79 Facts About Andrea Campbell

Andrea Joy Campbell is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 45th attorney general of Massachusetts since 2023.

Andrea Campbell unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 2021, placing third in the nonpartisan primary election.

In 2022, Campbell announced her candidacy in that year's election for attorney general of Massachusetts.

Andrea Campbell was the first black woman to qualify for ballot access for statewide office in Massachusetts.

Andrea Campbell and her twin brother, Andre, were born in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Savages played a major role in her upbringing, and Andrea Campbell refers to them as being her parents.

Andrea Campbell did not know her birth father until she was eight, at which time he was released from prison and she and her siblings began living with him.

Andrea Campbell was raised in the Roxbury and South End neighborhoods of Boston in an area that is a key black population and cultural center of the city.

Andrea Campbell has said that the cause of her brother's death is not known to her.

Andrea Campbell spent three months working as the interim general counsel for Boston's Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

Andrea Campbell later worked as deputy legal counsel to Governor Deval Patrick.

Andrea Campbell was the first woman to represent her council district.

Andrea Campbell was a supporter of voting "yes" on the Massachusetts Charter School Expansion Initiative referendum in 2016, a ballot measure which would have authorized an expansion of the number of charter schools in the state.

Andrea Campbell was one of only two city councilors to vote against a resolution to voice the City Council's opposition to the ballot measure.

Andrea Campbell faced criticisms from teachers' unions and progressive activists for supporting charter schools.

Andrea Campbell supported the proposed federal Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2015, which would have reauthorized the 2007 Second Chance Act.

Andrea Campbell introduced an ordinance to the Boston City Council to express support for this.

Andrea Campbell was one of two members of the Boston City Council not to give an endorsement in the coinciding 2017 Boston mayoral election.

On December 9,2017, Andrea Campbell announced that she had unanimous support of her colleagues to be the next president of the council.

Andrea Campbell was elected council president on January 1,2018.

Andrea Campbell was the first African-American woman to hold the position.

In 2019, as City Council president, Andrea Campbell proposed an ordinance to create a city inspector general.

Andrea Campbell promoted the idea of extending City Council terms from two years to four years in duration.

Andrea Campbell argued that longer terms would strengthen the City Council's power in city government and make it a more effective body.

In February 2019, during hearings on this, Andrea Campbell proposed making further changes to city election laws, including creating a prohibition from running for more than one municipal office at the same time and changing the law so that special elections would be held to fill vacant at-large seats rather than the seat being offered to the first runner-up of the previous at-large election.

Andrea Campbell denied that her proposal was in response to Garrison, instead claiming it came from a belief that giving a seat to someone who had not outright won election to it is undemocratic.

Andrea Campbell, ultimately, did not combine these ideas into a single petition.

Andrea Campbell introduced a separate petition to hold special elections to fill vacant at-large seats.

Andrea Campbell endorsed Kamala Harris's campaign in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

Andrea Campbell was one of only three city councilors included in these rankings, joined by Ayanna Pressley and Michelle Wu.

Andrea Campbell was succeeded as president by Kim Janey in January 2020.

In June 2020, Andrea Campbell was one of the five city councilors in the minority that voted against Mayor Walsh's $3.61 billion operating budget proposal.

Andrea Campbell argued that it failed to include changes necessary for the city to address its racial inequality and systemic racism.

That month, when Walsh announced the creation of a philanthropic fund focused on racial inequities, Andrea Campbell was somewhat critical.

In July 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, Andrea Campbell proposed an ordinance to create a police oversight board.

Andrea Campbell did not run for reelection to the council in 2021, as she instead opted to run for mayor.

On September 24,2020, Andrea Campbell announced her candidacy in the 2021 Boston mayoral election from her childhood home in Roxbury.

Andrea Campbell worked to illustrate a strong contrast between herself and Janey.

Andrea Campbell held press conferences 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.

Andrea Campbell criticized Janey for having, per her criticism, waited too long to put in place a vaccine mandate for city employees.

Andrea Campbell received the endorsement of The Boston Globe's editorial board.

Andrea Campbell proposed removing the Boston Public Schools' 125 school resource officers and reutilizing those funds to pay for more mental health specialists.

