Copyright The Boston Globe
Boston officials are wrestling with a host of issues, from affordable housing, public safety, and a controversial stadium renovation to threats from a federal government hostile to city leaders’ liberal views. Early voting began Saturday. You can find your early voting locations here, and check your Election Day polling place here. Age: 58 Neighborhood: Savin Hill, Dorchester Key issues: Housing, job training, recovery Favorite place in Boston: Anywhere near the ocean Favorite Boston food: Italian in the South End or steak Two years after leaving his long-held seat representing Dorchester on the Boston City Council, Frank Baker is back, now running to represent the whole city as a councilor at-large. One of the colorful council’s biggest personalities, and a frequent critic of Mayor Michelle Wu, Baker was known as the most conservative voice on a liberal body that has continued to shift left in recent years. He said he’s returning to politics to fill what he sees as a void on the council. “My voice is a valuable voice, one that isn’t totally represented in city government right now,” he said in an interview with the Globe, pitching himself as independent and experienced. Baker said he chose not to run for reelection to Dorchester-based District 3 in 2023 because of health concerns. Now he feels healthy, and he’s looking for a broader role representing the city at-large, less focused on the constituent services he sees as the traditional role of a district councilor. A lifelong Bostonian, Baker grew up in Dorchester as the 12th of 13 children. He was first elected to the council in 2011 after working in the City Hall print shop for more than 20 years. Over his six terms, Baker sometimes found himself in the minority — or alone — in opposition to proposals before the increasingly progressive council. He has spoken out against rent control, voted against regulations for short-term rentals, and opposed a tax on high-end real estate deals. He has earned the endorsement of former Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh. During his final two years on the council, Baker found himself in the middle of some of the body’smost heated clashes. If elected, Baker said he would seek to move past the council’s recent contentious tone. “I’d look to try and bring the body back to the years where it was more of a collaborative body — not necessarily agreeing on everything, but able to have conversation, balanced hearings and things like that,” he said. Baker sometimes found himself in hot water over controversial remarks he made on the council. During one heated redistricting debate, for example, he invoked sectarian tensions when he referred to Councilor Liz Breadon, an immigrant from Northern Ireland, as “a Protestant from Fermanagh.” Baker also compared Councilor Ricardo Arroyo to a predator, after years-old allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Arroyo in his race for Suffolk County district attorney. (Arroyo denied the allegations and was never charged.) This time around, Baker said his top priorities as a councilor would be homeownership programs, job training, and recovery services for individuals with substance use disorders. The best way to address the region’s housing crisis, in Baker’s mind, is to increase homeownership. “There’s nothing like a mortgage in knowing what your monthly bill is going to be,” he said. To boost housing production, Baker said the city should offer up public lots to small developers and streamline the zoning process. “Taking that bureaucracy out of building housing will go a long way,” he said. Baker questioned the rising costs of the mayor’s redevelopment plan for White Stadium, which will house Boston Legacy FC, the new women’s professional soccer team, as well as Boston Public Schools athletes. Addressing public drug use and dealing at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass, needs to be “all hands on deck,” Baker said. He supports the city identifying a site for a recovery campus, possibly outside of the city limits or repurposing a building at Suffolk County Jail. More money should be spent on long-term recovery beds, Baker added, and the justice system should be more involved in drug-related crimes. Even as an at-large councilor representing the whole city, Baker said the role should be about “handing your phone number out” and showing up to civic meetings. “It isn’t just a job in City Hall,” he said. “You need to be accountable to the people that elected you, and I take that seriously.” Age: 39 Neighborhood: Hyde Park Key issues: Housing, schools, and community safety/cleanliness Favorite place in Boston: Jamaica Pond Favorite Boston food: The wings at River Street Grill in Mattapan Before Ruthzee Louijeune assumed her role last year as Boston City Council president, the body was undergoing a rough patch in which council meetings were marked by infighting and councilors facing ethics scandals. A Harvard-educated lawyer who grew up in Mattapan and Hyde Park, Louijeune became the first Haitian American elected to City Council in 2021 after pledging to usher Boston