Sumbul Siddiqui

Sumbul Siddiqui (born 1988) is an American lawyer and politician, serving as the 77th mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Siddiqui was elected mayor in 2020 by the Cambridge City Council, after serving in the body for three years. She succeeded Marc C. McGovern in January 2020, becoming the first Muslim mayor in Massachusetts history.

Siddiqui was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1988. She immigrated to the United States from Pakistan when she was two years old, with her parents and twin brother. Her family moved to Cambridge after receiving a lottery spot in Cambridge's affordable housing system. Siddiqui was raised in Rindge Towers in North Cambridge and Roosevelt Towers in East Cambridge. She attended schools in the Cambridge Public School District and graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2006.

Siddiqui attended Brown University, where she was involved in the university's South Asian Students Association. She graduated from Brown in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in public policy and American institutions. Siddiqui later attended the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, graduating in 2014 with a JD.

As mayor

In January 2020, Marc C. McGovern announced that he would not seek re-election and endorsed fellow council member Sumbul Siddiqui as his successor. Siddiqui was sworn in on January 6, 2020.

Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund

She launched the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund for COVID-19 on 16 April 2020, raising over $5 million to help individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

Toxic WorkplaceAccusations

"Eight women who have worked for Siddiqui since 2017 allege the mayor created a toxic work environment" according to an October 16, 2023 article in the Boston Globe. Reporter, Diti Kohli, notes that in "interviews over the last six months, they said Siddiqui undermined their self-esteem and jeopardized their future job prospects, behavior they say prompted people to leave her employment under difficult circumstances. The aides — half of whom are women of color, and most of whom are no longer directly involved in Cambridge politics — described experiences including the mayor berating them for small mistakes such as typos, commenting on their bodies, and denigrating them to other colleagues. Four of the employees also alleged Siddiqui retaliated against them when they accepted new jobs or sought to leave her office."

• 2020: NAACP award
• 2021: Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts Emerging Women Leaders in the Law award
• 2021: South Asian Bar Association 2021 Member of the Year
• 2021: Margaret Fuller House Gala award
• 2021: Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Champion award.