Chelsea City Councilor, community leader, and current candidate for State Representative Judith García hosted a 100-seat dinner party in the heart of Chelsea at Tu Casa Restaurante y Bar in Chelsea, Massachusetts on Friday, April 15. The program was entirely bilingual to accommodate both English and Spanish speakers.
Community activists Irma Mazzoni and Jose Dubon delivered the welcome toast, and local singers Dania “La Catrachita” Hernández and Wilbert “El Buki Mayor” Sánchez each performed several songs for the dancing guests. Introducing García to the stage was youth activist Manuel Teshe. Teshe spoke of his experience attending Chelsea Public Schools, which he cites as the reason he received a full scholarship to Bucknell University. He acknowledged García’s contribution to Chelsea’s public schools, her work “on the frontlines of the battle with COVID-19,” and her “willingness to fight for our community” as he invited García to speak.
Restaurant.
García related her lifelong commitment to her community, recalling that “the minute I left Chelsea High School to attend college – I knew I wanted to come back to Chelsea to take a stand against the inequalities that are rooted in our community. So after college, I returned to Chelsea to help hundreds of families secure free or affordable health insurance.
And in 2015, seeing the lack of representation at the city council, I stepped up and decided to run for office. There is no better way to make changes than being part of the change. As one of the youngest candidates in the history of Chelsea, I went out there and did the work, earned the votes, and together we ran and we won!” Her city council race would not be her first history-making campaign. García is currently the first woman and the first Latina to run for this newly created state representative seat for Chelsea and Everett.
She highlighted some of her accomplishments as a city councilor, including a $5 million dollar investment in Chelsea’s downtown, $14k grants for small businesses to refurbish their storefronts, rental assistance regardless of immigration status, and a $1.5 million COVID-19 small business emergency relief fund.
“For generations, Chelsea and Everett have been denied a chair at the table where decisions get made. Now we get a chair. And to make the most of it – to capitalize on this history-making moment – we need to make sure the person sitting in it has the experience and expertise, the track record and the relationships, the connections and the trust to make sure the voices of this community come with her. And yes – I said ‘her.’ Because I am the one, and together we will make history.”
The Democratic primary for 11th Suffolk will be on September 6, 2022, and the general election will be on November 8, 2022.
Learn more at electjudithgarcia.com.