We are proudly casting our ballots for Jenny Armini

We are proudly casting our ballots for Jenny Armini in the race for State Representative. She will bring to the job of state representative great experience, bold ideas to strengthen our communities, and the leadership skills to get things done for her constituents.

It is the full complement of Armini’s life experience that makes her the most qualified candidate to represent the communities of Lynn, Marblehead and Swampscott on Beacon Hill. She is the only candidate who has crafted legislation while working for a member of Congress, who understands the complexities of state government from working on Beacon Hill and has demonstrated her commitment to women’s reproductive rights by working at Planned Parenthood. She is a small business owner and has spent nearly two decades fully immersing herself and her family in the communities that make up the 8^th Essex district. 

We are dismayed that Doug Thompson has chosen to attempt to diminish Armini’s professional experience because she has spent time working outside the traditional workforce as a consultant while also raising her children.

Thompson’s attacks on Armini’s career range from asserting to voters as he goes door-to-door that Armini hasn’t worked in the past decade—patently untrue—to his recent comments at the Concerned Citizens of Lynn forum where he said, “I didn’t do this 25 years ago,” a thinly veiled attempt to minimize Armini’s accomplishments yet again. 

The truth is that Armini has had a thriving consulting business for more than a decade as an in-demand speechwriter for university presidents, business leaders and two former Governors. At the same time, she has also been raising two terrific children, serving as an active community volunteer—especially in her children’s schools—and co-founding Elect Blue, a grassroots political group dedicated to electing Democrats across the nation to Congress in 2018. 

More troubling than the fact that Thompson’s attacks are untrue, his efforts to tarnish Armini reflect a blatant disrespect for women and the complexities of our lives.  There are countless women across the 8^th Essex district—some in the traditional workforce and some not—who are contributing to our communities in so many fundamental ways that in Thompson’s view apparently don’t matter: raising their children to become upstanding adults, volunteering in our schools and other community groups, supporting aging parents and the list goes on. Is someone who shows such disrespect for the varied contributions of women really who we want representing us on Beacon Hill? We don’t think so. We are supporting Jenny Armini, a woman leader who will be a strong advocate for women and their families on Beacon Hill.

Sarah Magazine-Yount, Rockaway Ave, Marblehead

Kim Day, Liberty Road, Marblehead

Christi Staples, Rowland Court, Marblehead 

Kate Schmeckpeper, Chestnut Street, Marblehead