She was a longshot. Her opponent, Democrat Harold Metts, had served in the Rhode Island State Legislature since 1985, nearly a decade before Tiara Mack ’16, was born. When she announced her candidacy, few believed the Black Southern queer woman would upset the longtime incumbent in the primaries. But not only did Mack beat Metts with 60 percent of the vote, she went on to defeat independent Kevin Gilligan in the general election with nearly 90 percent of the vote, becoming the first openly LGBTQ Black person elected to the Rhode Island state Senate; part of a rainbow wave of hundreds of LGBTQ candidates who won elected office in November of 2020.
Mack’s policy priorities include raising the minimum wage and passing affordable housing reform, two economic moves aimed at helping Rhode Islanders hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, these policies create safer and healthier communities, she says.
“When families don’t have to worry about how to pay rent, where their next meal is coming from,” she said, “they can more easily focus on their health and communities.” She is also a champion of the Green New Deal, a policy she views as urgent for Rhode Island, which loses about an inch of land to rising seas every eight years.