Pakistani American Mehreen Butt Named Campaign Manager for Mass. Secretary of State Candidate Tanisha Sullivan
- She won the election for a seat in the Wakefield Town Council in 2017, becoming the first Muslim American woman to serve as a municipal elected official in the state.
Massachusetts Secretary of State candidate Tanisha Sullivan has named Pakistani American attorney and councilwoman Mehreen Butt as her campaign manager, Politico reported. A former legislative staffer, Butt won the election for a seat in the Wakefield Town Council by running for the Democratic Party in 2017, becoming the first Muslim American woman to serve as a municipal elected official in Massachusetts. She was then re-elected for a three-year term as a Wakefield’s Council member.
âAs a woman and the only person of color on the council’s board, Butt focuses on making Wakefield a more inclusive place for its residents and newcomers,â according to her profile on Womenâs Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality website. As part of the council, she is a liaison to several commissions, including the police, the board of health, the library and the Human Rights Commission.
Butt has over 15 years of experience serving as a public policy attorney focused on healthcare, housing, food access, and civil rights issues, the profile says. As a public policy attorney dedicated to social justice, equality, and inclusion, she advocates for women’s rights, particularly a supporter of sexual and reproductive ones.
Since 2019, she acts as the associate director of Policy and Government Affairs at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. The NGO is committed to providing counseling, sexual and reproductive health, guaranteeing women’s reproductive rights.
Before becoming a council member, Butt was involved in various public policy decision-making positions, such as being director of Public Policy at Rosie’s Place, the oldest shelter in the country, dedicated to supporting homeless women in Boston. She was also a board member of the South Asian Bar Association.
She holds a Bachelor of Science from Tufts University with a degree in English, and a Juris Doctor degree from the American University, Washington College of Law.