The Melrose Messenger

A Conversation with Leila Migliorelli, Candidate for State Representative

By Ellen Putnam

Hear Leila say her name.

Leila Migliorelli is a name that will already be familiar to many Melrose residents from her time in public office in Melrose, including serving as City Council President for the last two years. Now, after a brief hiatus from elected office, Migliorelli is running for state representative.

“I’m running for state representative,” she said, “because I believe this community needs someone with experience in public service and a proven track record of getting results.”

Migliorelli has degrees in political science, including a Master of Public Policy from Tufts University, where she is currently the Senior Director of the Office of Donor Relations, and she has previously worked in development for nonprofits.

Migliorelli argued that the time she has spent serving Melrose on the Human Rights Commission and then on the City Council “puts me in a good position to work with the communities in our district - Melrose, Wakefield, and Malden - to help pass legislation, provide high-quality constituent services, and support residents.”

If elected to the State House, Migliorelli intends to focus on improving affordability and lessening the impact of federal policy on Massachusetts.

“Affordability continues to be a huge issue for people,” she said. “You can’t walk out the door these days without spending a lot more money than you used to, even a year ago. We have a housing crisis, and I would try to see what levers we can pull at the state level to help address that issue. I would also be looking for what other levers we can pull to address other affordability issues, particularly for those most in need, for families, and for older adults.”

Migliorelli noted that, while serving on the Melrose City Council, she was involved in creating the city’s first Affordable Housing Trust Fund, enacting tax relief for seniors, supporting what she called critical infrastructure projects and improvements in Melrose, and advocating for more funding for the schools.

In terms of responding to the Trump administration, she said, “Watching all of the attacks on democracy by the federal government, I feel very fortunate to live in Massachusetts, where we have strong leadership in the governor’s office. But I still believe there are more attacks to come.”

“Working in higher education,” she went on, “I’ve seen the real-time impacts of cuts to health research, and the impacts on students, especially international students. I feel very strongly that we don’t know what’s yet to come - we’re only halfway into this presidency. But I think that my experience puts me in a good position to help deal with these issues.”

Migliorelli noted that, in particular, maintaining funding for research into women’s health and protecting reproductive rights are “of huge importance” to her.

Another issue Migliorelli plans to focus on is state aid for municipalities.

“During my time on the Melrose City Council,” she said, “I dealt with this issue directly in terms of seeing rapid increases in costs, due to inflation and other factors, and the city’s revenue not being able to keep pace. This resulted in one override that failed and another that passed - and Melrose was able to stay afloat because that override passed.”

“I have a very strong understanding of municipal budgets and the pressures we’re facing,” she added, “and I have a track record of working with others on these issues. I served on the mayor’s financial task force, and that gave me insight into our city’s revenue and expenses. We had a lot of great discussions about, ‘how do we deal with this expense going up at this rate?’, about personnel costs, and looking at the revenue side to see what levers we can pull.”

“Right now we’re seeing so many communities trying to pass overrides,” she went on, “and it has to be a systemic issue if all of these municipalities are unable to keep pace with rising costs. It needs to be addressed.”

“On the school funding side,” she continued, “I know that Chapter 70 funding will be reexamined, and I would be interested in being a part of this discussion if I were elected, because I believe that something is not right, and there are real concerns.”

Migliorelli stated that she supports the audit of the legislature that voters passed in a ballot question in 2024 because of her belief in the importance of rebuilding and maintaining public trust in government, including at the state level.

“I believe that trust in government is waning,” she said, “and I think that we underestimate how important public trust is to having a well-functioning democracy. Anything that we can do to help maintain the public’s trust is important for those of us who believe that the goal of government is to improve people’s lives and help people.”

“For me, as a former elected official at the municipal level,” she went on, “We were always subject to open meeting law and public records requests. I’m used to operating at that level of transparency, and I would have no problem operating at that level at the State House. I think that it just makes sense.”

Migliorelli also argued that transparency is beneficial to everyone, including elected officials. “A lot of people at the State House are doing good policy work that goes largely unnoticed. They’re enacting laws that help protect our communities. I believe that the way to make positive change is to elect good people to office - people you can trust, and who know how to work well with others.”

In terms of her approach to legislating, Migliorelli said, “Anyone who has seen me on the City Council knows that I research and do my homework. I listen to constituents, and if it’s a policy issue, I talk to the people who are actually doing the work.”

For instance, she said, when she was working on establishing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, “I made a point of listening to what nonprofits were doing, organizations like Housing Families, to better understand the housing crisis. Because of my background in nonprofits and higher education, that’s how I approach getting information from experts.”

“I believe that the job of elected officials is to help shepherd things along,” she went on. “We create legislation and policy through a collaborative process with people who deeply understand the issues. I won’t claim to be an expert on everything, but I work with others to learn what I need to.”

“What I find exciting about the legislature,” she added, “is that you get to team up with other representatives to make legislation happen and tweak it. What really interests me is forming those relationships - I really like to get to know people, understand them, and find common ground in order to move things forward. I like that challenge.”

“That’s part of what I enjoyed about being on the City Council,” she continued. “There’s an issue in the city, and you talk about how to tackle it. You listen to your colleagues. I learned a lot from sitting in meetings and listening to my colleagues’ questions, and even if I didn’t necessarily agree with them, it was helpful to hear their perspectives. Having healthy conversations and looking at issues from different sides is something we really need, and I am very excited about the opportunity to do that at the State House.”

Migliorelli also intends to focus on providing high-quality constituent services and being an advocate for all residents of the district. “I see this position as representing all of Melrose, Wakefield, and Malden, not just the parts of those towns that are in the district. I intend to really advocate at the state level for our communities and what we need here.”

Migliorelli describes her family as very close - her entire family, including her parents, attended her campaign kickoff. Her father is a Pakistani immigrant, and her mother is Irish-Italian. She is the mother of two teenage boys who attend Melrose Public Schools. “They both play sports,” she said, “so most of my time, if I’m not campaigning, I will be on the sidelines of a baseball or soccer game. I love watching them play.” She has a dog named Ruby (who was adopted from Aruba).

Posted June 24th, 2026