In 3rd District, a run at history
Transgender woman, intel vet seeks seat in Congress
She would be the first transgender member of Congress, but that’s not why Alexandra Chandler says she’s running for Massachusetts’ 3rd District seat.
“Being a transgender woman is simply something I bring to the table,” Chandler said in the first interview of her campaign. “I’m also a mom of two little boys and that certainly animates a lot of my attention to issues.”
Chandler, speaking on the “Battenfeld” show on Boston Herald Radio, said though her campaign has the potential to make history, “My first and foremost desire is to serve the people of this district with their everyday concerns that I have lived.”
Yet Chandler’s life has been anything but ordinary.
On Sept. 11, 2001, she was living in New York City and her then-girlfriend, now wife, was trapped in the New York subway when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
“I looked up to God and said, ‘Just please, please don’t take her from me,’ ” she said. “I promised myself that if she came back home to me I would serve, in some capacity. I would find a way to serve.”
After an agonizing few hours, Chandler found her girlfriend and a few years later joined a Naval Intelligence unit in Washington, where she tracked arms smuggling and weapons of mass destruction.
Chandler’s experience in Naval Intelligence, and as a transgender woman, gives her a unique perspective in the race.
“I look at the environment we’re facing in our politics, and I know that because of my background, I’ve had to tackle the toughest problems that we’ve faced on this planet,” she said.
While Chandler is an outspoken opponent of President Trump, she isn’t making that her campaign mantra. In fact, Chandler never even mentioned Trump until 45 minutes into the interview, and that’s because she was asked about him.
She calls Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military a “bad decision for national security.”
“You have transgender service members with incredibly specialized skills that are deployed numerous times to combat environments,” she said.
Chandler faces an uphill fight in the congressional race, which has already attracted 10 other Democratic candidates, including state Sen. Barbara L’Italien; Mayor Martin. J. Walsh’s former chief of staff, Dan Koh; former lieutenant governor candidate Steve Kerrigan; state Rep. Juana Matias; and Lori Trahan, former chief of staff to ex-U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan.
Chandler has never run for office before, and never raised money before.
But if her campaign takes off, look for her to have a big impact on the race.