Newton Race For Mayor Takes Shape: Amy Mah Sangiolo Declares Run

NEWTON, MA — Amy Mah Sangiolo, a former City Councilor and longtime resident of Auburndale, is running for mayor in November. She pulled nominations papers from Newton City Hall on Wednesday.

She will be challenging incumbent Ruthanne Fuller, who is running for a second term and also has pulled papers. Al Checchinelli, who also ran in 2017, has also indicated he is running, according to the city clerk's office.

Sangiolo said she is running to "bring transparency and accountability to the Mayor’s office as the city continues to recover from the pandemic."

This is not Sangiolo's first run for executive office in Newton.

She ran in 2017 in a packed race, and was considered one of three front-runners alongside Fuller and Scott Lennon, when Setti Warren stepped down. If she were elected as the next mayor of Newton, she'd be the first Asian mayor.

At the time Sangiolo, was likely the longest serving Asian-American woman to serve in a political office in the state with two decades under her belt on the City Council.

It started some 20 years ago

Sangiolo was first elected in 1997. She came to what was then called the Board of Aldermen as an attorney and focused on Programs and Services and Zoning and Planning issues. She speaks about the need for affordable housing, while maintaining historic preservation and environmental conservation.

Amy was born and raised in Weehawken, New Jersey. Her father was an American-born Chinese Air Force veteran and her mother, a Japanese immigrant. While she was going to public high school in New Jersey she was a piano major at the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division and studied ballet at the New York School of Ballet.

Sangiolo said she had a talent for music and the plan was to take a year and practice so she could go to Julliard for college, but when she got into Barnard all bets were off the table.

And while she was at Rutgers working on a law degree, she had an internship out in California working with the Sierra Club. It was there she realized she had a passion for environmental law and her experience working on water law there influenced her to head to George Washington for a Masters in Environmental Law.

She married John Sangiolo and his family were in the Boston area, so near the end of her coursework in Washington they moved to be closer to them. They chose to live Newton for the school system. Sangiolo convinced her parents to move to Newton, too. But after a winter, they upped and moved to Hawaii, and her husband's family moved to the cape.

Sangiolo and her husband and children stayed. Plus, it wasn't so bad having family to visit on the cape and in Hawaii, she told Patch previously.

Wanted to run for a while

Sangiolo had considered running when Mayor David Cohen stepped down, but her three children were still young.

She was set to run when Setti announced he was stepping down, but had to take care of some family health issues. She was late to the game but ran anyway.

She came in third, garnering just shy of 25 percent of the preliminary election that had seven names on the ballot. When it became clear that Fuller and Lennon were going to duke it out on the ballot, Sangiolo said she was proud that she helped define the election issues.

Running in the race meant she stepped off the city council, but the Consumer Specialist in the Attorney General’s office, has still been active in Newton, sending out regular email newsletters to the community and watching City Hall and City Council happenings.

"Newton needs a leader who will bring transparency and accountability to local government and unite the city to move Newton forward," she said in a release. "We need to address zoning with real community engagement and resident buy-in, implement a strategy to create more affordable housing, address the needs of our community while being fiscally responsible, strengthen relationships with all of our city and school employees, build a greener future for our children, and take care of our seniors. I will work to restore city-wide confidence in and improve the Newton Public Schools. In the coming months, I will be meeting many of you and listening to your concerns. Together, we can build a better Newton.”

Previously: Former Candidate Amy Sangiolo endorses Scott Lennon for ...

enna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.