WHEN THE LEGISLATURE reconvenes in January, the 160-member House of Representatives will include 21 first-term lawmakers. One of them, however, will stand out from the crowd when it comes to the amount of time spent in the trenches as a political activist before making the jump to elected office. Kate Donaghue, a 68-year-old Democrat from Westborough, will be among the new state reps, but she is hardly a new face on the political scene. Donaghue has spent more than 40 years as a committed footsoldier for countless Democratic candidates.
Her devotion to daily canvassing for candidates without interruption is so legendary that the Boston Globe once called her the “Cal Ripken of Democratic door-knocking.”
After decades of work for other candidates, Donaghue put her name on the ballot for the first time this year as a candidate for public office when redistricting led to an open House seat representing her hometown of Westborough and surrounding communities.
She’ll arrive at the State House with the unusual background of a first-term lawmaker who has deep ties across the state, which include going door to door on behalf of some of her new colleagues.
“I sometimes joke that some people have lists of bird species they’ve seen. I keep a list of towns in Massachusetts where I’ve knocked on doors,” Donaghue said on The Codcast. “I’ve knocked on doors from Pittsfield for [state Rep.] Tricia Farley-Bouvier to the Cape for [state Rep.] Dylan Fernandes to Haverhill for [state Rep.] Andy Vargas.”
And Donaghue, a retired software developer, has not limited her knack for door-knocking to Massachusetts. She’s attended six Democratic National Conventions, and while there has squeezed in some canvassing for candidates from Philadelphia to Denver.
Gus Bickford, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, says Donaghue has been a singular, often unsung force in state politics. “She has probably been one of the all-time best volunteer workers in the state,” he said. “It’s rare and they are few and far between when it comes to those who not only commit to doing the work, but do the work, and Kate has led the way.”
Growing up in Quincy, Donaghue tagged along as a child with her father, who was active in the local Democratic city committee, as he went door to door for candidates. Her campaign credits date back to 1981, when she started working on Michael Dukakis’s successful comeback campaign after losing the governor’s office four years earlier.
“It’s one of the most effective ways for a volunteer to elect people who share their values,” she says of her penchant for relentless door-to-door canvassing. Donaghue has even committed her tactics to paper, authoring a 60-point primer on effective canvassing. (She says there is also a side benefit to politicking on your feet: “I do it for the exercise. I lost more than 25 pounds during this campaign.”)
She put the same dogged effort into her own campaign that she has displayed in those for countless candidates over the years. From the time nomination papers were made available in February until Election Day earlier this month, Donaghue said, “I knocked on doors every single day except for six. I knocked on doors on Mother’s Day, I knocked on doors on Father’s Day, I knocked on doors on 4th of July and Memorial Day. But I did take Easter Sunday off, not so much because I wanted to, but out of respect for the voters.”
Donaghue was unopposed in the Democratic primary and went on to defeat her Republican opponent in the general election by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Donaghue has soldiered on with an idealism that politics can make a difference amid devastating losses. Her husband, Kimball Simpson, died last December at 78. That followed the death of her son, Brian, at age 32, to an opioid overdose in 2018.
Donaghue has become an outspoken advocate for more services dealing with the opioid crisis, and serves on a Family Advisory Council formed by Attorney General Maura Healey to address the issue. She says the opioid crisis, climate change, and public education will be her top priority issues to work on in office.
“There’s so much stigma [around addiction issues ] that I was reluctant to talk about it at first,” Donaghue said. She said an article she read that captures that stigma summarized it by saying “something like, ‘nobody brings you casseroles when your child is an addict.’”
She credits Roger Lau – another legendary behind-the-scenes Democratic operative, who ran Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign – with encouraging her to use her activist skills and platform to speak out on the issue. “Roger said to me, ‘Kate, you have a voice, use it,’” she said.
MICHAEL JONAS
NEW STORIES FROM COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE
Birthing options narrow: North Shore Birth Center is preparing to close, leaving Massachusetts women seeking to deliver their babies outside of a hospital setting with the help of a midwife only one option statewide – in Northampton. The decline of birthing centers is driven by a health care culture that gravitates toward high-cost, high-tech medicine. Read more.
Pardons, commutations: Gov. Charlie Baker pardons the Amiraults, who were involved in a controversial day care sex abuse case, and also commutes the murder sentence of Ramadan Shabazz. Read more.
Healey transition: Gov.-elect Maura Healey appoints transition committee chairs, offering a bit of a clue through her choices about her policy leanings. Read more.
Jolt to electricity price: Eversource’s basic service rate – the price it charges customers who direct the utility to procure electricity on their behalf – is jumping to a record high of 25.6 cents a kilowatt hour on January 1. Twenty-nine percent of Eversource’s customers are on basic service, and they should definitely shop around for a better deal. Read more.
OPINION
Don’t break up the T: Paul Schlictman of Arlington urges lawmakers not to break up the MBTA but expand it into a statewide organization. Read more.
STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
Gov. Charlie Baker introduces a $139 million supplemental budget to increase capacity in the emergency shelter system to handle an influx in migrants and refugees seeking housing. (Gloucester Daily Times)
The relationship between incoming Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has been testy – with more potential points of conflict ahead. (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A new promotional test for firefighters should be available by March, after the test was canceled due to a judge’s ruling that a similar test for police officers was biased. (Telegram & Gazette)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Government audits reveal millions of dollars in overcharges by Medicare Advantage plans. (NPR)
Amoxicillin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat childhood respiratory infections, is in short supply. (Boston Globe)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
President Biden turns 80. (NPR)
Seven European teams abandoned plans to have their captains wear rainbow armbands signaling solidarity with the LGBTQ community during the World Cup in Qatar after saying the move would have made the players vulnerable to threats, including possible arrest. (Washington Post)
US Rep. Richard Neal, who is losing his powerful role as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee when Republicans take control of the House, says he will seek areas of cooperation and common goals with Republicans, including on some tax issues. (MassLive)
ELECTIONS
Gov. Charlie Baker says he may not be through with politics forever – though he rules out running for anything in 2024. (Boston Herald)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The New York Times digs in on the heavy lobbying done to legalize sports betting, an effort with “degenerate gambler” David Portnoy, who founded Boston-based Barstool Sports, and gambling giant Penn Entertainment at the center.
Walt Disney Co. brings Robert Iger back to run things. (Hollywood Reporter)
EDUCATION
A report found that Black and Latino boys are disproportionately represented among Boston Public Schools students in special education who are assigned to separate classrooms from their peers. (Boston Globe)
TRANSPORTATION
One student was killed and 27 were injured in the crash of a shuttle bus carrying Brandeis University students. (Associated Press)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is looking at connecting another dozen communities north of Boston to its water supply, but it could cost $1.2 billion. (Salem News)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A WBUR investigation found more than a dozen Massachusetts police officers on the job who had been been fired or forced to resign from another department because of misconduct allegations. (WBUR)
The New York Times hints strongly at the idea that conservative Supreme Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority decision this year overturning Roe v. Wade that was leaked weeks ahead of its release, may have leaked the results of another controversial decision that he authored in 2014, in a case involving birth control. Alito denied leaking the decision.