Cash flow: Acton a war chest stop for out-of-state hopefuls
“Why wouldn’t you want to come to the place where democracy was minted?”
No Acton resident can cast a vote for him, but U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown of Ohio came here this spring anyway — in search of campaign cash.
Senate hopeful Dan Osborn of Nebraska also visited, as did Graham Platner before he dropped his bid to represent Maine. Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia swung through last fall.
Politicians from across the country have, again and again, tapped Concordians to help fund their candidacies.
Local organizers say being on the fundraising circuit lets Concordians get up close with big-name officials. Many still feel conflicted about their role in a much larger process.
Resident Tom Tarpey says he’s hosted events in this and previous federal election cycles.
“Like most other people, I deplore the influence of money in politics,” he told The Acton Bridge, “but it’s the system we’re living in, and we can’t simply retire from the field.”
Recent Acton fundraising events have generally benefited Democrats like Brown, Platner, and Vindman. (Osborn is independent but is backed by Nebraska’s Democratic Party.)
“The amount of money in these races is horrifying,” resident Diane Proctor said. Gatherings in deep-blue Acton are “an effort to equalize the battle.”
Staying ‘on the map’
State Rep. Simon Cataldo, a Democrat, lives in town and said he’s helped raise money for candidates including Brown, Osborne, and Vindman.
“Acton is understood as a place where there’s interest and ability to support candidates from outside Massachusetts,” he told The Bridge. When he’s inviting guests to events, he has a message: “We want to keep Acton on the map.”
Voters here favored Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by an 80% to 16% margin in 2024. The town’s median household income sat just below $200,000, according to the Census Bureau.
Acton has individual links to national Democratic politics via several high-profile residents. There’s also the town’s symbolic history.
Put it all together “in this particular climate,” School Committee member Michael Williams said, “and why wouldn’t you want to come to the place where democracy was minted?”
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Campaign finance disclosures showed Brown had netted nearly $54,000 from Acton residents in the 2026 election cycle through mid-April. He saw a spike around his March fundraiser, but the haul isn’t all attributable to that event. Fundraisers have a regional appeal, Proctor said, with attendees coming from other communities to hear candidates.
Bridge board members Alice Kaufman and Virginia McIntyre were among those who wrote checks to Brown. Members of the newspaper’s board are not involved in news coverage decisions.
Acton residents shelled out just under $17,500 to Osborn and $21,615 to Platner, who ended his campaign last month after a woman he once dated accused him of sexual assault.
Vindman had raised more than $27,000 from Concordians during the current cycle as of his latest filing.
Tarpey said he got interested in politics in the early 2010s when Don Berwick was running for governor of Massachusetts. He said the playbook for local events involves selecting co-hosts who will invite people through their personal networks to hear from candidates.
Fundraisers aren’t publicly advertised, but Williams said they’re not happening in the shadows. “I’ve been in friends and neighbors’ backyards or dining rooms or kitchens and talking about things that matter to us,” he told The Bridge.
Housing Authority Chair Stephan Bader said he recognizes most of the people who attend events alongside him. Billionaire Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, for example, “is not likely to show up,” he said.
The Bridge reached out to the Brown, Osborn, Platner, and Vindman campaigns but didn’t hear back.
‘Up close and personal’
Williams turned heads last spring with a high-spending, high-fundraising local campaign.
Asked about the role of money in politics, he said the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision “sort of sets what the playing field is going to be.”
If a candidate believes in what they’re doing and thinks their message “needs to be carried forward,” Williams said, “you sort of don’t have another option” than to fundraise.
Conservative residents who spoke with The Bridge emphasized their vote share.
“There are other people in this town,” Dolores Granato said during a recent Monument Square standout as attendees played music from a speaker and held signs promoting Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue.
They acknowledged they’re a political minority in town, and ex-congressional candidate Helen Brady said she didn’t remember examples of national Republicans visiting.
Bader said national figures coming to Acton is good for Massachusetts as it contends with “the current administration’s animus” toward everything from biotechnology research to public health grants.
The intimate settings, featuring questions and answers in living rooms over hors d’oeuvres, “gives us Concordians the opportunity to see retail politics up close and personal,” Williams said.
