Andrea Joy Campbell (born June 11, 1982) is an American lawyer and politician who is the Attorney General

-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Uni ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. She is also a former member of the

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...

. On the city council, she represented District 4, which includes parts of Boston's Dorchester,

Mattapan Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester ar ...

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

, and

Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...

neighborhoods. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, she was first elected to the council in November 2015 and assumed office in January 2016. She served as president of the council from January 2018 until January 2020. In September 2020, Campbell launched an unsuccessful campaign for

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. Campbell placed third in the September 14 primary behind

Annissa Essaibi George Annissa Essaibi George (born December 12, 1973) is an American politician who served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council. First elected in 2015, she served on the council from 2016 to 2022. She was a candidate in the 2021 Boston ma ...

and

Michelle Wu Michelle Wu ( zh, t=吳弭, first=t; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts since 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she was t ...

, the latter of which would go on to win the general election. In 2022, Campbell was elected to serve as the

attorney general of Massachusetts The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder al ...

Education and early career

Campbell graduated from Boston Latin School,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

(with a B.A. degree), and the

UCLA School of Law The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...

(with a J.D degree). She began her legal career working for a nonprofit in Roxbury that provided free legal services pertaining to education rights and access to education. She later worked as deputy legal counsel to Governor Deval Patrick.

Boston City Council

In the

2015 Boston City Council election Boston City Council elections were held on November 3, 2015. Eight seats (four district representatives and four at-large members) were contested in the general election, as the incumbents in districts 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9 were unopposed. Two seats ( ...

, first-time candidate Campbell placed first in the 4th district's preliminary election and went on to defeat 16-term incumbent

Charles Yancey Charles Calvin Yancey (born December 28, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States)

in the general election with 61% of the vote. Campbell was re-elected in November 2017, having run unopposed. On December 9, 2017, Campbell announced that she had unanimous support of her colleagues to be the next president of the council. She was elected council president on January 1, 2018. Campbell was the first African-American woman to hold the position. She won re-election to the council in November 2019, and was succeeded as president by

Kim Janey Kim Michelle Janey (born May 16, 1965) is an American politician who served as acting mayor of Boston for eight months in 2021. She served as president of the Boston City Council from 2020 to 2022, and as a member of the council from the 7th dist ...

in January 2020. Campbell did not run for reelection to the council in 2021, as she instead opted to run for mayor. Campbell was a supporter of voting "yes" on the

Massachusetts Charter School Expansion Initiative The Massachusetts Charter School Expansion Initiative, Question 2 was an unsuccessful initiative voted on in the Massachusetts general election held on November 8, 2016. It was one of four 2016 ballot measures put to public vote. Voting Questi ...

referendum in 2016. The referendum was heavily defeated by voters. In April 2018, during her City Council presidency, ''

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

'' magazine ranked Campbell 51st on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in Boston". The magazine wrote that political insiders anticipated a continued political ascent for Campbell. She was one of only three city councilors included in these rankings, joined by

Ayanna Pressley Ayanna Soyini Pressley (born February 3, 1974) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019. This district includes the northern three quarters of Boston, most of C ...

(ranked 20th after having won a upset primary election victory that made her poised to be elected to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

) and

(ranked 31st) In 2019, as City Council president, Campbell proposed an ordinance to create a city inspector general. Mayor

Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...

came out in opposition to it. The ordinance was rejected by the City Council in a 9–4 vote. Also in 2019, Campbell and fellow councilor

Matt O'Malley Matthew Joseph O'Malley is an American politician and businessman who served as president of the Boston City Council in 2021. He was elected as the District 6 representative in a special election on November 16, 2010, and was re-elected in 2011 ...

proposed the idea of a vacancy tax on abandoned residential and commercial properties. In June 2020, Campbell was one of the five city councilors in the minority that voted against Mayor Walsh's $3.61 billion operating budget proposal. She argued that it failed to include changes necessary for the city to address its

racial inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

and systemic racism. That month, when Walsh announced the creation of a

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

fund focused on racial inequities, Campbell was somewhat critical. While she supported the creation of the fund itself and acknowledged that she believed philanthropy could play an important role, she argued that it was more important for the city to focus its own budget on such problems. Campbell was also critical of Walsh's coinciding move to create a new cabinet position within his administration dedicated to query and inclusion, considering it a "duplicative position" and criticizing Walsh for not instead other "actionable ideas" to "transform inequitable systems" that had been proposed to Walsh by her and others. In July 2020, amid the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

, Campbell proposed an ordinance to create a police oversight board. Ultimately, the Boston City Council voted later that year to approve a different ordinance creating an Office of Police Accountability that features a civilian police review board and oversight panel for internal affairs, which Mayor Walsh signed into law. In 2021, Campbell, with fellow councilor Kim Janey, proposed an ordinance that would have banned almost all employers in Boston from running

credit check A credit score is a numerical expression based on a level analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of an individual. A credit score is primarily based on a credit report, information typically sourced from credit bu ...

