Ep. 53, The Race for Boston: Jon Santiago
2021 is an important year for Bostonians -- we will recover from Covid-19, and we will elect a new mayor. This is a historic election. For the first time in history, Boston will have a mayor who is a person of color. With six candidates and an open seat following Mayor Walsh’s departure to Washington D.C., there’s a lot to cover, and we’ll be diving in over the next six weeks with each of the candidates about everything from education, to economic development, to racial justice, to their favorite coffee shops and restaurants in Boston, and more.
In the fourth episode of our special series, Catalysts for Change: The Race for Boston, Jill talks with Dr. Jon Santiago, State Representative for the 9th District of Suffolk County. An attending physician in the Boston Medical Center’s emergency room, he has served as a State Representative since being elected in 2018.
Raised in Boston after his family immigrated from Puerto Rico, Rep. Santiago went on to volunteer for the Peace Corps, serve as a Fullbright Scholar in Paris, and attend Yale Medical School. Following medical school, Rep. Santiago returned to Boston to work at Boston Medical Center, where he is an attending physician in the Emergency Department. In 2018, he ran against a 35-year incumbent for the 9th Suffolk District and was sworn in as state representative in 2019. In addition to his work as a state representative and physician, Rep. Santiago is also a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve and has been deployed overseas. He lives in the South End with his wife.
We talk with Rep. Santiago about his experience as an immigrant growing up in Boston, how his medical background impacts his work as a public servant, his vision for improving Boston’s neighborhoods, and more. If you would like to learn more about Jon Santiago’s campaign, please check out the resources below.
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