US Congressional District 6 Candidates’ Forum — May 7, 2026

Held at Swampscott High School auditorium. Sponsored by the Marblehead, Nahant, and Swampscott Democratic Town Committees. Six Democratic candidates competing for the open seat vacated by Seth Moulton; state primary September 1, 2026.

Section 1: Agenda

0:00:00 Welcome and housekeeping by moderator Jim Peterson (Swampscott DTC co-vice chair); acknowledgments to planning committee, venue, technical crew, and three local media outlets
0:03:06 Candidate opening introductions (~2 minutes each), in order: Lancaster, Nguyen, Andres-Beck, Boettcher, Coe, Belsito
0:15:43 Q1 (Lee Blander, Marblehead Current): What did Seth Moulton do right that you’d emulate, and what could he have done better?
0:28:03 Q2 (Moderator): Will you refuse donations from any specific groups, and will you release your personal income tax returns even if under audit?
0:40:39 Q3 (Monica Sager, Swampscott Times): What will you do at the federal level to ensure smaller communities — which lack public health nurses, full-time assessors, etc. — can carry out federal policies and not be left behind?
0:53:02 Q4 (Moderator): What in your personal background will allow you to hit the ground running?
1:04:53 Q5 (Sophia Harris, Essex Media Group): What will you do to make your voice and your constituents’ voices heard given Congress’s shrinking impact?
1:17:30 Q6 (Moderator): Should the U.S. continue support for the Netanyahu government at the current level, or what should change?
1:29:34 Q7 (lightning round, ~1 minute): Name a leader you admire and what you’d emulate
1:35:14 Three-minute closing statements: Nguyen, Boettcher, Lancaster, Coe, Belsito, Andres-Beck
1:53:36 Housekeeping and adjournment

Section 2: Speaking Attendees

Important note on speaker tags: The automated diarization assigned [Speaker N] tags inconsistently — the same numeric tag is reassigned to different people in different segments of the transcript (e.g., [Speaker 1] is the moderator early on, then John Boettcher mid-meeting, then someone else later). The mapping below is based on transcript content (self-introductions, who is being addressed by name, content fingerprint), not the numeric tags alone.

Jim Peterson — Moderator; co-vice chair of the Swampscott Democratic Town Committee (self-introduced 0:00:33)
Lee Blander — Editor of the Marblehead Current (introduced by moderator 0:16:08)
Monica Sager — Managing editor of the Swampscott Times (introduced by moderator 0:40:39)
Sophia Harris — Editorial director of Essex Media Group; representing the Lynn Daily Item and the Marblehead/Lynnfield/Peabody weekly newspapers (introduced by moderator 1:04:53)

The six candidates (each self-introduced during opening statements):

Dr. Mariah Lancaster of Salem — Veterinarian; former U.S. House staffer for two Democratic congresswomen; former U.S. State Department officer working on anti-corruption / environmental crime grants
Rep. Tram Nguyen of Andover — Massachusetts state representative (~8 years); former legal aid attorney; Vietnamese refugee family background
Bethany Andres-Beck of Middleton — Principal software engineer; theater degree from Smith; engineer at the Long-Term Stock Exchange; identifies as non-binary
John Boettcher of Lynnfield (“John Becha” per transcript phonetics) — Financial-services regulation attorney; lectures at BU Law; founded and scaled a 60-person consulting firm; never previously held or worked in elected office
Dan Coe of Andover — Andover select board member; former chief of staff to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh; former Biden White House staffer; endorsed by Biden, Harris, and Buttigieg (per his own statement)
Jamie Belsito of Topsfield — Current town moderator of Topsfield; former state representative (flipped a long-Republican seat); ran against Moulton in 2020; founded the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (DC nonprofit); endorsed by State Auditor Diana DiZoglio

Section 3: Meeting Minutes

Opening statements 0:03:06

Lancaster framed herself as a working professional and policy expert; emphasized veterinary practice during the pandemic, State Department anti-corruption work, and U.S. House staff experience. Called for “true progressive change” — universal health care, ending Citizens United, ending dark money.