through its COVID-19 pandemic recovery using a “village approach.” Her more measured approach proved key in navigating trouble amid the council’s chaos. In 2023, as city councilors sparred repeatedly over Boston’s new council district boundaries — which threatened to delay the city’s elections — Louijeune assumed control over the process. Two weeks and several proposals later, the council passed one of her efforts, a map that earned praise from a judge who blocked one of its earlier iterations. Her work during that time would elevate her stature: Louijeune was unanimously elected to be president of the Boston City Council on New Year’s Day of 2024, after which she pledged to restore civility and public trust to the body. Since then, Louijeune’s colleagues have often praised her leadership and collaborative approach, even if disputes still crop up. “I’m a problem-solver — I enjoy helping constituents solve problems, both big and small,” Louijeune said of why she’s seeking reelection. “We have so much work to do, and there’s so much potential in our great and beautiful city.” Louijeune said accomplishments she’s most proud of include establishing vouchers for those experiencing homelessness, reaffirming the city’s commitment to the pro-immigrant Trust Act, passing a home rule petition that could implement ranked-choice voting in the city, and, generally “leading and shepherding the body during these moments of challenge.” As she seeks a second term, Louijeune said the council needs to be “sharply” focused on addressing producing more affordable housing. She’s also hoping to flesh out a “solid building plan” for Boston’s public schools, mapping out which ones to consolidate, and wants to improve both public safety and cleanliness across Boston. Louijeune said she continues to support rent control measures, pointing to the council’s passage of a home rule petition in 2023 that would limit rent increases in the city to 6 percent, in addition to consumer price index changes, with an upper limit of 10 percent during years of high inflation. (The measure, however, was not approved by the state Legislature. Louijeune said she would “like to see more collaboration” with Beacon Hill, particularly on home rule petitions.) She also wants to better hold absentee landlords accountable for issues such as trash and rodents. And she recently backed a proposal suggesting for the city to explore establishing publicly owned grocery stores. To address the city’s ongoing homelessness and opioid epidemics especially present at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard — or, as it’s more commonly known, Mass. and Cass — Louijeune said she wants the city to work with community partners to “locate a place for those who are struggling with the disease of addiction” to receive treatment. The council president, however, has separated from the mayor’s office on issues including the planned White Stadium renovation. Earlier this year, she voted in favor of a resolution that would halt the $200 million proposal, saying it “was a tough call” but that the city needed more specifics and community input on the plan. “There are questions regarding transparency of the cost that I think are good questions people are asking … and I want to make sure those who are working to get contracts with White Stadium uplift our Black and brown businesses, especially those in Roxbury who are the most proximate to White Stadium,” Louijeune said. At the center of Louijeune’s work remains a focus on improving equity in Boston, long a theme of her campaigns: “The question that we have to stay centered on is how do we ensure that all of our residents can prosper, and how do we give them and equip them with the tools to prosper?” she said. Her identity, too, is something she is acutely aware of in a moment where Boston has emerged as a potential target of a Trump administration that’s already sent the National Guard, a heavy immigration enforcement presence, or both into other Democrat-run cities. “I bring all of my life experience as a daughter of Mattapan and Hyde Park, as a daughter of Haitian immigrants, especially in a time where our community — immigrant communities, Haitian communities — are facing so much hate and so much attempted rejection by this federal government,” Louijeune said. “It’s even more important for me to be resolute in who I am and what I represent.” Age: 39 Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain Key issues: Housing affordability, Boston public schools, public safety Favorite place in Boston: Franklin Park Favorite Boston food: Ula Café A transplant to Boston, Marvin Mathelier appears to have tried it all. He has served as a member of the US Marine Corps. He worked at Massachusetts Veteran Services and served on Jamaica Plain’s neighborhood council. And he runs Ula Café, a small business he and his wife describe as both a coffee shop and a “community hub.” Now, Mathelier is looking to take what he’s learned in each of those roles to Boston’s City Council. “I’ve always looked at being in public service as a calling of mine,” Mathelier said. “I want to ensure