Sonia Chang-Diaz

Date of birth: March 31, 1978
Astrological Zodiac sign: Aries
Age: 35

Sonia Rosa Chang-Díaz is an American politician who has been elected to the Massachusetts Senate, representing the 2nd Suffolk District in Massachusetts. She is the first Hispanic or Latino woman elected to serve in that body.

Chang-Díaz has both Chinese and Spanish heritage through her father Franklin Chang-Díaz, a Costa Rican-American physicist and former NASA astronaut. When her opponents suggested that she is not a person of color, Chang-Diaz calls it "disingenuous" and asserted "let me say very clearly, I'm proud of my Latina heritage, my father emigrated to this country from Costa Rica." She has also said that race and ethnic identity are unimportant to voters and has described that "In my experience...of talking to voters one on one, everyday, is that's not something that voters are really interested in."

Sonia Chang-Díaz was born shortly after her father earned his Doctor of Science degree from MIT. Growing up in Newton, her mother was a social worker and both her parents were active volunteers in the community.

Before seeking election Chang-Díaz was a teacher in the Lynn school system, a teacher in the Boston Public Schools system, and an outreach director for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. She lives in Jamaica Plain.

In 2006, the Massachusetts state senator for the Second Suffolk district, Dianne Wilkerson, failed to submit nomination papers with enough signatures for certification on the Democratic primary election ballot, requiring her to run a sticker campaign for the party's nomination. Chang-Díaz then entered the race as a sticker candidate, challenging Wilkerson in a "minority-majority" district covering a number of inner-city neighborhoods of Boston, including the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain. Wilkerson won the nomination and was re-elected as a state senator.

In 2008, Chang-Díaz challenged Wilkerson again for the party's nomination, with both candidates appearing on the ballot. In the September 2008 primary election, Chang-Díaz won the Democratic nomination. On October 28, 2008, Wilkerson was arrested by the FBI on public corruption charges and a federal criminal complaint was filed against her that alleged she was caught on tape stuffing a cash bribe into her bra and accepted those cash payments in exchange for her official duties and responsibilities. The bribes were allegedly accepted in return for her help in obtaining a liquor license for a proposed nightclub and transferring public land to a federal agent posing as a private developer. In the wake of the scandal, Chang-Díaz won the general election on November 4, 2008 and was sworn into office in January 2009.

See also:  Chinese,  American,  Politician,  Politics,  Costa Rican