Nguyen opened with her refugee biography (father a Vietnamese political prisoner for eight years; family arrived in Lawrence with $100). Emphasized economic justice, opposition to ICE (“rogue agency”), and defending democracy “as someone who came from the other side of the world.”

Andres-Beck positioned themself as the only software engineer in the race and the only candidate who entered the race before Seth Moulton dropped out. Distinct policy focus on AI governance — insurers using AI to deny care, property managers using AI to raise rents, federal surveillance.

Boettcher introduced himself as “one of the few people on this stage who’s never been in office,” running because “the government is broken.” Stressed private-sector experience, regulatory work in banking/fintech/crypto, and bipartisan deal-making.

Coe opened with his mixed German-Irish-Italian-Lebanese-Korean-American family and announced endorsements from Biden, Harris, and Buttigieg 0:12:54. Positioned himself as someone with experience at every level — Andover select board, Boston mayor’s chief of staff, Biden White House.

Belsito 0:13:39 introduced herself as the “only Arab woman ever elected to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Legislature.” Disclosed near-fatal postpartum depression and her resulting nonprofit work. Cited DiZoglio endorsement, support for state-legislature audit, opposition to U.S. funding of “genocide in Gaza,” and opposition to “this illegal war with Iran.”

Q1 — Seth Moulton retrospective 0:15:43

Nearly all candidates praised Moulton’s constituent services and his support for veterans. Differentiation came in the critiques:

Nguyen 0:16:32: Praised his staff. Said she would be more visible in the community than Moulton was — “I’m everywhere.”
Boettcher 0:18:27: Praised his anti-Trump posture and veteran focus; called for government reform, term limits, and a ban on insider trading.
Lancaster 0:20:26: Most pointedly credited Moulton’s staff, naming former chief of staff Rick Jakus, rather than Moulton himself; said she is uniquely focused on the House as a body.
Belsito 0:22:30: Most sharply critical — recalled running against him in 2020, raised his absentee residency (“P.O. box”), his presidential bid, and his “billionaire AIPAC super PAC money.” Acknowledged he is a Marine and that her own family is military.
Andres-Beck 0:24:25: Said Moulton “didn’t run for office to fight fascism” and “wasn’t interested in helping build movements” across the North Shore; said when MAGA candidates surfaced in Middleton, his office didn’t engage.
Coe 0:26:08: Pivoted to argue the moment demands someone who can “fight this president at every turn” and explicitly defended trans kids and LGBTQ rights as “kitchen table issues.”

Q2 — Refusing donations / tax-return release 0:28:03

All six candidates committed to releasing tax returns. Belsito, Lancaster, Nguyen, Coe, and Andres-Beck explicitly committed to refusing corporate PAC money. Notable specifics:

Belsito 0:28:40: Most aggressive — named opponents on stage as having taken money from “Anthropic, Palantir… Epstein people.” Said “our seats are for sale.” Refusing AIPAC money explicitly.
Nguyen 0:30:53: 83% of donations from within Massachusetts, ~30% from within the district; called for ending congressional stock trading.
Lancaster 0:32:55: Every donation from an individual; called Citizens United “a truly corrosive, horrific influence” and emphasized eliminating corporate personhood broadly.
Coe 0:34:57: Pledged no corporate PAC money in primary, general, or in Congress; said he sold all stocks before joining the Department of Labor; called for publicly financed elections and ranked-choice voting.
Boettcher 0:36:40: Not taking PAC money; self-funding portions of the campaign.
Andres-Beck 0:38:34: Has taken the “political integrity pledge”; tied campaign data-broker abuse to consumer-privacy regulation (and to Trump’s gutting of the CFPB).

