Malden voters go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 7 in 2023 municipal election

Mayoral race highlights this year’s vote: Incumbent Mayor Christenson seeks reelection vs. challenger Lissette Alvarado

By Steve Freker

There is history around every election held anywhere, any year – and it is no different here in Malden for Election Day 2023 – set for Tuesday, November 7. No matter which candidate is elected on Tuesday, incumbent, three-term Mayor Gary Christenson or the challenger, political newcomer Lissette Aracely Alvarado, Malden’s rich history will get a new page.

Mayor Christenson, if reelected to a fourth, four-year term of office would equal the longevity of his predecessor in the city’s top post, as the longest-serving mayor in Malden municipal history. Former Mayor Richard Howard served six consecutive terms, from 1996-2012. Mayor Howard served four two-year terms and two four-year terms, when the ordinance was changed to lengthen the mayoral terms in 2003. Mayor Christenson would be the first Malden mayor to be elected to and serve a fourth, four-year term and second to serve at least 16 years at the helm.

If Alvarado is elected mayor on Tuesday, she will be the city’s first woman to sit in that office and the only person this century or in many years before it, to win the city’s top post in a first try as a political candidate.

Mayor Christenson, 54, is a lifelong resident of Malden who has lived for many years on Ashland Street, in the Ward 1 Belmont neighborhood where he grew up. On the campaign trail this past year, he has highlighted the progress and achievement the city of Malden and many of its citizens have made during his 12 years in office. Included were successful efforts to make the downtown area more vibrant, notably presiding over the razing of old City Hall and reopening of Pleasant Street for the first time in 40-plus years. There were major infrastructure improvements in areas, such as the removal of more lead pipes in the past decade; guiding the city in building a new Police Station and establishing a new location for City Hall; initiating major additions and commitments to combating climate change; and improving language access for residents, including one of the first transliteral voting ballots in Massachusetts history.

Mayor Christenson’s administration is also responsible for increasing initiatives and opportunities for the youth of Malden, notably, employing over 400 teens and young adults in an expanded Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (MYSEP) this past summer. The employment program now also puts dozens of teens and young adults to work year-round.

Mayor Christenson, who has been formally endorsed by both Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, among others, has also declared there are many areas where the city could continue to improve and where Malden can continue to evolve, for the betterment of its residents.

Mayor Christenson holds bachelor of arts and master’s degrees from Suffolk University and is also a graduate of Suffolk University Law School. He previously worked as budget director for former Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola from 1998-2011 and before that as a budget analyst for the Mass. House Ways and Means Committee, reporting to then Speaker Thomas Finneran.

“We have accomplished so much together over the last three terms, and there’s still more to do,” Mayor Christenson said, in a campaign statement. “With persistence and collaboration, we can continue to deliver transformative results to Malden.”

Alvarado, 44, grew up on the west side of Chicago, Ill., and has lived in Malden since 2011, for the past 12 years in all, on upper Pleasant Street in Malden’s West End. The mother of four school-age children, this is her first run at political office, and she has expressed her desire for a number of new initiatives for the community, if elected, including increased language access to government resources for local residents, a new Malden Teen Enrichment Center here and the creation of a municipal Office of Public Engagement. She has also advocated for a new, centralized fire station and has been an activist to address climate change and conserve and expand green space in Malden.

While previously living in Chicago, Ill., Alvarado worked in the U.S. Senate for then Illinois U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, moving on to the White House during the Obama Presidential administration. She said meeting with constituents has always been a top priority as a staffer on the Hill and in the White House.

“It’s time that we get back to the basics and build a Malden today for the families and individuals who live here now,” Alvarado said, in a campaign statement. “With transparency and collaboration, we can strengthen the foundations of what makes our city vibrant and attractive for our residents today.”