Jamie Zahlaway Belsito is an American politician who serves as Town Moderator in

Topsfield, Massachusetts Topsfield is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,569 at the 2020 census. Topsfield is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Topsfie ...

. She previously represented the 4th Essex district in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

, elected on November 30, 2021, in a special election following former Representative Brad Hill's appointment to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Belsito was the first Democrat to represent the 4th Essex district since 1858, and was sworn in on December 8, 2021. The district was eliminated in statewide redistricting at the end of the term. Belsito is the first Arab American woman to be elected to office in Massachusetts. Prior to running for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Belsito ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, challenging Democratic Representative

Seth Moulton Seth Wilbur Moulton (born October 24, 1978) is an American politician and former Marine Corps officer who has been the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, his distr ...

in the primary for 6th District of Massachusetts. She had previously supported Moulton's Republican opponent,

Richard Tisei Richard R. Tisei (; born August 13, 1962) is an American politician from Massachusetts. A Republican, he served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court for a combined 26 years, eventually becoming Minority Leader in the Massachusetts ...

, in the 2014 election before switching her party affiliation from Unenrolled to Democrat following the election of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Moulton went on to win the primary, but endorsed Belsito in her campaign for the Massachusetts House of Representatives the next year. In the final days of her term as a state representative, she accused

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

of genocide. She tweeted that the US should acknowledge the Israeli administration was "an apartheid run thuggery terrorist regime" and that "killing and land taking has nothing to do with anti-semitism. It is genocide." Prior to running for office, she served on the Board of Trustees for

Salem State University Salem State University (Salem State or SSU) is a public university in Salem, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1854, it is the oldest and largest institute of higher education on the North Shore and is part of the state university ...

. She is of

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

, Irish and

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

heritage and is the great-niece of USAF Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr., the first American to die in the Vietnam War.

Electoral history

References

Living people 1973 births People from Topsfield, Massachusetts American people of Italian descent American politicians of Syrian descent Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Boston Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections 21st-century members of the Massachusetts General Court {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub

Electoral history

See also

References