The Forward Party has come out in support of candidates from both major parties in two Massachusetts races this November, backing Republican Elizabeth Dionne for state treasurer and Democratic State Auditor Diana DiZoglio in her reelection bid.
Both endorsements were announced earlier this month, with the national party formally backing Dionne on September 10 before coming out in favor of DiZoglio six days later. Dionne is challenging Democratic Treasurer Deborah Goldberg with no other candidate on the ballot, while DiZoglio is running against Libertarian Al Ozonoff after no Republican candidate stepped forward this year.
According to a biography produced by the party, Dionne is an attorney and educator from Belmont who spent roughly a decade in municipal government, including as a member of Belmont Town Meeting and the town’s Warrant Committee and Community Preservation Committee. She also chaired the local select board.
While in local government, the party said Dionne supported changes to the town’s budgeting practices and helped move its retirement system into the state Pension Reserves Investment Trust. As a candidate for Massachusetts treasurer, she has focused largely on the administration of the office and state finances.
To that end, Dionne has proposed an independent audit of the Treasury’s departments as well as changes to hiring practices and restrictions on campaign and inauguration donations from certain industries regulated by the office. She has also pledged to serve no more than two terms if elected.
“Elizabeth Dionne embodies exactly the kind of leadership Forward is built to support: a proven reformer who has shown, term after term, that she can find bipartisan common ground and deliver real results for taxpayers,” Drath said. “Her record in Belmont, and her pledges around transparency and accountability as Treasurer, reflect a commitment to the rule of law, a balanced approach in governance and respect for constituent interests.”
Meanwhile, DiZoglio first won election as state auditor in 2022 after previously representing parts of northeastern Massachusetts as both a member of the state House and Senate. Much of her tenure as auditor has involved a lengthy battle with legislative leaders over her effort to audit the Massachusetts Legislature, which her office first launched shortly after she took office.
Massachusetts voters later approved Question 1 in 2024, giving DiZoglio’s office the authority under state law to audit the Legislature. Official election results show that 66 percent of voters supported the proposal when accounting for those who blanked the ballot. However, despite that strong showing, the audit has remained stalled as legislative leaders have raised constitutional issues over the measure and pushed back against DiZoglio over what it expressly empowers her to do.
DiZoglio sued legislative leaders earlier this year to obtain records for the audit. The Senate then voted in May to provide a limited set of financial documents requested by her office, though DiZoglio countered that turning over those records alone did not amount to an audit. The House later approved legislation setting limits on the scope of the audit; however, the Senate passed a different version in July, leading the two chambers to appoint a conference committee after the House declined to accept the Senate changes. No final version has been enacted as of this month.
The Forward Party referenced that ongoing friction over the audit in its endorsement, with Drath praising DiZoglio for her willingness to challenge members of her own party over the issue.
“Diana DiZoglio has shown what it looks like to actually fight for transparency instead of just talking about it,” Drath said. “She took on entrenched interests in her own party in pursuit of an audit of the Legislature that voters overwhelmingly demanded, and she hasn’t backed down since. That kind of independence and accountability to the public rather than to political insiders is exactly what Forward stands for.”
The Forward Party has endorsed candidates from across the political spectrum this election cycle, though its national slate has so far leaned more heavily toward independents and candidates running on its own party line than it did in 2024. During that cycle, the party said it endorsed more than 100 candidates, including a significant number of Republicans and Democrats compared to proportionately fewer Forwardists, independents, and candidates of other minor parties.
That balance has shifted for 2026, with the party supporting only a handful of candidates associated with the two major parties. Republican Niina Baum of Wisconsin and Democrat Alissa Ellman of New York were the first major party candidates to receive its national endorsement this year. The party has since backed California Republican Bob Smith and South Carolina Democrat John G. Vincent, followed now by Dionne and DiZoglio.
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