that moving forward, all the gaps that I see and things that we need to work on, I am reporting directly to the people who put me in that position.” A first-time candidate, Mathelier grew up in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood before attending Norwich University in Vermont for his undergraduate education and obtaining an MBA from Loyola University and an MPA from Columbia University. Mathelier is a 16-year Marine Corps veteran, service that took him to countries such as Guatemala and Guyana, responding to events such as natural disasters. In 2015, Mathelier moved to Boston seeking better job opportunities and to start a family. While Mathelier has not held public office, he has assumed an assortment of roles from the neighborhood to statewide levels: He has worked with the Massachusetts Veterans Services office, chairs the region’s first Haitian cultural center, which opened this year, and founded the nonprofit organization Call It Out, focused on promoting racial equity. Mathelier pointed to his time offering constituent services for veterans across the state as indicative of how he would approach being an elected official. “I tried to keep their feet to the fire, including myself, that within 24 hours, we get these things resolved,” he said of his 15-month tenure at the state agency. “And what came out of that was … we addressed over 1,400 cases. That’s something I want to be able to do and bring as a city councilor.” The council, Mathelier said, needs to make efforts to become “a place of decorum, of professionalism,” and restore public trust after it has in recent years seen high-profile scandals and infighting. Mathelier said he is also hoping to improve transparency, ensuring hearings are canceled less frequently and that the public can better communicate with councilors. Part of what drove Mathelier to seek a City Council position this year, too, was President Trump’s November win — a moment in which he said he heard residents voice concerns about increasing uncertainty at the federal level. Tackling housing is central to Mathelier’s hopes for improving the city’s high cost of living. He supports implementing rent stabilization measures, pointing to his own experience growing up in a rent-controlled home in New York. He also wants to reform the city’s zoning processes, “streamlining it as much as possible” to speed up building projects that could be held up by red tape. For Mathelier, improving Boston’s K-12 education is personal: Two of his three young children are enrolled in Boston Public Schools, an area in which he doesn’t feel Boston is “hitting the target.” He suggested working to ensure education standards remain the same across Boston’s schools, as well as work with local higher education institutions to promote opportunities such as trade and vocational programs. Mathelier is also seeking to enhance public safety. He wants to work with, and seek funding from, state government to tackle homelessness and drug use near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass. He believes the city should elevate mental health professionals to work with Boston police officers and increase programs targeted at “empowering youth.” And in responding to the Trump administration, Mathelier said the city should create a legal defense fund to assist immigrants at risk for detainment or deportation. Mathelier, who lives two blocks from White Stadium, supports Mayor Michelle Wu’s development plan but said he wants to ensure the city is responsive to concerns about the project. “People shouldn’t necessarily need to come down to City Hall all the time to discuss what’s going on. … Being able to go to where they live is really important,” Mathelier said of his approach. He pointed to holding events at Ula Café, including a discussion on the federal administration’s actions days prior to the No Kings protests against Trump. “I want to continue to knock on doors and go to places where they live and see what’s going on and how I can be able to support them — that’s the kind of person you’re going to get from me,” he added. Age: 55 Neighborhood: Dorchester Key issues: Education, government accountability and transparency, and housing affordability Favorite place in Boston: Chez-Vous Roller Skating Rink in Mattapan Favorite Boston food: Corn chowder from Boston Chowda in Faneuil Hall Julia Mejia moved from the Dominican Republic to Boston when she was 5 years old. She learned to speak English by watching Big Bird on “Sesame Street.” Mejia’s mom was undocumented for a while and, as a child, she acted as her translator. Mejia said she once spoke up against a government bureaucrat who was mean to her mother. She chose not to translate what they said to protect her mom. Then, she recalls, she told the bureaucrat that they did not need to treat the Mejia family that way just because they were poor. “That was the first time that I had to utilize my voice, and even though I was scared, because this person had power over us, I still used my voice, because I didn’t want my mom to feel bad,” she told the Globe. “I have not stopped using my voice since