Meet Nathaniel Mulcahy

A representative's job is to represent the people of their district. Not just the people who can help them advance their careers or the people who happen to belong to their party, but all. By all, I mean the Democrats which I am part of, the Republicans, the Libertarians, the unenrolled (which BY FAR make up the greatest percentage of registered voters in our district and as such deserve a proportionate voice), even the members of the Pirate Party and Pizza Party (yes, those are both real parties in Massachusetts). All means female, male, LGBTQ, intersex, and asexual; brown, black, white, indigenous (yes, they are still here) Latino, European, Asian and more. All means every religion and those without any. I am running to be your state rep specifically to end divisiveness, increase transparency in government, and be a voice on Beacon Hill for what everyone in our newly formed district cares about. If the majority of people in Essex 5th care about an issue, I believe it is my duty to fight for that, even if that issue may not be my own.

It has been my honor to meet thousands of you since I pulled my papers this spring and humbling to see how many strongly held views we share. This bolstered my confidence that I would be qualified to advocate for the voices of our entire community. To this qualification I add that I am currently a scientist and engineer with 20+ years developing and implementing environmental solutions and policies. I've been the Director of Research and Development for a large multinational corporation and before that, I taught K-6 for 12 years. I've been a lifelong inventor and activist. In terms of taking on hard challenges, I founded a humanitarian engineering company and was in Haiti during and after the earthquake, in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak, and I’ve been legally challenged by Big Oil and won. More locally, I took on developers and the City of Gloucester and helped get Pavilion Beach permanently deeded to the city as a public beach. 

During my campaign the two most frequent criticisms I've received have been:

1. Why should I challenge an incumbent (especially a powerful one)?  

2. Given that women are tragically underrepresented on Beacon Hill, how do I justify running against two female candidates? 

These, I openly admit, are very valid criticisms.

To the first, I’d say Cape Ann voters and I are: 

• 99% for making a representative's votes public
• 78%  in favor of $15 minimum wage (a critical factor in affordable housing),
• 72%  in favor of the Fair Share Amendment which would provide millions for schools and public transportation,  
• 62% for a Massachusetts push for clean energy by 2030,
• 58% in favor of debt free college, and 
• 54% in favor of Medicare For All. 

The incumbent voted against or refused to co-sponsor the bills that covered these issues.

To the second I’d say, I would have cosponsored and voted for: 

• Affordable childcare and early ed H470
• Common Start H605
• Menstrual Equity H.2354 & H.1959 
• Holding legislators accountable for sexual harassment and abuse H3572 
• and, when we had a chance to provide $8 million in funding to women's clinics that lost funding under the Trump administration, I would have voted yes H3638 34
• The incumbent did none of the above.

I am running to represent all of Cape Ann and to fight for the issues that matter most to all of us. During the debate that was hosted by the Essex County Community Organization I received perhaps the greatest compliment of my whole campaign. It came from my Republican opponent. Ashely Sullivan complimented me on my closing statement, and said that if she did not get on the ballot, she would vote for me because I actually listened to her and made an effort to find common ground. I pledge to do that with everyone in Essex 5th and to make sure that happens I will hold local office hours in each of our four communities each week. No appointment needed, just join me in a locally owned business, have a coffee and tell me what matters to you. After all, you can only truly represent the people you know and the only way to know them is to be available and listen. 

This September 6th is coming up quickly and you have until August 27th to become registered as a Democrat or Unenrolled to vote for me. I would be honored if you did.