William Lantigua, First Latino Mayor-elect in Mass., Will be Fun to Watch

William Lantigua (center) on the campaign trail with Mass. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray (left). (photo: LantiguaForMayor.com)

The following editorial is from El Mundo, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009.

Latino Mayor Will Be Fun To Watch…

By this time, most of our readers are well aware of the fact that voters in Lawrence [Mass.] made history by electing the state's first Latino mayor on Tuesday, November 3rd.  State Representative William Lantigua catapulted himself into the spotlight on that historic evening by winning with 53 percent of the vote, beating out City Councilor David C. Abdoo to become the “Immigrant City’s" top leader for the next four years.  The Dominican-born Lantigua succeeds outgoing Mayor Michael J. Sullivan.

Up until this time, no Massachusetts city had ever elected a Latino mayor.  In 2001, Dominican-born Marcos Devers was appointed interim mayor of Lawrence following the resignation of Patricia Dowling, but he lost his election bid in 2005 to Sullivan.

Once Lantigua takes office, all eyes will be on the fiery politician who will now lead the city with the state’s largest Latino population outside of Boston.  There will be critics, doubters and “haters” who for no valid reason will wish failure upon “Willy,” who curiously decided to participate in as little as possible in the debates leading up to the election.

Undoubtedly, Lantigua did it his way, in a unique and unprecedented campaign that went against conventional wisdom. He was persistent in his convictions about how he would win voters over and he made sure everyone knew his name.  Everyone.

El Mundo has followed Lantigua’s political career closely and while his election has certainly established a milestone on many levels, something tells us that his time in office will also be anything but “ordinary.”  It will, unquestionably, be fun to watch William Lantigua in the mayor’s office in Lawrence.

We look forward to it.

Source:  El Mundo newspaper, ElMundoBoston.com

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