then.” Mejia is a Boston Public Schools graduate and now a mother to a Boston Public Schools student. She studied Communications at Mount Ida College. She interned at the local Boys and Girls Club, teaching young people how to make videos as a way to deal with their anger. Eventually, she spent a decade working at MTV. Mejia moved back to Boston around 2009, and was first elected in 2019, winning her race by a single vote to become the city’s first Afro Latina councilor. Mejia is now seeking a fourth term as Boston City councilor at-large. She said education is her top priority, followed by government accountability. “Nobody believes in government anymore,” she said. “I am, really, all about building people power, and really letting people see what is happening inside city government.” Mejia also talked about how the housing crisis in Boston is a huge concern for communities. “It is the No. 1 concern for residents here in Boston. We know that is the case because knocking on doors, that is what we hear,” she said. She supports rent control and one focus for her is on what she described as corporate landlords. “Those are the people who I want to make sure get the message that we’re going to cap your rent, to ensure that you are not pricing our residents out,” Mejia said. Asked about how she would approach the situation in the Mass. and Cass area, where concerns over public drug use have raised frustration in the local community, Mejia said the issue needed to be dealt with compassionately. Mejia also suggested more enforcement was needed from authorities to target the groups behind the problem. “I would love to see the Boston Regional Intelligence Center utilizing all of their beautiful tools and surveillance techniques that they have to target those folks who are human trafficking [and] drug trafficking in that area,” she said. Mejia also suggested that some of the funding that is being invested in supporting the revamping of White Stadium could be directed toward addressing the Mass. and Cass issue. “We don’t know what the last dollar is going to be [for the White Stadium project], because it’s still TBD, but if we’re looking at $100 million, there is $100 million that we could be using to divert to support the humanitarian situation that’s happening on Mass. and Cass,” she said. She also wants to see some funding go to the renovation of the Madison Park High School, a vocational technical school in Roxbury. Those funds could also go toward dealing with the housing affordability issue, she said. “We don’t need a Fenway Park in Franklin Park when we have so many Black and brown people living in the neighborhood, and people don’t want that,” she said. “People’s property taxes are gonna go up. It’s just not a good look right now for us to be dismissing Black and brown people.” Age: 55 Neighborhood: Mattapan Key issues: Transparency and accountability in government; constituent services and accessibility; public/mental health and recovery services Favorite place in Boston: Walking the Neponset Trail with her dog, Murphy, a Wheaten terrier Favorite Boston food: Pat’s Pizza in Lower Mills Erin Murphy remembers sitting in a special education meeting as a Boston Public Schools teacher, watching a student receive fewer accommodations than they needed. “I was frustrated,” she said. “I had a feeling like I needed to fight harder for this child.” It wasn’t an isolated case. Over two decades in the classroom, Murphy said she saw a pattern — families who knew how to navigate the system often got results, while others, especially immigrant or low-income parents, struggled to be heard. The experiences pushed Murphy from the classroom to City Hall. Now an at-large city councilor seeking reelection, Murphy said they still shape how she sees her role. The inequities she once witnessed in education — where outcomes depended on who knew how to navigate the system best — she now sees in city government. The effort starts with transparency and accountability, she said. Murphy regularly files hearing orders and 17F requests — tools councilors can use to get information from the administration — to ensure residents get clear answers about how money was spent and why basic city services fell short. Murphy has also spoken out when she believed public officials crossed ethical lines. She called on former councilor Ricardo Arroyo to consider stepping down over his ties to after a federal report on election interference, and urged former councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson to give up her position after she pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Expanding access to recovery and mental health services is another of Murphy’s top priorities — and a personal one. Her son was receiving treatment on Long Island when the city shut down its recovery campus in 2014. The abrupt closure, she said, exposed how fragile Boston’s support system for addiction and recovery services was as the area became a “hotspot.” She said she favors “a regional approach,” as some of those seeking services and camped at Mass and Cass are from out of state. On the council, she