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Those making bids for office include Boston NAACP President Tanisha Sullivan, who is running against longtime Secretary of State Bill Galvin; former ACLU attorney Rahsaan Hall, who is making a bid against longtime Plymouth County DA Timothy Cruz; and Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who is running for DA in Suffolk County, where newly-appointed interim Kevin Hayden hasnt said whether he will be a candidate.

Thats a stark change from the electoral slates of not many years ago, when entrenched white male candidates were regarded as so unbeatable that many candidates were reluctant to even take their chances.

The shift leftward is visible in other contests as well. Even as Attorney General Maura Healey seems established as the early front-runner for governor, both Sonia Chang-Diaz and Danielle Allen have staked out positions clearly intended to outflank the attorney general on her left.

Not that Healey is any kind of moderate, at least not by the standards of any state but this one. But in Democratic politics, the ground is shifting. And the faces of those running this year are a clear reflection of that.

* As Boston begins the search for its next schools superintendent, one intriguing subplot is what this will mean for the future of the appointed School Committee.

Following a resounding vote in a nonbinding referendum, the notion of scrapping the current panel for an elected one has never had more momentum than it does now.

Thats a potential political problem for Mayor Michelle Wu, who opposes a return to an elected School Committee. (She says she favors a hybrid, with some members elected and some appointed by the mayor.)

Politically, an elected School Committee is an easy sell to voters, just by virtue of being more democratic. Given the choice, who wouldnt opt for electing their government?

But Boston has had an elected School Committee it was abolished in 1991 by Mayor Ray Flynn and its latter years were nothing the city needs or should want again. With every decision deeply politicized, it spent most of its time in gridlock. Running the schools had become nearly impossible. Troubled as the School Department may be now, it bears little resemblance to that old, broken version.

Then, and maybe now, the strongest proponents of an elected School Committee were politicians, not parents or educators. They liked the idea of more offices for political ingenues to run for, and they liked being able to exert more direct influence on decisions, including budgets and promotions. Nearly every appointment of a principal back then prompted a low-key political campaign.

Lets just say educational quality was not always front and center.

People have forgotten what a disaster it was, said former city councilor Michael McCormack, who first proposed replacing it with an appointed committee and got Flynn on board. I hope Mayor Wu sticks to her guns in not going back to that, and I think she will.

Flynn, and Mayor Tom Menino after him, argued that the appointed committee made the mayor squarely responsible for the schools. That hasnt fueled sufficient progress, but accountability has not been a bad thing.

Ultimately, what we desperately need is to improve the schools. If Wu can be an effective driver for the changes that are needed which I believe she can be I dont really care whos on the School Committee, or who picks them. Just somebody, please, fix the schools.

* Under the leadership of Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Everett is a city where weird stuff happens routinely.

The latest is that Schools Superintendent Priya Tahiliani who is currently pursuing a complaint against the city for racial and gender discrimination says through her attorney that surveillance cameras were recently found in her office. The devices were reportedly discovered last month.

Tahiliani, whose contract runs until 2024, maintains that DeMaria has been trying to push her out of her job for some time. The School Committee recently shelved plans to undercut her authority, in the wake of her complaint.

Its anyones guess what anyone thought they might uncover by planting a camera in the superintendents office.

Only in Everett.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at adrian.walker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Adrian_Walker.

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Will this be a big year for progressives, and other thoughts - The Boston Globe