Kathleen Fox Alfano Talks Campaign, Priorities Ahead Of General Election
For Kathleen (Kathy) Fox Alfano, deciding to launch her campaign as a write-in candidate for Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 3rd Barnstable District for the primary election in September was “easier than you might think.”
“It feels like everything I’ve done in my life has led up to this,” she said.
Previously, Ms. Fox Alfano worked for CBS News and chaired the Bourne Community Engagement Committee; she now produces an independent local cable TV show focused on introducing the community to candidates in the upcoming election and chairs the Jonathan Bourne Library Board of Trustees and Bourne’s wastewater advisory committee. Ms. Fox Alfano said she has positive working relationships with local officials, including select board member Melissa Ferretti, whom she encouraged to run for the position and helped campaign for.
Now having secured her spot on the ballot for the November 8 general election, the Democratic candidate is campaigning and seeking to make connections with constituents to work out exactly what she can do for them should she be elected as the state representative for Barnstable’s 3rd District.
“I love [campaigning],” she said. “I have a lot of energy to begin with but I feel really energized by meeting all of these great people, learning about their issues, and supporting them.”
In taking on longtime incumbent Republican David Vieira, Ms. Fox Alfano said her strategy is to present herself fully to the 3rd District communities and show them what she can do. In addition to writing a quarterly newsletter, one of Ms. Fox Alfano’s campaign promises is to have open and advertised office hours in all three communities in the district, which includes Mashpee and parts of Bourne and Falmouth.
“I will listen, I will learn, and I will take action,” she said.
One of the top issues that propelled Ms. Fox Alfano to run for office is clean water.
“I’ve learned an awful lot about these systems,” Ms. Fox Alfano said. “It isn’t just Bourne, all of our coastal communities have to deal with this. My thing became clean water and clean drinking water.”
Ms. Fox Alfano said that a priority should she win the election is to start a Clean Water Caucus at the State House, which would allow communities to join together and work toward solutions.
In addition to clean water, the Democratic candidate has voiced support for both affordable housing and women’s rights, two issues that have garnered attention on a national scale. Affordable housing, she said, is a problem everywhere but especially so on Cape Cod, with its limited land and massive need.
Ms. Fox Alfano said she is passionate about ensuring affordable daycare for families, an initiative she hopes will bring more women back to the workforce following the decline caused by the pandemic. She also wants to promote mentor-like programs for young girls in middle and high school.
“We need programs to mentor girls when they’re in middle and high school because people still tell girls they can’t,” Ms. Fox Alfano said, adding that young BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) girls are offered fewer educational opportunities. “I thought we had won all these battles, but no.…We want to remove those barriers and tell girls yes, they can.”
Other issues Ms. Fox Alfano said she passionately supports include medical aid in dying, the imminent reconstruction of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, funding for public libraries, promoting the Upper Cape’s blue and green economies, and gun violence prevention.
“These things are very important,” Ms. Fox Alfano said, “not just to me. Clean water is a bipartisan issue. Everybody needs clean water. And women’s rights, I know there are varying opinions, but overall, women need to be treated equally. All of the things that I’m working on are issues that affect everyone, and I want to make a positive change.”
Moving toward the general election on November 8, Ms. Fox Alfano said she feels energized and ready to connect with both voters and local officials.
“I do feel that no one party or one person has a monopoly on all the good ideas,” Ms. Fox Alfano said. “I want to go back to when we could work together for a common good. I don’t know how much I can do as a state rep but it’s a start.”
Ms. Fox Alfano is on the November 8 general election ballot for the 3rd Barnstable District. The district consists of Bourne precincts Three, Four, Five and Six; Falmouth precincts Three, Four, Five, Seven, Eight and Nine; and Mashpee.