pushed for stronger coordination among city agencies, plus additional funding, outreach programs, and services. Boston has the space and resources to meet those needs now, without waiting years for a rebuilt Long Island campus, she said. For Mass. and Cass, the center of the city’s addiction and homelessness crises, she supported removing tent encampments, calling the conditions unsafe, but said enforcement alone isn’t enough. “We need housing, we need recovery services,” she said. “But if certain people aren’t ready for recovery, there’s nothing you can do.” Murphy also said recovery services should be available citywide, not just concentrated in the South End, since addiction affects families across Boston. She also called for hiring more police officers and outreach workers, saying current teams are stretched thin as the crisis spreads to neighborhoods such as Andrew Square and Hyde Park. Murphy, who had rented in Dorchester for more than 15 years, said her perspective as a single mother shaped how she approaches Boston’s housing crisis. When she was raising three children on a teacher’s salary, she said, she saw firsthand how difficult it was to find a place that was affordable. She opposes rent control, calling it a “political buzzword” that doesn’t fix the underlying shortage of housing. Instead, she said the city needs to expand housing lotteries and prioritize family-size, workforce housing units rather than luxury developments, preserve existing affordable homes, and move projects along faster. Murphy’s focus on fiscal responsibility also extends to the redevelopment of White Stadium. While she supports investing in athletic facilities for Boston Public Schools students, she believes the city could have renovated the stadium for far less money and without partnering with a private professional soccer team. She said the focus needs to be on making sure BPS students don’t get the short end of the stick. Murphy pointed to other recreational areas — like those at Reggie Lewis Track and Carter Playground — where BPS students lost priority to those from suburban schools. “You can 100 percent be in support of BPS kids having nice things — but at what expense?” Murphy said the work she’s most proud of rarely makes headlines. “At the end of the day,” she said, “I know I can make a difference and that makes it worth it.” Age: 42 Neighborhood: Dorchester Key issues: Housing, Mass. and Cass, Boston Public Schools Favorite place in Boston: Public Garden Favorite Boston food: His mother’s kitchen, or Mastro’s in Seaport Will Onuoha has never run for a seat on the Boston City Council, but he sees his career in City Hall as experience that no other candidate possesses. The 42-year-old Dorchester resident has worked in five city departments, he said, part of a roughly 20-year career in city government. He currently works for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission as director of health and safety. Previously, Onuoha served as executive director of the city’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity. “There’s no candidate in this race that has my competency of city government. There’s no candidate in this race that has my knowledge of city departments,” he said. Onuoha grew up in Mission Hill, the third of five children born to Nigerian immigrant parents. Because he lived in that neighborhood, Onuoha said he witnessed aggression toward Black men after Charles Stuart murdered his wife, Carol, in Mission Hill and blamed it on a Black man. He credits both a scholarship from the family of Carol Stuart and mentorship from former mayor Thomas Menino as his impetus toward public service. Onuoha worked on Menino’s youth council in high school, and after graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he returned to work for Menino as a district representative. The former mayor helped him with his law school application, Onuoha said, and inspired him to work in Boston. “I am a patriot, and I am someone who loves Boston,” Onuoha said. If elected, Onuoha said his priorities include addressing housing affordability; drug use and crime near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass; Boston Public Schools; and public safety. He sees the role of the council as a body that both checks and helps the mayor. “I’m not going to be on team ‘yes,’ and I’m not going to be on team ‘no,’” he said. “I’m going to be the kind of person that reaches across the aisle.” When asked about housing affordability, Onuoha said he does not support traditional rent control because he worries about pushing small landlords out of the market. The City Council two years ago passed Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to cap rent increases, though it never cleared the Legislature. But Onuoha said wants to build workforce housing through a public-private partnership. “Housing is the biggest issue facing our city right now,” he said. “If we don’t do something about it, it’s only going to get worse. The people who live and work here are not going to be able to live and work here any longer.” Onuoha floated the idea of turning to the organization