After a campaign that sent her across the North Shore and the Merrimack Valley, Eunice Zeigler said the people she hopes to represent want access and information.
Zeigler, a former Methuen City Councilor, is the Democratic nominee for one of eight seats on the more than 200-year old elected body known as the Governor’s Council. In visiting all 36 communities in the Governor’s Council 5th District, she often encountered a lack of understanding of the position. Zeigler said she wants to shed light on the council’s role and activities, and show voters the council can serve as another method for advocacy.
The eight-person Governor’s Council provides advice and consent on gubernatorial appointments, pardons and commutations, and warrants for the state treasury. The councilors serve two-year terms and are paid $36,000 a year.
Zeigler works as the vice president of strategic planning and administration at Emmaus Inc., a homeless shelter in Haverhill. She served on the Methuen City Council from 2018 until she hit the council’s six-year term limit in 2024. She is responsible for Methuen’s Economic Development Committee and served while the city navigated itself out of financial uncertainty.
She points to her career in economic and community development work advocating for marginalized communities like victims of domestic violence or the housing insecure, who in many cases find themselves “court involved.”
“They deserve a fair judge,” she said.
Zeigler said she hopes to make the role more public and introduce prospective judges, who in Massachusetts serve until they are 70, to the communities they serve.
“When we are approving judges we have one chance,” she said. “We have to get it right the first time.”
Zeigler said she would vote to appoint judges who follow the constitution. She said the state’s Supreme Judicial Court had ruled state judges could not honor ICE detainers, as it was a federal matter. Judges are also legally barred for making pledges to rule one way or another, said Zeigler.
“I will not support a judicial nominee that is willing to break the law,” she said. “That is the cornerstone of the job.”
Youngest of the District 25 candidates at 36, Zeigler – if elected – would be the first woman of color on the council.
“I don’t waste time when it’s something that is important to me,” she said.