Lydia Edwards

She and her twin sister were raised by their mother who served in the United States Air Force. Edwards earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University, a Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law, and a Master of Laws in taxation from Boston University School of Law.[5]

Edwards has worked as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services and served as the deputy director within the Mayor's Office of Housing Stability.[3]

Edwards was elected to the Boston City Council in November 2017 and assumed office in January 2018. She represents the North End, East Boston, and Charlestown.[6] Edwards was a Democratic candidate in the 2016 special election for the First Suffolk & Middlesex District of the Massachusetts State Senate. She ran for the State Senate again in 2022.[7] She won the Democratic primary on December 15, 2021, defeating Revere School Committee member Anthony D'Ambrosio by a 60%–40% margin.[8] Edwards is the first woman and person of color to represent the senate district. https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/01/14/lydia-edwards-massachusetts-senate-special-election

As a Boston City Councilor, in 2021, Edwards led the effort to amend the City Charter provision relating to city budgets.[9] An ordinance for the city to hold a binding referendum on amending the city charter during its November 2021 municipal elections was passed by the city council. The amendment's changes included giving the City Council the power to line-item veto some of the items in a budget put forth by the mayor, amend a mayor's proposed budget both in whole and in part, and the ability to override a mayoral veto of a budget by a two-third's vote. These changes provide the City Council with more powering the creation of a budget. Another change in the amendment was creating an Office of Participatory Budgeting, giving the city's residents more power in the creation of city budgets.[10][11] In June 2021, Acting Mayor Kim Janey signed the ordinance.[10][11] Weeks later, State Attorney General Maura Healey cleared the referendum for inclusion on the ballot.[11] The referendum saw the amendment approved by voters, thereby amending the city charter.[9]