Mercy Ships, which operates hospital ships, to treat those with substance use disorders at Mass. and Cass. He envisions using so-called Section 35 to force drug users into treatment on a “floating hospital” while the city considers a more permanent and expensive recovery center. “They don’t get a record. They go into treatment,” he said. “And it’s the most humanitarian thing we can do to help people who cannot help themselves, to save life.” To improve Boston Public Schools, Onuoha said he wants the district to create another Boston Latin School, a highly ranked magnet school, to expand opportunities for high achieving kids. He also objected to the Wu’s frequent claim that Boston is the safest city in America, saying it’s only “by default” because emergency services work quickly to preserve life. “If you ask residents in neighborhoods, they don’t feel that way,” he said. Onuoha said he supports a push to increase the number of Boston police officers and stationing more police in neighborhoods. At White Stadium, a facility that will act as home base for Boston Legacy FC’s and BPS athletes, Onuoha said he understands why there’s distrust from the community about the project, and that believes there’s need to be more commitments from the city before the project can move forward. His motivation in seeking a seat on the legislative body, though, comes down to the opportunities he received in Boston. “To be a kid that came from Mission Hill . . . and to be where I am today is really what Boston’s promise is all about,” Onuoha said. “I want to make sure our young folks have this opportunity.” Age: 30 Neighborhood: Grove Hall (Roxbury/Dorchester area) Key issues: Youth engagement and opportunity; housing affordability and stability; public safety through community investment Favorite place in Boston: Center Street in Jamaica Plain, home to his favorite Dominican restaurants and longtime barbershop Favorite Boston food: Restaurante Cesaria There were two defining moments that planted the seeds for Henry Santana’s involvement in public service. The first came when he was a middle school student at the Tobin K–8 School, when two local officials — former city councilor Tito Jackson and former state representative Jeffrey Sánchez — walked into his classroom. “Being able to see a Black man as a city councilor and a Hispanic man as a state rep. really opened my eyes,” he said. “I saw representation in an area where I hadn’t seen it before.” The second came years later, after tragedy struck his family. In 2016, Santana’s oldest brother died in a car accident. “He was someone that was a leader, someone that liked to give back in many different ways, back to his family and back to his friends,” Santana said. “I think that recommitted me to my purpose of public service.” Now an at-large city councilor seeking reelection, Santana said those experiences continue to drive his priorities on the council, focusing on youth, housing, and public safety. Santana, who previously worked as Mayor Michelle Wu’s director of civic organizing, was one of three City Council candidates Wu endorsed in 2023 — a move the Globe described as part of her effort to expand her influence on the council. Santana said youth engagement remains at the heart of his work, in part so he can be the same kind of role model who once inspired him. During his first term, he advocated for more summer and year-round jobs for young people and expanded opportunities to connect them with city resources. “We’ve been able to engage hundreds of youths, hire within, and get people and youth jobs,” he said. Housing is another priority for Santana. He grew up in public housing, after his family emigrated from the Dominican Republic, and now rents in Boston. Wanting to help others gain that same stability, he backed measures to expand affordable housing and homeownership, including an accelerator fund to spur mixed-income development. He also proposed legalizing more housing types — from accessory dwelling units to triple-deckers and single-room occupancies — and supports rent control as one of several tools to prevent displacement. “We’re making strides, but it’s very hard,” he said. “A lot of families are suffering — young people, young professionals, families, and seniors who have dedicated so much to the city and are now being pushed out.” Santana also brings a housing-first mindset to the city’s Mass. and Cass crisis. “We’re doing a lot and I think we could be doing a lot more,” he said. “I don’t think we can start recovery or any of these other services without someone having a roof over their head.” As public safety chair on the City Council, Santana has taken part in city-led walkthroughs of the area and spoken with those dealing with addiction and in recovery. Boston needs to invest more in long-term recovery programs, he said. “The success stories I hear — people who were down there and are now contributing members of our city — they had a year and a half or two years of recovery,“ he said. ”Six or seven weeks just isn’t enough.” He supports the city’s recent cleanup efforts but emphasizes outreach and recovery