Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell

As children growing up in Roxbury and the South End, Andrea and her twin brother Andre were inseparable, shouldering and surviving instability in their lives together from an early age. Both lost their mother in a car accident when they were only 8 months old, and their father was incarcerated for the first eight years of their lives. For those eight years, Andrea and her siblings grew up with relatives and in foster care, often in public housing and on food assistance.

But as they grew older, Andrea and Andre’s lives went in very different directions. While Andrea’s academic gifts were recognized – putting her on a path to Boston Latin School, Princeton University, and a promising legal career – Andre’s were not. Like too many young Black men in our society, Andre was over-disciplined and under-supported by adults who failed to recognize his potential. He cycled in and out of the criminal justice system and died at age 29 while awaiting trial. Andrea’s family has never been given a full accounting of Andre’s death.

Andrea’s career has been driven by the pain of Andre’s loss and a fundamental question: How can two twins born and raised in Boston have such different life outcomes?

In 2015, Andrea challenged a 32-year incumbent to represent Mattapan, Dorchester, and parts of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale on the City Council. Nobody in the political establishment gave her a chance. But she built a community-focused movement and she shocked those in power, ushering in a new generation of leadership for her community.

Since then, Andrea has been a leader for equity, justice, and opportunity for all in Boston. As the first Black woman to serve as Boston City Council President, she championed an agenda that put racial equity at the top of Boston’s priority list. For years, she’s led the fight to reform our police and criminal legal systems and pushed our City and school leaders to act urgently to provide a quality public education to every student.