Gay's campaign platform was raising awareness of domestic violence and invigorating the council's role in judicial nominations.
Her campaign wasn't easy, though. Gay said the other candidates had "deeper pockets" than she did, and they had larger support networks in the district. Gay was also the only woman out of seven candidates.
Despite these challenges, Gay won, and took office in January of 1993.
She was only the third female member of the committee in its three-century history.
One of her highest-profile issues while on the council was commuting the life sentences of two members of the Framingham Eight, a group of women who had been found guilty of murdering their abusive husbands.
"I educated my colleagues about battered women's syndrome," Gay said.
Gay also opened Governor's Council meetings to the public--the council is the only governmental body exempted from Massachusetts's open public meeting law.
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