Boston, MA – The Boston Globe and Boston Herald today both endorsed David Solet, a veteran trial attorney and 2025 Middlesex County Prosecutor of the Year, in his bid to become the next District Attorney of Middlesex County.
Solet is challenging incumbent DA Marian Ryan in the September 1 Democratic primary.
“The challenger has an exceptional record of advocacy and compassion for long-forgotten victims of crime, and a commitment to changing the way the office, long-criticized for its turnover of personnel and lack of transparency, is run,” the Globe wrote in its editorial.
The Globe cited Solet’s record of pursuing justice in his various roles as an Assistant DA as Special Investigations Unit, Cyber Protection Unit and Cold Case Homicide Unit. He resigned from the office because of disagreements with Ryan over her priorities and management style.
The Globe criticized Ryan for “a management style that critics contend has led to a high turnover rate” and for a lack of transparency.
The Herald stated: “Solet’s focus on public safety checks a huge box for Massachusetts. We need more of this, and we need the kind of dogged dedication to helping victims of crime that the Cold Case Homicide Unit leader exemplifies.”
Both editorials criticized Ryan’s handling of a 2023 deadly crash involving a State Police cruiser driven by an allegedly drunken trooper assigned to her office, which resulted in the death of a disabled passenger in a wheelchair van. Ryan professed to know nothing of the incident for more than two years.
“Receiving these endorsements from respected, independent news organizations is incredibly rewarding and recognizes my life’s work seeking justice for the victims of crime, and speaking out about issues that need to be addressed in our criminal justice system and our laws,” Solet said. “There are real public safety challenges facing Middlesex County, and standing still is not an option. Whether it’s stopping illegal guns before they reach our neighborhoods, protecting seniors from increasingly sophisticated financial crimes, addressing the rise in drugged driving, or ensuring dangerous offenders can be held accountable, I will lead an office that is proactive, principled, and focused on protecting the people of Middlesex County.”
Solet has received endorsements from nearly 50 different public safety organizations in large cities and towns such as Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, Lowell, Everett, Marlborough, Framingham, Medford, Waltham, Watertown, and Winchester, and smaller communities such as Ashland, Carlisle, Dracut, Concord, Wayland, and Lincoln.
Solet has pledged to aggressively pursue gun trafficking organizations that smuggle guns into Massachusetts from out-of-state, protect the elderly from financial fraud and abuse, and ensure that prosecutorial decisions are driven by the facts and the law, not political considerations or fear of repercussions.
Recognizing the growing threat posed by drug-impaired driving, Solet has also committed to working with law enforcement, legislators, and public safety leaders to advance evidence-based reforms that improve the investigation and prosecution of drugged-driving cases while protecting due process. He has further pledged to support legislative reforms that close gaps in Massachusetts’ dangerousness law, allowing prosecutors to seek detention hearings for individuals accused of the most serious violent crimes where public safety demands it.
A prosecutor for twenty-four years, Solet has sought justice for victims of domestic violence, gun violence, narcotics trafficking, and public corruption. He was a longtime member of the office’s Special Investigations Unit, which prosecuted organized crime, then served as the first Chief of the Cyber Protection Unit, fighting online child exploitation. From 2019-2025, he served as the first Chief of the Middlesex County Cold Case Homicide Unit, investigating hundreds of unsolved homicides and dozens of unsolved sex assaults.
For his work, he was named Middlesex County Prosecutor of the Year in 2025, and has received numerous other awards from law enforcement organizations.
An honors graduate of Harvard Law School, Solet previously served as Chief Legal Counsel to the Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety. He is a Major in the JAG Corps of the United States Army Reserve, where he has been a defense attorney for soldiers, and represented victims of sexual assault. He is the proud father of two daughters, both graduates of Newton North High School, and now lives in Cambridge.
