newton, along with portions of Waltham and Watertown. According to Fig City News, the Newton portion represents about one in nine city addresses.

The fundraising gap is wide. Since January 2025, Lawn has raised $180,101 from 580 donors. Leary has raised $40,558 from 165 donors, with $13,500 coming from the candidate herself. Lawn chairs the Massachusetts House Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and has received $37,975 this cycle from donors who self-identified as lobbyists or government-relations professionals. No such donors appear in Leary's filings.

This is Leary's second challenge to Lawn. In the 2020 primary, Lawn raised $94,131 to her $13,661.

Early voting runs through Friday, Aug. 28. Polls on Election Day open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.