Special to the Journal
Sen. Lydia Edwards hosted a campaign reception Aug. 6 at The Tall Ship Boston.
A tremendous crowd of supporters from across the district joined Sen. Edwards at the event that was held at the exciting outdoor venue located in East Boston.
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, former Chief of Staff to then Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, was the opening speaker.
“Sen. Edwards is my friend, she’s my mentor, she’s the triple threat – politically savvy, she’s astute, she’s so intelligent – you all know this, and you know that she is a tough campaigner,” said Coletta Zapata.
Coletta Zapata then called on Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, “a woman who’s breaking barriers, who will introduce another woman [Edwards] who is breaking barriers,” for her remarks.
Driscoll, the former mayor of Salem, said, “It’s great to be here in support of somebody who you all know, and I get to work with every single day. Lydia is a force of nature. All of the things that Gigi mentioned – smart, committed, hard-working, politically savvy – all of that is true, but I also want to commend Senator Edwards for her service, as someone who is a member of our National Guard. In addition to all the other things you do, that sort of selfless sacrifice is really important to me.”
Driscoll also praised Edwards for her role in the passage of state housing legislation. “When Lydia was chair of the housing committee in the Senate – this is the biggest investment in housing that the Commonwealth has ever made – and I really want to commend Lydia for the effort that she put forward,” said Driscoll. “I feel fortunate every single day that I work in a building that has Lydia Edwards there, pushing, working hard, committing, and making lives better. I’m so grateful to be here to support you and to work with you every day and introduce you now, ‘my friend, your friend, your senator, Lydia Edwards.’’’
Edwards said the large crowd represented “an incredible picture of my life.”
“I have folks here from when I was at the Immigrant Center, my friends from Greater Boston Legal Services, the people whom I met campaigning, from the labor community – there are so many people from so many aspects of my life here, and today we have to celebrate because a lot of work gets done,” said Edwards.
Edwards added that “what should be uniting us is that we all basically want the same thing – we want our kids to have a good education, we want to have a pathway to the middle class, we want to make sure that ultimately one job should be enough for you to pay your rent, mortgage, to be able to take the weekend off, hang out with your kids – these are basic things.”
Edwards pledged to keep fighting for her constituents.
“I just want to thank everybody – Gigi, my campaign manager, my then-chief of staff, my now-successor in the seat. We have come a long way, and we have grown so much together, and I look forward to seeing where you’re going to go, because you’re going to go far. I also want to shout out my dear friend, Hannah Belcher, who is running for town council president in Winthrop.”
Edwards concluded her remarks by thanking the many supporters in attendance – a turnout that showed her immense popularity across the district.
“This is a bigger than I thought, this is great,” she said humbly.
