UpdatedMon, Feb 22, 2021 at 12:48 pm ET Replies(16) Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian has been named House Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. (TDM Photography) MELROSE, MA — State Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian's first year in office has been, in a word, weird. Mostly because she's never been in the actual office. The Melrose lawmaker won her Democratic primary the same night the Red Sox traded away Mookie Betts. She won the special election March 3 — eight days before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. She was sworn in March 25 in a socially distanced ceremony. "I thought I saw everything," then-House Speaker Bob DeLeo remarked, "but this is the first time I ever experienced anything like this."