Jamie Belsito

Belsito was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, on November 30, 2021, in a special election following former Representative Brad Hill's appointment to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.^[2] Belsito was the first Democrat to represent the 4th Essex district since 1858, and was sworn in on December 8, 2021.^[3] The district was eliminated in statewide redistricting at the end of the term.^[4] 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, challenging Representative Seth Moulton in the Democratic primary for 6th District of Massachusetts. In 2014 she supported Moulton's Republican opponent, Richard Tisei, noting his endorsement from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.^[5] Her voter affiliation was Unenrolled until the election of Donald Trump in 2016.^[6] Moulton went on to win the primary, but endorsed Belsito in her campaign for the Massachusetts House of Representatives the next year.^[7]

In the final days of her term as a state representative, she accused Israel 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."^[8]

Prior to running for office, she served on the Board of Trustees for Salem State University.^[9]

She is of Syrian, Irish and Acadian heritage and is the great-niece of USAF Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr., the first American to die in the Vietnam War.^[10]

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• 2021–2022 Massachusetts legislature