Juan Sanchez, a member of the Green-Rainbow Party, is running for Secretary of State of Massachusetts. The 34-year-old has centered his campaign around issues such as homelessness, LGBTQ+ rights, and social equity.

Sanchez, a Holyoke resident, is Puerto Rican and was raised in Havana, Cuba. He works as a sales and marketing representative for Yankee Candle and also serves as the board president for Nueva Esperanza, a Holyoke organization celebrating Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean culture. He received an associate’s degree in education from Springfield Technical Community College in 2008. 

“This fight is just beginning. The fight to restore democracy in Massachusetts has not ended with the victory of William Galvin in the Democratic Party primary,” said the Green-Rainbow candidate on the party’s website. 

Sanchez also ran for secretary of state in 2018 and got 3.6% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. When he ran, he became the first Puerto Rican candidate for secretary of state of Massachusetts to appear on the ballot, as well as the first openly HIV-positive person to appear on the statewide ballot.

Sanchez and his campaign team did not respond to multiple interview requests.