s on job seekers, arguing that credit checks are most detrimental to

low-income Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

applicants. In May 2021, the City Council passed an ordinance by Campbell and Ricardo Arroyo which limits the use of

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...

weapons by officers of the

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

. Acting Mayor Kim Janey signed the ordinance into law. The ordinance had previously been passed by the City Council in December 2020, but had been

vetoed A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto pow ...

by Mayor

in January 2021. , Campbell served on several council committees, including Community Preservation Act, Public Safety & Criminal Justice, Rules and Administration, and Whole.

2021 mayoral campaign

On September 24, 2020, Campbell announced her candidacy in the 2021 Boston mayoral election from her childhood home in Roxbury. In an announcement video that was released, she declared, "I’m running for mayor, because every neighborhood deserves real change and a real chance." Campbell's mayoral campaign launch followed the launch of her council colleague Michelle Wu's own campaign for mayor. During her campaign, Campbell was critical of Acting Mayor Kim Janey, who was also a candidate in the election. Campbell held

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

s criticizing Janey on various topics, including urging her to release legal documents related to a police scandal and to make greater cuts to the city's police department budget. In early August, Campbell called for Janey to put in place rules which would require that many businesses require patrons provide proof of vaccination. Campbell also criticized Janey for having, per her criticism, waited too long to put in place a vaccine mandate for city employees. Campbell received the endorsement of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' editorial board. As a candidate for mayor, Campbell was supportive of safe consumption sites for

illegal drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

as a tool for addressing drug addiction in the city and encouraging recovery. These would be similar to

supervised injection site Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. The legality ...

s. She would later reverse her support for these when she ran for attorney general the following year. Ahead of the primary election, a super PAC associated with

UNITE HERE UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 by ...

Local 26, supporting Kim Janey's candidacy, ran a negative

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

advertisement against Campbell which attacked her past support for charter school expansion, and which alleged that Campbell was "supported by special interests that want to take money from our schools, and give it to other schools that discriminate against kids with special needs". The latter accusation was seen as alluding to the fact that a super PAC supporting Campbell's candidacy received funding from wealthy charter school proponents, such as

Reed Hastings Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. (born October 8, 1960) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder, chairman, and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Netflix, and sits on a number of boards and non-profit organizations. A former member ...

. Campbell publicly took issue with the characterization of her in this ad, and urged Janey to disavow it, which Janey did not. Janey's campaign manager accused Campbell of being a

hypocrite Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

, characterizing Campbell's campaign as being entirely, "based on negative political attacks on Mayor Janey". Campbell delivered a

concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

speech on the night of the nonpartisan mayoral primary, despite extremely little of the vote having yet been officially reported. Once the votes were counted, Campbell had finished third in the primary, meaning that she did not advance to the general election. Following her loss, Campbell stated that she would have a publicly transparent process in contemplating which general election candidate (

) to endorse, if any. She has stated that she will seek firm commitments to the

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

community to be made by the candidate she endorses. She ultimately gave no endorsement to either remaining candidate.

2022 Attorney General campaign

On February 2, 2022, Campbell announced her candidacy for

Massachusetts Attorney General The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder ...

in the 2022 election. Campbell's announcement came after incumbent Attorney General

Maura Healey Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General since January 2015. She is the governor-elect of Massachusetts, having won the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial electi ...

announced that she would not seek reelection and run for

governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

instead. Campbell's inclusion on the ballot for the election's Democratic primary made her the first black woman in the history of Massachusetts to qualify for inclusion on the ballot for a statewide election. Healey endorsed Campbell in August, prior to the primary election. Campbell won the Democratic nomination and, in the general election, was elected to serve as attorney general. She will be the first black woman to hold the office.

Personal life

Campbell was born in Boston. Her mother and father died when she was at a young age; she refers to an aunt and uncle as her parents. When she was 29, her twin brother, who suffered from

scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...

, died while in state custody awaiting trial. Her other brother, Alvin, is an alleged serial rapist currently awaiting trial on nine sexual assault charges. Campbell's husband is Matthew. They have two sons, Alexander and Aiden. Campbell lives in the

neighborhood of Boston.

Electoral history

City Council

write-in votes

Mayor

Attorney General

References

External links

Campaign website

Past (Boston City Council) webpage
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Andrea 1982 births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American city council members in Massachusetts African-American women in politics Boston City Council members Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Lawyers from Boston Living people Massachusetts Attorneys General People from Mattapan Princeton University alumni UCLA School of Law alumni Women city councillors in Massachusetts 21st-century American women lawyers African-American women lawyers