Q3 — Smaller communities and federal capacity 0:40:39

The Swampscott Times question specifically cited Swampscott and Nahant as towns lacking public health nurses and (in some cases) full-time assessors.

Andres-Beck 0:41:16: Cited Middleton’s lack of sewer; proposed restoring U.S. Digital Service to build software making grant applications “as easy to apply for as a credit card.”
Belsito 0:43:01: Cited PFAS in Topsfield’s water; recent Prop 2½ override for schools and “health insurance coverage for our town employees because it went up 46%.” Argued for restoring IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds.
Lancaster 0:44:59: Explained appropriations process candidly (“earmarks are dead… they’re just called something different now”); emphasized coalition-building with other freshmen; criticized the federal “big ugly bill” for reclassifying nurses as non-professionals.
Coe 0:47:05: Listed Trump’s proposed 40% affordable-housing cuts, ACA-subsidy elimination, SNAP cuts; called for “another version of the American Rescue Plan” with flexible dollars for select boards and city councils.
Nguyen 0:49:01: Said her mother’s health insurance went from “$4 to $235 this past January”; cited bringing back $500M to her four-town district.
Boettcher 0:51:04: Focused on federal deficit ($88B/month interest), tax-loophole reform, and protecting MassHealth and SNAP funding.

Q4 — Hitting the ground running 0:53:02

Boettcher: Private-sector experience, regulating crypto (got “first bit license in New York”), bipartisanship.
Belsito 0:55:05: Almost 30 years’ Washington experience, began as intern in Joe Moakley’s office, currently doing federal appropriations work via her nonprofit, three federal laws to her credit.
Lancaster 0:57:14: Only candidate on stage with recent U.S. House staff experience; civil service relationships across State, DOI, USAID; emphasized her ER veterinary work as keeping her grounded in family economics.
Coe 0:59:12: “Not the time for patty cake with MAGA”; experience at every level — select board, mayor’s chief of staff, Department of Labor, White House; “not the time to send someone in Congress to learn on the job.”
Nguyen 1:00:50: 13 bills passed with bipartisan support; passed three unemployment-expansion bills in her first term during COVID.
Andres-Beck 1:02:52: Frames the role as analogous to fixing broken engineering systems — “blameless postmortems,” holding executives accountable, started with a theater degree and food stamps.

Q5 — Voices heard in a diminished Congress 1:04:53

Coe 1:05:24: Subpoena power post-flip, hold every CEO who “bent the knee” accountable; cited his own 7-million-listener “People’s Cabinet” platform as personal leverage.
Lancaster 1:07:20: Cited AOC and Pressley’s mutual-defense pact; rejected the premise — Congress’s impact isn’t shrinking, it has abdicated. Focused on “how we hold the House,” not just flip it.
Nguyen 1:09:29: Said Democrats must be held accountable too — “not all Democrats are the same.”
Andres-Beck 1:11:28: Said the Supreme Court “just restored Jim Crow” and Congress “wrote a book report.” Floated court expansion, jurisdiction-stripping; pointed to 18 No Kings protests in this district.
Belsito 1:13:24: Called for new Democratic leadership and a “three to five point plan” to codify Roe, reform finance, impeach.
Boettcher 1:15:23: Government reform, term limits including Supreme Court term limits, listening tours.

Q6 — Israel/Netanyahu 1:17:30

This question produced the sharpest substantive divergence of the night.

Boettcher 1:18:00: Most cautious — “support our allies,” two-state solution, humanitarian concerns; least explicit critique of Netanyahu among candidates.
Andres-Beck 1:19:59: “There is no excuse for genocide… B’Tselem has said genocidal acts have taken place in Gaza.” Called for all foreign aid to be conditional, not just to Israel.
Lancaster 1:21:55: Drawing on her State Department grants experience, said federal law already requires human-rights vetting — “we are bankrolling a supposed ally in… a completely unjustified genocide.”
Coe 1:23:56: Spoke as a Lebanese-American with family in southern Lebanon; “it will be a very happy day in the Middle East when Bibi Netanyahu is no longer in power.” Coupled this with explicit condemnation of antisemitism.
Belsito 1:25:52: Spoke as a Syrian-American; “$38 million a day to Israel”; called it a “colonialism situation”; tied the issue to Democrats losing 2024.
Nguyen 1:27:48: “I believe that Netanyahu should be tried as a war criminal”; cited her work on the state anti-hate bill.