over enforcement. “We should always be reaching out to individuals,” he said. “But we don’t want people being outside and participating in illegal activity either.” Santana said he supports the redevelopment of White Stadium, calling it a long-overdue investment in Boston’s youth and athletic programs. While acknowledging concerns from Roxbury residents and critics of the public-private partnership, Santana said the investment from the professional soccer team will help restore a facility that “hasn’t been invested in for decades.” He said the city must continue engaging residents and ensure Boston benefits from the deal. Reflecting on his first term, Santana said he’s proud of what he’s accomplished, but believes there’s much more to do. “We’ve done a lot of good work,” he said. “But right now, with the federal government that we have, I think we do need a voice like mine on the Boston City Council — a young voice, a fresh voice, a kid from public housing, a product of Boston public schools, an immigrant.” Age: 33 Neighborhood: Hyde Park Key issues: Affordable housing and quality of life, early childhood education, small businesses support Favorite place in Boston: Hyde Park, Turtle Pond Parkway, and the parks around the area Favorite Boston food: Jamaican Oxtale Alexandra Valdez, a first-time candidate, sees the move to electoral politics as an extension of her years working at City Hall. She is the director of cultural affairs for the City of Boston, appointed to the role by Mayor Michelle Wu in the summer of 2024. Prior to that, she spent three years as the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, starting under former mayor Martin J. Walsh, who recently endorsed her candidacy. Valdez attended community college and went on to graduate from Fitchburg State University. She worked in other city and county roles. “This is another beautiful moment for me to continue serving my community, continue serving the city that has given me so much, but now at the City Council level,” she told the Globe. Valdez lives in Hyde Park with her husband and 4-year-old son. She moved to Boston from the Dominican Republic when she was 10 years old, joining her family, who at the time lived in Roxbury. They then moved to Jamaica Plain and her parents eventually bought a home in Mattapan, where they still live. “We lived there with my two brothers and myself, a very small two-bedroom apartment, sharing rooms with my brothers. [Y]ou can imagine how chaotic it is to share that, but it was beautiful,” she said. Valdez counts herself as a beneficiary of city resources, such as the Boston Center for Youth and Services and the city’s public schools. She also took part in the city’s youth summer jobs program, an initiative that assists young people in Boston to find work during the break in the summer. “Boston has given me and my family so much … I want to do something to help others,” she said. Housing affordability is a top issue for her campaign, Valdez said. She is in favor of some kind of rent control but she also said she wants to balance that with ensuring that small landlords are supported. “Being able to talk about some type of rent control while also helping mom and pop elderly who own their home is something that I am very, very much in support of,” she told the Globe. She wants to strengthen tenant protection rights and better fund organizations such as Urban Edge that help prospective first-time homebuyers like herself to be able to purchase homes. “How are we making sure that we are supporting our tenants, supporting landlords who are willing to work alongside our efforts to create more housing and more affordable housing throughout the city is very, very important,” she said. Valdez also said that she wants to take a “human, mental health approach” to the challenges facing the Mass. and Cass area, where public drug use has sparked frustration in the community. She said the drug issues are affecting other communities in cities that neighbor Boston and that there should be more collaboration between Boston and those areas to tackle the issue afflicting Mass. and Cass. “There’s no one-size-fits-all for what we’re seeing in Mass. and Cass, there’s not one single solution that we can pinpoint and say this is the solution,” she said. “We need to be working together, and we need to be doing that proactively, but we must take a human-first approach from a mental health perspective.” Overall, Valdez said that she wants a more targeted approach to help small businesses across the city. “I am advocating for more support, more financial support, as well as more technical assistance,” she said. One of Valdez’s priorities is early childhood education, particularly early learning programs. Her mother, she said, runs a small day care center in Mattapan. She said that she wants to partner with local childcare providers to ensure better pay and retention of quality care providers. She also wants to see more funding dedicated towards bilingual education for children for whom English is not their first language as early as at pre-K level, and expand more universal pre-K seats.
