If the home daycare owner wins the general election, it is believed she will be the first Dominican American woman elected to a state office in the United States.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 17, 2004

BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Immediately after Tuesday's primary election results showed that Grace Diaz was the apparent winner in her race with incumbent state Rep. Leon Tejada, the Diaz campaign headquarters was bombarded with variations of the same question:

How did she do it?

How did the political newcomer -- a home daycare owner and mother of five -- beat the two-term incumbent with a base of solid support within his South Side district?

Campaign workers for Diaz say the answer is simple: she repeatedly reached out to voters, told them where she stood on the issues and established a broad-based coalition of supporters.

Diaz, 47, a native of the Dominican Republic, won 52 percent of the vote -- beating out Tejada and Richardson Ogidan for the Democratic nomination for District 11 House seat.

If she wins the general election against a Republican challenger in November, Diaz will become the first Dominican American woman elected to a state office in the United States, according to information compiled by the Dominican American National Roundtable.

Yesterday, Diaz said she knows that people were surprised when she declared her candidacy in June and just as surprised when she won the primary.

"I feel like a tropical storm," she said. "I came out of nowhere."

But her campaign manager, Matthew Jersyk -- who spearheaded the successful campaign of City Councilman Miguel Luna two years ago -- said Diaz won because she campaigned on the issues of better schools, more jobs, affordable health care and a fairer tax system. And, he said, because she built a diverse team of home childcare providers to help her canvass the neighborhood.

The "very exhausting, extensive operation" had Diaz's supporters visiting many homes two or three times over the last 10 weeks, he said.

"Grace Diaz is the hardest working person I've ever met," Jersyk said, describing how Diaz spent her days running her Adelaide Avenue daycare from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., going canvassing door-to-door from 5 to 8:30 p.m. and making phone calls courting constituents from 8:30 to 9:15 p.m.

Her day ended with making meals and tending to her family, mailing out brochures and mapping out her campaign strategy for the next day.

"She's not a polished politician; she didn't get anyone's permission" to run for office, Jersyk said. "We asked the people of District 11 if they needed a stronger voice at the State House to fight for more opportunities and more resources for our schools . . . and overwhelmingly the majority said, 'Yes, we want a stronger voice.' "

Diaz immigrated to Providence from the Dominican Republic in 1990 with two dresses, $40 and speaking no English.

She mailed constituents a letter introducing herself and telling them of her background. In it, she describes how her mother, who did not have a formal education, raised four children alone after Diaz's father left the family.

She learned from her mother that "hard work is something to be proud of," Diaz said in the letter. She also learned that she had an ability to make her way in business and that education is the key to success.

In the three-page letter, Diaz told voters that by the time she reached high school she began helping her stepfather with his work as an architect, developing abilities in math that led her to study engineering in college.

By 1979, with a desire to help her community, she got involved in politics in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, working for the mayor for three years.

From 1982 to 1986, she worked for the president of the Dominican Republic.

"I feel that I really connected with people, and I connected with their concerns for the neighborhood," Diaz said. "I feel like I can be a strong voice for the people in my neighborhood."

Along the way, Diaz garnered endorsements from House Speaker William J. Murphy, Sen. Juan Pichardo, the AFL-CIO, ACORN and the Progressive Leadership Fund, among others.

On election night, Tejada suggested that the outcome was evidence of a political power play by Murphy and other House leaders.

Jersyk disagrees.

He said Diaz won because "she had support from the entire community."

While the race became heated with questions about Diaz's experience and the disappearance of more than 400 of her campaign signs, Jersyk said he believes "voters kept their eyes on the prize."

"At the end of the day it was not about personal attacks or [alleged] slander," he said. "It was about who has the better plan to get more money for our schools."