Mintz Lawyer Elissa Flynn‑Poppey Leads Winning Fight Against Rent‑Control Ballot

When a coalition of landlords and business groups first approached Mintz in January 2026, they were looking for a seasoned litigator who understood both the nitty‑gritty of ballot‑law and the political currents of Massachusetts. They found that person in Elissa Flynn‑Poppey, the firm’s chair of the Government Law Practice.

Flynn‑Poppey’s résumé reads like a crash‑course in state politics. She cut her teeth as deputy general counsel in Governor Mitt Romney’s administration, helping draft fiscal‑impact statements for dozens of ballot measures. After joining Mintz in 2005, she was mentored by veteran litigator Bob Popeo and soon found herself on the front lines of some of the firm’s most high‑profile fights – from the “millionaires tax” to Uber and Lyft regulatory battles, from transgender‑rights advocacy to nurse‑staffing‑ratio lawsuits.

In the rent‑control case, the coalition that retained Mintz was assembled by Lynda Tocci of the Dewey Square Group and Dan Cence of Issues Management Group. Their goal: to prevent a statewide rent‑control amendment from landing on the June 2026 primary ballot. Flynn‑Poppey assembled a small, focused team – Ed Daley, who delivered the oral arguments before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, along with Kadie Martin and Michael Molstad.

In May 2025, the SJC ruled that the ballot question’s exemption for religious properties was unconstitutional, effectively halting the measure. “They have major momentum and they’ve raised a significant amount of funds,” Flynn‑Poppey told the Boston Globe after the decision, noting that the coalition’s fundraising had been robust enough to sustain a lengthy legal campaign.

Flynn‑Poppey warned that the fight isn’t over. “If the opponents get their act together, we could see a better‑drafted proposal in two years,” she cautioned, underscoring the cyclical nature of housing‑policy battles in the Bay State.

The ruling arrived against a broader backdrop of housing concerns voiced by Governor Maura Healey’s administration. Housing Secretary Juana Matias, speaking at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce just days earlier, stressed the need for “stable, affordable housing solutions” – a rallying cry that both sides of the rent‑control debate have been using to frame their arguments.

For Flynn‑Poppey, the case was another chapter in a career defined by balancing complex legal strategy with the real‑world impact on communities. “It’s not just about a ballot question; it’s about how people live, work, and afford a place to call home,” she said, pausing before adding, “and that’s why we keep pushing back when the law isn’t clear.”