{"id":191178,"date":"2026-05-13T12:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/191178\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:50:24","slug":"lansdowne-mayor-surprised-to-learn-she-is-a-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/191178\/","title":{"rendered":"Lansdowne mayor surprised to learn she is a first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magdalena Huertas Byrne was just as surprised as anyone when she received the email related to the Pennsylvania Latino Convention.<\/p>\n

As part of their ALMA Heritage Initiative, honoring the history, legacy and future of the Latino community, they informed her she was, in fact, not only the first Latina mayor in Lansdowne but also in all of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that can\u2019t possibly be,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

But, she was told, she was.<\/p>\n

And for her that moment has been a coming full circle from a childhood where it was deemed dangerous to admit to who you are to being celebrated for that very lineage today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, my mom was a single mom and we lived with my grandmom,\u201d the 51-year-old said, noting that her family was from northern Spain and then immigrated to Puerto Rico, then New York. \u201cThey lived in a time when it wasn\u2019t safe to be Hispanic. For me growing up as a kid, I was told to not tell anyone. It was very much, \u2018You shouldn\u2019t say anything. Don\u2019t offer that information up. Please don\u2019t say anything because we want to make sure you\u2019re safe when you go to school.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

She said that stayed with her for some time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a long time to get comfortable in my own skin,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past few years I think it\u2019s been really important to talk about,\u201d she added, saying she feels like many groups are being targeted for different reasons. \u201cIt has become necessary to talk about where I\u2019m from and what my heritage is.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared what the honor of being the first Latina mayor in Pennsylvania means to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is very meaningful and personal and deep,\u201d Byrne said, noting how she has come from a place where she couldn\u2019t tell anyone to now being able to celebrate it and be proud of it. \u201cThis is who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the Pennsylvania Latino Convention has a recognition ceremony planned for September.<\/p>\n

While many of her relatives have since passed, Byrne said she did share with her achievement with her aunt who still lives in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019m so proud of you,\u201d Byrne said she responded.<\/p>\n

Byrne also shared how she came to call Lansdowne home.<\/p>\n

She and her husband, Ken, had been married for about three years when his employer transferred him from LaGuardia Airport to Philadelphia International Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really an excellent opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As a city girl, she wanted to live close to the city, to have good transportation and to have sidewalks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just fell in love with this one house in Lansdowne,\u201d Byrne, a senior analyst in compliance at a technology firm, said. \u201cOur closest relative was an hour away. We really were shooting in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

What she found was more than a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community really took us in,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cThey really made us a fabric of the town \u2026 I\u2019m at home when I\u2019m in Lansdowne.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne has served as Lansdowne\u2019s mayor since 2022. Prior to that, she served two terms on borough council, two of those years as vice president.<\/p>\n

At last week\u2019s borough council meeting, Byrne was honored for this distinction.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LansdowneLansdowne Mayor Magdalena Huertas Byrne with Police Chief Ken Rutherford and the rest of the borough police department. (COURTESY OF LANSDOWNE)<\/p>\n

During their presentations portion of the meeting, they surprised the mayor with a proclamation for her groundbreaking achievement and continued service to the borough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis recognition is not only about one individual, but about what it represents for our community and for the future of leadership in Pennsylvania,\u201d Council President Jessica M. Pointer said. \u201cMayor Huertas Byrne\u2019s leadership reflects progress, resilience, and the expanding voice of communities that have long contributed to the strength of our Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her remarks upon receiving the proclamation, the mayor said, \u201cI am incredibly humbled by the recognition I received from State Rep. Gina Curry, Lansdowne Borough Council, and the Lansdowne Police Department. But more than anything, I\u2019m grateful to this community for believing in me, supporting me, and allowing me to serve the town I love so much. Special thanks to everyone who came out to support me in this special recognition. It really meant the world to me to see such a filled room to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Byrne shared what this recognition meant for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so very humbled and I\u2019m so grateful and I really couldn\u2019t do it without any of them,\u201d she said of borough council. \u201cThey are the fabric of my life at this point because they\u2019ve always been so inclusive \u2026 It\u2019s what drives me to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Magdalena Huertas Byrne was just as surprised as anyone when she received the email related to the Pennsylvania…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[212,27402,182,139,28,69,71,70,210],"class_list":["post-191178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-delaware-county","tag-lansdowne","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}