Chelsea has a new voice in the State House.
Democrat Judith Garcia defeated fellow City Councilor Todd Taylor in Tuesday’s state election to become the new state representative in the 11th Suffolk District. After being split into two districts for decades, Chelsea was brought together in a brand-new district, which also includes one precinct in Everett, through the 2020 redistricting process.
supporters and staff in a speech given at her campaign
headquarters the night of the election.
“I am honored to be the first Chelsea native to represent my city in this capacity, the first woman or Latina in this position and the first Central American elected to the (Massachusetts) legislature,” Garcia stated following the election. “I have spent the last seven years fighting for Chelsea on the City Council, and am more than ready to advocate for Chelsea and Everett on Beacon Hill.”
In Chelsea, Garcia garnered 3,651 votes to Taylor’s 1,311 in the unofficial results.
Overall, turnout was just over 31 percent in Chelsea, with 5,206 of the city’s 16,725 registered voters casting ballots.
In state-wide races, Chelsea voters followed the trends across Massachusetts, with Democratic candidates topping the ballot.
In the race for governor, Democrat Maura Healey and running mate Kim Driscoll 3,718 votes to 1,187 for Republican challengers Geoff Diehl and Leah Cole Allen.
Democrat Andrea Campbell easily topped the ballot in the race to replace Governor-elect Healey for Attorney General, and longtime Democratic Secretary of State William Galvin was also the clear choice for reelection in Chelsea.
Democrat Diana DiZoglio was the easy winner in the auditor race, and incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley easily outdistanced challenger Donnie Palmer to win another term.
Incumbent Democratic District Attorney Kevin Hayden and Democratic Sheriff Steven Tompkins ran unopposed.
Chelsea voters also backed two hot-button ballot questions by healthy margins, Question 1, the so-called “millionaire’s tax” which would earmark money to schools and infrastructure in the state, and Question 4, which would remove the citizenship requirement to obtain a driver’s license.