Reading, MA — Anne Johnson Landry has announced her intention to run for the Reading Select Board in the April 2019 local election.
Landry recently ran for state representative for the 30th Middlesex District, which includes precincts 2-5 of Reading. In the September Democratic primary, she came within 29 votes of victory and, in a four-way race, received 72% of the vote in the Reading precincts. Since then, she’s heard from Reading residents urging her to run for the Reading Select Board.
“While knocking on the doors of thousands of my neighbors in Reading this summer during the course of my campaign for state representative, it was clear that many of the concerns weighing on the minds of my neighbors fall – at least in part – within the jurisdiction of local government,” Landry said. “The cost of living, real estate taxes, traffic, development, what to do about empty storefronts in town, and the adequacy of funding for our public schools. As a Reading Select Board member, I would have an opportunity to work on these issues in response to my neighbors’ concerns.”
The recent spate of hateful, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic graffiti has also weighed heavily on Landry, she said, as it has on many Reading residents.
“I’ve been deeply saddened and troubled by the acts of hate we’ve seen since May 2017, though also encouraged by the collaboration I’ve recently witnessed among town and community leaders to address them,” she said. “I’m eager to work with the Anti-Defamation League, Reading Embraces Diversity, and our school and town leaders to be part of an effective community response that keeps kids safe, communicates solidarity with groups and communities targeted within our community, and discourages acts of hate. Encouraging a welcoming and inclusive community will be a high priority for me as a Select Board member and resident.”
Anne Landry is a candidate for the Reading Select Board. She has served as an elected Town Meeting Member and appointed Finance Committee Member for the Town of Reading since 2014. She currently works as Chief Counsel to Senator Will Brownsberger, the Senate Chair of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Richmond with her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Spanish and from Emory University School of Law with her Doctorate of Laws (with honors). She lives in Reading with her husband, Ryan, an elementary school music teacher, their two-year-old son, Michael, and their Labrador retriever, Lucy.
