Sonia Chang-Díaz is a former public school teacher and the first Latina and Asian-American to serve in the Massachusetts State Senate — and she’s spent her career fighting for and winning the bold change that working families need. Sonia’s mom was a social worker. Her dad came to America with $50 in his pocket and became NASA’s first Latino astronaut. Now she’s building a movement to tackle our state’s biggest challenges and restore Massachusetts’ promise to all families.
We know our government works best when it is open, transparent, and accountable to the people. That starts by securing the sacred right to vote for everyone. We must preserve and expand access to the ballot box to ensure communities of color and low-income communities have an equal voice in our government.
As Governor, Sonia will continue championing transparency, accessibility, and accountability in state government and ensuring underrepresented communities have an equal seat at the table, including:
Instituting permanent vote-by-mail, same day voter registration, and increasing ballot access in jails and prisons and for returning citizens, all of which she’s championed for years. As a board member of MassVote and as a state legislator, she also helped win legislation creating automatic voter registration and early voting processes.
Establish systems to ensure that the voices and interests of historically underrepresented groups are more equitably represented in state government through appointments, hiring, and commission structures. Sonia has made this a priority throughout her work, dating all the way back to 2011 when she served as Vice Chair of the MA Senate’s Redistricting Committee and successfully advocated to increase the number of legislative districts in which the majority of the population was comprised of people of color.
Implement a wide variety of “good government” reforms, including maintaining our strong campaign finance laws and promoting more transparency and accessibility in state government.