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Jamie Belsito
Jamie Zahlaway Belsito is an American politician who serves as Town Moderator in Topsfield, Massachusetts. She previously represented the 4th Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, elected on November 30, 2021, in a special election following former Representative Brad Hill's appointment to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.[1] Belsito was the first Democrat to represent the 4th Essex district since 1858, and was sworn in on December 8, 2021.[2] The district was eliminated in statewide redistricting at the end of the term.[3] Belsito is the first Arab American woman to be elected to office in Massachusetts. Prior to running for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Belsito ran for the United States House of Representatives, challenging Democratic Representative Seth Moulton in the primary for 6th District of Massachusetts. She had previously supported Moulton's Republican opponent, Richard Tisei, in the 2014 election before switching her party affiliation from Unenrolled to Democrat following the election of Donald Trump.[4] Moulton went on to win the primary, but endorsed Belsito in her campaign for the Massachusetts House of Representatives the next year.[5] In the final days of her term as a state representative, she accused Israel of genocide. She tweeted that the US should acknowledge the Israeli administration was "an apartheid run thuggery terrorist regime" and that "killing and land taking has nothing to do with anti-semitism. It is genocide."[6] Belsito was a congressional intern for the Honorable J. Joseph Moakley at his South Boston office, assigned to constituent immigration casework. She transitioned into immigration policy, working in Washington D.C. and helped to write and advocate for passage of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA) Belsito is the founder of a national nonprofit, the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, based in Washington D.C. Her advocacy in maternal health has directly led to the passage of the Maternal Deaths Act, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, safe transport of breastmilk and formula through TSA, maternal mental health state grants, and the creation of the first maternal mental health program for the U.S. military. Prior to running for office, she served on the Board of Trustees for Salem State University.[7] She is of Syrian, Irish and Acadian heritage and is the great-niece of USAF Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr., the first American to die in the Vietnam War.[8] Electoral history
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