Ayanna Pressley’s big win over 10-term Congressman Michael Capuano in the Massachusetts primary this week will likely also prove a victory for Althea Garrison—the first transgender person elected to a state legislature in the United States.
Garrison, who became a Bay State Rep. in 1992, is now in line to take Presley’s seat on the Boston City Council in January should Pressley go to DC after the Midterm Elections. Pressley faces no Republican challenger on the Nov. 6 ballot in her heavily Democratic district.
According to a September 5 Boston Globe report:
Garrison, who ran for one of the council’s four at-large seats last year, took fifth place, garnering about 7 percent of the vote. Because of a Boston city election rule, Garrison’s finish may be just enough to shimmy her way in to the council.
Pressley beat out Garrison for an at-large council seat last year, but come January, Pressley likely will be trading her City Hall office for one in Washington, D.C.
With Pressley off the council, Garrison may finally, after more than 20 attempts, have the chance to swoop back into an elected office.
“I am very determined; I don’t give up that easy,’’ Garrison said in February when asked about her potential political reincarnation.
According to the Dorchester Reporter:
Althea Garrison has been a constant on the city’s political scene since the 1980s. In 1992, she won the Fifth Suffolk state representative’s seat as a Republican candidate, knocking the incumbent Democratic, Nelson Merced, out of office—not at the ballot box—but by winning a court challenge to his nomination papers. Merced did not appear on the election ballot and Garrison cruised to victory. …
Over the past three decades of campaigning, Garrison has been able to count on a reliable base of senior citizens, whom she courts constantly by going directly to their homes. “They are the ones with the votes,” she said, smiling broadly and taking a sip of coffee during a recent interview with the Reporter.
When she is not knocking on doors and gathering signatures, Garrison works as a clerk in the office of the state Comptroller. She has also served over three decades on Uphams Corner Health Center’s board of directors— most recently as a vice president. Garrison says that work has given her experience dealing with budgets.
Although she declined to specifically define her goals in running for office, she said that she is most interested in advocating for the middle class— and believes that she can do that well from either City Hall or the State House.
“I’m very motivated, I have lots of energy, and I’m determined,” she said. “Basically I haven’t changed, the things I believe in like affordable housing haven’t changed.”
Garrison has served only one term in the House. She was unseated by Charlotte Golar Richie in 1994, a loss that she blames on Mayor Tom Menino, who, Garrison said, helped Richie get elected. “I had a problem with Menino, and Menino had a problem with me,” she said, declining to elaborate.
She says she likes Mayor Marty Walsh—“I can work with him”—but is not a fan of Gov. Charlie Baker. “He keeps raising fares on the middle class,” she says. She plans to back Democrat Setti Warren’s candidacy for governor.
If elected, Garrison said that she would continue to be a presence in the community, noting that some elected officials are rarely seen at community meetings. “I never see some of them there. I wouldn’t be like that,” she said.
She also supports Pressley’s Congressional run, and not just because that would give open up a seat for her in City Hall. “I’m telling all of my friends to vote for Ayanna and I’m getting very involved,” Garrison said.
“We are thrilled to have the support of anyone,” Pressley’s campaign said in a statement. Noting Garrison’s place in waiting for a council opening, the Pressley camp said, “It’s a credit to the campaign that Althea ran.”