Q7 — Leader admired (lightning round) 1:29:34

Coe: Ted Kennedy
Andres-Beck: Theodore Roosevelt
Nguyen: Her father (former political prisoner)
Lancaster: FDR (and Eleanor Roosevelt)
Boettcher: JFK and his own father
Belsito: Her great-aunt Alice Fitzgibbon Del Rossi, who in 1965 beat six men in a primary before being defeated after redistricting and became Stoneham’s first female select board chair

Closing statements 1:35:14

Closing remarks largely amplified each candidate’s central frame. Belsito’s was the most pugnacious — explicitly attacking “the Epstein class” and “candidates who take dark money, AI, Palantir.” Andres-Beck disclosed having held a “support all students” sign against a school-board candidate “running on the platform of he didn’t like trans people like me.” Lancaster argued the Democratic Party “must also be accountable for our own failures” of 2024. Coe quoted Biden (“keep the faith, pal”).

Section 4: Executive Summary

Why this forum matters for Swampscott residents. The MA-6 seat — which includes Swampscott — is open for the first time in roughly 30 years (as Lancaster noted). The September 1, 2026 Democratic primary will effectively decide Swampscott’s next U.S. representative.

On capacity for small towns (the Swampscott-specific question). Monica Sager’s question went directly to a chronic Swampscott pain point: a small town without sufficient public-health, assessment, and grant-writing capacity cannot absorb federal programs even when funding is technically available. Candidate responses fell into three camps:

Process / digital fixes — Andres-Beck (restore U.S. Digital Service so small towns can apply for grants as easily as for a credit card)
Funding mechanics — Lancaster (appropriations process via freshman-class coalitions), Nguyen (federal-state-local relationship management), Coe (a new American Rescue Plan with flexible local aid)
Tax/macro reform — Boettcher (federal deficit, tax loopholes), Belsito (restore IRA and infrastructure-law money, federal healthcare reform to relieve local tax pressure)

Notably, Belsito’s reference to Topsfield’s recent Prop 2½ override “for schools and… health insurance coverage for our town employees because it went up 46%” is a near-identical pattern to Swampscott’s recurring override and benefits-cost discussions. Federal health-cost policy is, in effect, a local property-tax issue.

Federal cuts hitting Swampscott. Candidates documented (without dispute) the cascade of federal cuts to ACA subsidies, Medicaid (via the “big ugly bill”), SNAP, IRA, and bipartisan infrastructure funds. Nguyen’s anecdote — her mother’s premium rising from $4 to $235 in January — is the kind of cost shift that lands on individual Swampscott residents.

Money in politics. Every candidate committed to refusing corporate PAC money to some degree. Belsito was the most categorical and aggressive in calling out competitors by name of donor (Anthropic, Palantir, “Epstein people”). All six agreed to release tax returns.

Israel/Gaza. Five of six candidates expressed varying degrees of strong criticism of the Netanyahu government and U.S. military aid. Nguyen called for Netanyahu to be tried as a war criminal; Lancaster called it “unjustified genocide”; Belsito called the funding “colonialism”; Coe (Lebanese-American) called for Netanyahu’s removal; Andres-Beck cited B’Tselem’s genocide finding. Boettcher was alone in framing the issue primarily around “supporting allies” and humanitarian concerns. For Swampscott voters, this is the issue with the clearest substantive separation among candidates.

