Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan is facing blowback from a Massachusetts police union after the Herald revealed that she and former U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins signed a 2020 pledge promising to reject endorsements or campaign contributions from law enforcement unions.

“Middlesex County deserves a District Attorney who is committed to fundamental fairness and ethics in applying the law, complete transparency in the office’s operations, and working with law enforcement to obtain justice for victims and their families,” said Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MassCOP) President Scott A. Hovsepian. “Marian Ryan has rejected police officers and their households as a constituency while aligning herself with an anti-law enforcement, ‘defund the police’ organization.”

MassCOP has endorsed Ryan’s opponent in the Democratic primary.

Ryan and Rollins signed a pledge by the Justice Collaborative Institute – a progressive anti-police movement created in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

They are featured on a list of other district attorneys across the country who signed the 2020 pledge on the now defunct website dumpcopcash.com, which calls for DA candidates to promise to decline “any campaign endorsements or contributions made by a law enforcement union.”

Ryan is firing back, telling the Herald she always has and still respects law enforcement and has never supported the “defund the police” movement.

“I am not going to engage in a public shouting match with Mr. Hovsepian.  I have great respect for those who protect and serve our communities in our police departments, as well as their families who support them. I have never, in my entire career as a prosecutor, made a disparaging or disrespectful statement towards men and women in law enforcement, nor have I supported the “defund the police” movement. To suggest otherwise is categorically false,” Ryan said, going on to explain that she signed and adheres to the pledge to not accept endorsements in order to not blur the lines when her office investigates and prosecutes police officers.

“The narrow issue at play here is that I do not solicit money or endorsements from police unions because as District Attorney, part of my job is to hold police officers accountable in instances of misconduct.  The public has to be able to trust that I make those important decisions free of any outside influence. Voters, and not police unions, will decide if that is a sound policy in this election cycle,” she said.

Ryan also hit on Hovsepian and Solet’s claims she lacks any political support from police unions, pointing to two recent endorsements from former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and former Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan.

The Justice Collaborative has previously supported local and national policies to defund police departments and redistribute the funding towards social workers, according to Influence Watch, although defunding police was not part of the 2020 pledge digned by the pair.

An archive of the website before it was shut down shows headshots of DA Ryan and then-Suffolk DA Rollins as signatories, along with their notable and troubled Democratic counterparts in various districts across the U.S.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and former Suffolk DA and U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins signed a pledge in 2020 promising to never accept endorsements or campaign contributions from police unions. Screenshot - dumpcopcash.com

“As prosecutors, we play a fundamental role in the criminal legal system. How we act in that role affects both how the system operates and how people perceive how the system operates. Because of this, regardless of our actions in the past, we are joining others in committing that will not accept campaign endorsements or contributions from police unions going forward,” the Justice Collaborative pledge reads.

“Campaign endorsements and contributions send a message. They tell citizens that the candidate-in this case, a prosecutor seeking election-aligns with the values and interests of the donor or endorser. And they create a perceived (if not actual) impression that the elected official is beholden to that group,” it says.

The pledge was signed in the weeks following Floyd’s death and as several violent and destructive protests over the incident erupted across major U.S. cities, including in Boston. These protests were paired with calls by prominent national Democrats supporting the “defund the police” movement, including Sen. Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, among others.

In a recent interview with a local news outlet in Newton, Fig City News, Ryan attributed her low number of endorsements from police unions this election cycle to her signing of the pledge.

This as her primary opponent – Middlesex Assistant DA David Solet – has amassed endorsements from over 40 police unions across the state, including from MassCOP.

A screenshot of the now dead website dumpcopcash.com, which features Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and former Suffolk DA and U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins as signatories of a pledge in 2020 promising to never accept endorsements or campaign contributions from police unions. Screenshot - dumpcopcash.com

“David greatly respects the work of police officers in the Commonwealth and, unlike DA Ryan, is unafraid to receive their support. He has also proven himself immune to the pressure and influence of anti-police organizations and their reckless calls to drain resources from law enforcement,” Hovsepian said.

MassCOP represents over 6,000 Massachusetts police officers from more than 200 local departments.

The Justice Collaborative pledge included other signatories from across the country with a troubled legal history, including former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who was convicted of mortgage fraud and perjury in federal court in 2024. She had previously been convicted of perjury in a separate trial. Mosby was first elected in 2015, serving two terms before losing her re-election bid in 2022.

Another signatory includes former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, who was raised by former operatives in the Weather Underground terrorist organization. Serving just one term from 2018-2022, Boudin faced heavy criticism during his tenure for releasing suspects of dangerous crimes and repeat offenders from custody who would go on to commit further crimes. Boudin was thrown out of office following a June 2022 recall election. He is now the founding executive director of Berkeley Law School’s Criminal Law and Justice Center.

Former Ingham County, MI District Attorney Carol Siemon signed the pledge as well. Siemon faced criticism for reducing felony gun charges to a misdemeanor for the man who went on to carry out the 2023 Michigan State University mass shooting.