Ahead of the primary election, a super PAC associated with UNITE HERE Local 26, supporting Kim Janey's candidacy, ran a negative radio advertisement against Andrea Campbell which attacked her past support for charter school expansion, and which alleged that Andrea 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 Andrea Campbell's candidacy received funding from wealthy charter school proponents, such as Reed Hastings.

Andrea Campbell publicly took issue with the characterization of her in this ad, and urged Janey to disavow it, which Janey did not.

Once the votes were fully reported, Andrea Campbell had finished third in the primary, meaning that she did not advance to the general election.

Andrea Campbell stated that she would seek firm commitments to the Black community to be made by any candidate she might endorsed.

Andrea Campbell ultimately gave no endorsement to either remaining candidate.

On February 2,2022, Andrea Campbell announced her candidacy for Massachusetts Attorney General in the 2022 election.

Andrea Campbell's announcement came after incumbent attorney general Maura Healey announced that she would not seek reelection and run for governor of Massachusetts instead.

Andrea Campbell won the Democratic nomination and, in the general election, was elected to serve as attorney general.

Andrea Campbell is the first black woman to hold the office, and the second black person to hold the office, after only Edward Brooke.

Andrea Campbell pledged that she would use the office to address matters such as disparities of health and economics negatively impacting the rural parts of the state prison reform, and juvenile justice.

Andrea Campbell promised that she would seek to ensure that nobody would be treated as "above the law".

Andrea Campbell promised to revive public faith in the criminal justice system.

Andrea Campbell made criminal justice reform a focus of her candidacy.

Andrea Campbell made addressing police misconduct one of the focuses of her campaign.

Andrea Campbell has said that she views primary role for the office of attorney general as being to serve as the "people's lawyer".

In March 2024, Andrea Campbell further proposed creating a unit dedicated to housing affordability.

In March 2023, Andrea Campbell threatened legal action against Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority municipalities that were not adhering to the transit-oriented housing policy of the MBTA Communities Zoning Law.

In February 2024, Andrea Campbell filed a lawsuit against the town of Milton seeking to compel the town into compliance with the law.

Andrea Campbell has requested for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to hear the matter.

Andrea Campbell argued that the a 20-year contract to procure energy should be for a smaller amount of power than Healey was proposing, arguing that it was unwise to make an agreement for larger purchase at a time when prices for offshore wind power had increased.

In February 2024, Andrea Campbell announced that the state of Massachusetts would receive $8 million from a national $350 million multi-state national settlement with Publicis Health over that company's role in the opioid epidemic in the United States.

In May 2023, Andrea Campbell announced that the Attorney General's Office was probing allegations of racial bias within the gang unit and gang database of the Boston Police Department.

In 2023, Andrea Campbell proposed regulations that would seek to prohibit junk fees.

In March 2024, Andrea Campbell launched The Youth Sports Betting Safety Coalition in partnership with the NCAA.

In November 2023, Andrea Campbell issued an opinion that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio lacked authority to audit the operations of the Massachusetts General Court.

In December 2023, Andrea Campbell launched civil rights litigation against the National Socialist Club 131, a regional neo-Nazi organization.

The suit Andrea Campbell filed alleges that the group has committed "violent" and "coercive" actions that amount to harassment and civil rights violations, including targeted disrupting of drag queen story hour events and intimidation actions towards hotels that are allowing their facilities to be used as shelters for migrants.

Andrea Campbell is regarded to be a progressive member of the Democratic Party.

Andrea Campbell has expressed her belief that policing and the criminal justice system in Massachusetts are in need of reform.

Andrea Campbell has supported progressive-leaning measures related to criminal justice reform.

Andrea Campbell has highlighted preserving abortion access as an important priority for her as attorney general.

Andrea Campbell has voiced her opposition to efforts to restrict access to the medical abortion medicine Mifepristone.

Andrea Campbell is supportive of private companies having their own diversity efforts.

Andrea Campbell has often discussed traumas such as the death of her mother, childhood absence of her father, and her experience in foster care, as well as her twin brother's life story.

Andrea Campbell once remarked to a reporter from The Associated Press,.

Andrea Campbell has credited family members, teachers, and employers with helping her to find a path to success.