I’m writing to share my support for Nomita Ganguly, who is running for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District. I’m her husband, so this is a personal account rather than a neutral one. But I’ve had a 39-year vantage point on who this person is, and I think it’s worth sharing.
I met Nomita in 1987, when she was a freshman pushing her university to divest from apartheid South Africa. That instinct — to show up and push for what’s right — has never left her.
At various times she was the person behind the Wellington Winter Carnival, the Wellington Winter Coat Drive, the Wellington/Chenery PTO and the Foundation for Belmont Education, and more recently the Belmont Garden Club. She never missed a chance to be in the stands for our daughters’ soccer, track, rugby, and lacrosse games. She does all of this the same way: tirelessly, and with a lot of grace.
For years, she’s also worked as an advocate for nonprofit organizations, moving state policy and funding in ways that support older adults and people with disabilities. It’s slow, unglamorous work — the kind that depends on relationships built over years, not on dollars or headlines. Just a few weeks ago, she told me she’d gotten two of her clients’ priorities through the Senate. Watching her return from a long day at the State House with news like that, again and again, has taught me a lot about what real legislative effectiveness looks like: patience, persistence, and the trust of people who’ve watched you follow through.
That’s the person I think Belmont, Arlington, and Cambridge deserve in this seat — someone who has spent decades showing up for this community before she ever asked it for a vote.
Craig Gardner, Orchard Street