The “fighter” vs “deliverer” axis. Coe and Belsito most aggressively framed the moment as requiring confrontation. Nguyen and Lancaster emphasized legislative competence and coalition-building. Boettcher positioned as a bipartisan dealmaker. Andres-Beck offered a sui generis frame (technologist-organizer). The factional split between confrontation and pragmatism will likely structure the rest of the primary.

Section 5: Analysis

The shape of the field

Three candidates have substantial elected or institutional experience: Nguyen (state rep), Belsito (former state rep, current town moderator), and Coe (select board + senior executive-branch experience). Two have institutional experience without elected office: Lancaster (House staff + State Department) and Boettcher (regulatory law + business). Andres-Beck is the closest to a pure outsider, with no prior office and a non-traditional professional background.

There is no single establishment frontrunner, which is unusual for a Massachusetts House primary. The closest to an establishment candidate is Coe, who is the only one to announce a former-president endorsement (Biden, Harris, Buttigieg). Lancaster explicitly named “Democratic insiders” as the problem; Belsito attacked the “Washington establishment”; Andres-Beck and Nguyen both framed the race against complacent Democrats.

Strongest debate performances

Lancaster was the most consistently substantive. Her State Department answer on Q6 — that human-rights conditioning of aid is already federal law and that she personally administered such vetting — was the single strongest factual contribution of the night. Her candor about how appropriations “earmarks” actually still exist under another name (Q3) was unusually granular and credible. Her self-positioning as the only recent House staffer is a hard claim for opponents to contest.

Belsito had the night’s most theatrically effective moments — her great-aunt story, her closing-statement attacks on the “Epstein class” — but her performance was uneven and at moments seemed off-script. Her decision to name competitors by donor (Anthropic, Palantir) was the sharpest direct attack on stage. Whether that lands as principle or pettiness will depend on voter priors.

Coe has the most polished delivery and the clearest “Trump-fighter” message, but his answer on Q4 (“not the time to send someone in Congress to learn on the job”) implicitly attacks every other non-Nguyen candidate on stage — a high-risk gambit given that he has never personally held federal office either. His Biden/Harris/Buttigieg endorsements are real assets in a Democratic primary but may complicate his “outsider” framing.

Nguyen brought the most concrete legislative record (13 bills, $500M in district funding) and a powerful biographical hook. She was effective but sometimes flat against more rhetorical performers like Coe and Belsito.

Andres-Beck is running a distinct campaign on AI regulation, technologist competence, and movement-building. Their Q5 invocation of court expansion and jurisdiction-stripping was the boldest structural-reform proposal of the night. Their non-binary identity is foregrounded substantively (the opening Middleton story in closing remarks) rather than performatively.

Boettcher struggled to differentiate. His policy answers were defensible but generic, and he was the lone outlier on Israel — a position that may be principled but is unusual in a Massachusetts Democratic primary. His final remarks read more like a small-business chamber-of-commerce pitch than a Congressional bid against the present moment.

Inflection point?

This forum doesn’t appear to be an inflection point for any single candidate’s trajectory — no one collapsed, no one delivered a clear knockout. But it does establish the axis of the primary:

Pragmatic-establishment: Coe, Nguyen
Insurgent-outsider: Belsito, Andres-Beck
Policy-technocratic: Lancaster
Centrist-reformer: Boettcher

Lancaster’s positioning — substantive policy expertise and anti-establishment rhetoric — is the most distinctive combination and may be the hardest niche for opponents to contest. Whether her relative public profile matches her substantive performance is the open question.

Caveats on attribution

The automatic speaker-diarization in this transcript reassigns numeric tags across segments rather than stably mapping numbers to people. I have attributed statements based on content (self-introductions, who is being addressed by the moderator, biographical fingerprints), but a small number of attributions — particularly during rapid moderator handoffs — could be off by one speaker. The substance of who said what on the policy questions is, however, well-anchored by the candidates’ own biographical references.

2026-05-07: Congressional District 6 Candidates Forum