Shiva Ayyadurai, the independent Senate candidate and longtime Belmont resident challenging incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against the nonprofit that runs his hometown newspaper, accusing it of civil-rights violations and unfair trade practices for failing to cover his campaign the way he wanted. The target is The Belmont News Foundation, which runs The Belmont Voice, along with the outlet's editor-in-chief and its board chair.
Ayyadurai's complaint names The Belmont News Foundation, editor-in-chief Jesse Floyd, and board chair Sarah Caputo as defendants, according to a letter posted by the Voice's board of directors. The board wrote that Ayyadurai's complaint demands coverage from the paper, and it did not mince words in response: “This is a baseless, frivolous lawsuit that we expect will be resolved quickly,” the board said, adding that it plans to “vigorously defend ourselves and our independence as a news organization in this lawsuit.”
The Belmont Voice described itself in the same letter as a nonprofit operation with a small staff and an all-volunteer board of directors, framing the suit as a costly distraction for a shoestring community outlet. The board said it had actually planned to include Ayyadurai in a story about independent candidates running in the general election.
What Ayyadurai Is Asking a Judge to Order
Ayyadurai is representing himself in the case, which was filed in Boston federal court, as reported by Universal Hub. His pro se complaint asserts breach of contract, promissory estoppel, a violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, and unfair and deceptive trade practices, according to the same report. He is asking a judge to order the paper to publish an equal, unedited feature profile of him before Election Day, issue a correction, email subscribers, pin campaign material to its digital homepage, and pay unspecified compensatory damages.
Universal Hub's account states that Ayyadurai alleged the Voice promised him coverage after the Sept. 3 primaries but instead wrote about other candidates, and that he accused editor-in-chief Floyd of discriminating against him because he is a Brown-skinned Indian immigrant. Those allegations come from Ayyadurai's own filing and have not been independently verified.
A Campaign Barely Registering in the Polls
The dispute centered on Ayyadurai's allegation that the Voice promised him coverage after the Sept. 3 primaries. The Globe reported that after the Voice published a story on Republican candidate John Deaton the following month, Ayyadurai demanded an interview of his own. Ayyadurai has said the lack of coverage amounted to intentional viewpoint discrimination and election tampering, according to the Globe's reporting.
The race itself features four names on the ballot: Markey, Republican John Deaton, Joe Tache of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Ayyadurai, running as an independent, according to WGBH. The Belmont Voice's letter described Ayyadurai as polling at 1 percent in an October survey.
A First Amendment Flashpoint, Experts Say
Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, has discussed First Amendment protections for editorial judgment.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A, the state's unfair-trade-practices statute Ayyadurai is invoking, declares unlawful “unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce,” according to the Massachusetts General Court.
Not His First Legal Fight
This is not the first time Ayyadurai, who holds four degrees from MIT, has turned to the courts over perceived slights. In 2018, he filed a federal complaint against the City of Cambridge after officials ordered the removal of a political message from his campaign bus, which the city said violated building codes. That complaint, reviewed by Courthouse News, argued that Cambridge's order constituted viewpoint discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment — the same constitutional theory now echoed in his dispute with the Voice.
Ayyadurai also sued Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin in July 2026 over ballot-photo requirements; a judge dismissed his request for a preliminary injunction, and the First Circuit declined his appeal, according to Universal Hub. Ayyadurai has also run for office, including against then-Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018, and has been a presidential candidate.
