The Jamaica Plain Progressives group voted to endorse incumbent Liz Malia and newcomer Nika Elugardo in their respective races for state representative, according to an email blast.
Malia is battling Charles Clemons Muhammad and Ture Turnbull to retain her seat, representing the 11th Suffolk District, while Elugardo is looking to unseat Jeffrey Sanchez, who represents the 15th Suffolk District.
The group cited Malia efforts on substance use and recovering, including securing increased funding for treatment, intervention, and outreach programs, while working on progressive issues, like helping pass legislation that increases minimum wage and advocating strengthening the recent criminal justice reform bill.
The group said it “voted overwhelmingly” to endorse Elugardo, saying her opponent has “not fought for progressivism inside the State House.” The group cited Elugardo’s 20 years of community and economic development experiences and said, “Nika understands progressive policy deeply. Her policy agenda includes fully funding the Foundation Budget for public education to make sure children from all backgrounds have the resources to succeed, reaching fully-renewable energy to fight climate change, protecting civil rights and due process for immigrants, and getting to a single-payer Medicare-for-All healthc