ON GLOBAL FILIPINOS Luz Bay is New Hampshire’s 1st FilAm state representative
By Loida Nicolas Lewis
Luz Bay, Ph.D. was working comfortably and diligently as a psychometrician for a number of years at the College Board from her home in New Hampshire.
Then in 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overtured the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision that it was not against the U.S. Constitution for a woman to have an abortion during its trimester. The Dobbs Decision ruled that each state of the United States should pass its own laws on abortion.
That was the impetus for the three-time cancer survivor to decide to run as a State
Representative of her district in Dover, NH so she would have a voice in the legislation that deals with a woman’s right to choose whether to keep the fetus or to abort it.
After discussing her decision to enter politics with her husband Mike, her son Lucas, and daughter Lina, she methodically, like the mathematician that she is, strategized her campaign.
Before she filed her application to run as a representative, she already ordered her campaign literature and yard signs.
On the day she filed, she put up her yard signs on the lawns of willing homeowners. Her sister Au who was visiting from the Philippines accompanied her as she knocked on doors and installed her yard signs. She simply introduced herself and left her campaign flyer to whoever opened the door without discussing any issues because it would cut her time in walking the homes in her district. It would also have taken away homeowners’ time with their families.
Needless to say, she won the Democratic primary and in November 2022, became the first Philippine-born FilAm to be elected State Representative in New Hampshire.
She was easily re-elected in November 2024 because of her work as a legislator and as an inspirational speaker in schools, churches and clubs.
This November 2026 election, she is running for the Executive Council representing her district, which comprises nearly half the geography of New Hampshire, against a Republican incumbent.
In New Hampshire, the Executive Council acts as the people’s counterpoint to the Governor’s power over approval or veto of bills, of the budget, of infrastructure projects over $10,000.
Dr. Bay’s energy to be an elected official until 2025, a full-time working mother, and a devoted wife could be attributed to her being a dedicated marathon runner.
She started running through a 5K program through her church when she decided to live a healthier lifestyle. The whole family participated in local 5K races when Lucas and Lina were in elementary school.
Since then, Dr. Bay has run three times in the New York City marathon, two times in its virtual marathon, and has run the Boston, Chicago, Berlin (Germany), Tokyo (Japan) and London (Great Britain) marathons. She completed the Abbott World Marathon Majors in only four years and ended up raising over $30,000 for cancer research.
Her indefatigable spirit may be explained by her background. Luz Bay was born in Batangas, the seventh of 14 children. Her mother Melitona finished Grade 4 and her father Jose was a high school dropout when they got married at 18 and 19 years old. Her father was an entrepreneur who managed a poultry and pig farm, a furniture factory, a car body repair shop and sent all their 14 children to college.
Luz was the only student in Batangas admitted on a scholarship to Philippine Science High School in 1977. She graduated from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos with a B.S. in Mathematics.
She continued her studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for her
M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Educational Measurement in Statistics. She started her 32-year career as a psychometrician with increasing levels of responsibilities in the educational assessment industry.
In November this year, we should not be surprised when we would have the first FilAm elected to the powerful Executive Council of New Hampshire. She would also be only the eighth woman and the first person of color ever seated in the Council.
