Political Rundown

Nearly a dozen Tufts graduates are among the candidates making a final push before the polls open.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [11.1.04] - With Election Day approaching, candidates for offices on both the state and national level are kicking their campaigns into high gear. Several Tufts graduates seeking office – be it for reelection or for the first-time – are among those making last-minute appeals and handshakes from coast to coast.

Massachusetts State Rep. Michael Festa (D)

Festa is defending his seat in the 32nd Middlesex district against Republican newcomer Thomas Quinn of Wakefield, Mass., but Festa has been involved in politics for a long time. While an undergraduate at Tufts, he served on the Melrose School Committee. In 1973, he was named chair of the Finance and Facilities subcommittee – four years later, while studying law at Suffolk University, he became Alderman-at-Large. After losing his first run for the State House in 1990, he finally won election in 1998. Festa chairs the state Democratic Party's Policy Committee and the State House of Representatives Democratic Council.

Festa views himself as a reform-minded legislator. "[Committee] chairmen have to toe the line, period," he told the Wakefield Observer in September. "I look forward very soon to a new dynamic in the House where people who don't always agree are going to start getting leadership positions." - ELECTED

Phil Bartlett (D), running for Maine State Senator

Bartlett graduated from Tufts in 1998, having majored in economics and public policy. Bartlett also met his future wife, Susan, while at Tufts. After completing law school at Harvard in 2001 – a move no doubt inspired by his high school debating days -- he moved back to his hometown of Gorham, Maine. In Gorham, Bartlett clerked for Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Leigh Saufley and immersed himself in the community, serving on the town council, volunteering and writing for the local paper. In running for the District 6 Senate seat, the young Bartlett is going up against 65-year-old incumbent Sen. Carolyn Gilman. Bartlett told the Portland Press Herald that he wants to improve Maine’s economy (he opposes a proposed tax cap) and make it competitive in the realms of health care and biotechnology. He also wants to cultivate tolerance in the state. "It is important that we continue to promote tolerance by outlawing invidious discrimination," he told the Press Herald. - ELECTED

U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.)

A Fletcher School grad, McKinney won election to the Georgia State Legislature in 1988. Four years later, she became the first African-American woman from Georgia to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the state’s 4th Congressional district. In 2002, she lost re-election and is currently running to regain her seat. McKinney claims that her reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in which she called into question the Bush administration’s handling of homeland security and terror intelligence, resulted in Georgia Republicans removing her from office. According to her campaign website, McKinney has worked in the interests of minority farmers, political redistricting, Vietnam and Iraq war veterans, and human rights efforts. "When I go back to Washington you can count on me to tell the truth," McKinney said during a televised debate this fall. - ELECTED

U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)

DeFazio was elected to represent the 4th Congressional district in 1986. He serves on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. According to his campaign website, DeFazio has logged more than three million miles traveling back and forth between Washington D.C. and Springfield, Ore., where he lives. In an October debate against his Republican opponent and political newcomer, DeFazio touted his votes against the war in Iraq, the USA Patriot Act and President Bush’s tax cuts, according to the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. "It has been a very anemic [economic] recovery at best," DeFazio told a reporter for The (Coos Bay, Ore.) World. "I don't think we're getting the same benefits for the tax cuts.” - ELECTED

John Cirignano (R), running for Massachusetts State Representative

Cirignano is running in the 21st Middlesex district, which includes Bedford, Burlington and Precinct 3 in Wilmington. He hopes to replace incumbent Democrat Charles Murphy. A native of South Boston, Cirignano returned to his home state five years ago following nearly 18 years in Texas. After graduating from Tufts in 1963 with degrees in physics and mathematics, he received an MBA and a master’s in physics. He runs on a platform of reform, aiming to curb state spending and boost aid to towns. "An over 40-year resident of Massachusetts, I've seen both good times and bad times," Cirignano said at a debate in October, according to the Wilmington Advocate. "I want to bring back the good times." - NOT ELECTED

U.S. Representative Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.)

Bradley is running for his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he represents New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional district and serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Prior to arriving on Capitol Hill, the former Tufts sociology major spent six terms as a state representative. On Capitol Hill, Bradley supported legislation benefiting veterans and the environment and advocated the Defense of Marriage Act and the USA Patriot Act. "We’ve made a lot of progress on the war on terrorism; we’re working to rebuild our economy. I think there’s work to be done," he told Foster’s Daily Democrat. - ELECTED

Massachusetts State Sen. Scott Brown (R)

Brown won his Senate spot in a special election during the March 2004 primary to replace Sen. Cheryl Jacques. Prior to that, he represented the 9th Norfolk district in the Massachusetts State House since 1998. Brown, an attorney, has also been a member of the Massachusetts National Guard for 25 years, holding the rank of Major in the Judge Advocate General Corps. Brown is facing a challenge from his primary opponent, Democrat Angus McQuilken. "Putting more money into the economy would help to create jobs," Brown said in support of income tax reduction during an October debate, according to the MetroWest Daily News. - ELECTED

Minnesota State Rep. Frank Hornstein (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)

Hornstein received his master’s degree in urban and environmental policy from Tufts in 1985. Over the years, he has been involved with many community organizations, including key roles in the Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota, the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and the Metropolitan Council. In 2002, he was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he worked on transit and regional growth issues as well as renewable energy. The progressive democrat has collaborated with a republican colleague, state Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, to work on improving the state’s transit system. Transit concerns have emerged as one of Hornstein’s marquee issues. "We have a growing region, we have a region that needs to remain competitive," Hornstein told Minnesota Public Radio. "We have people that rely on transit for their commute, people rely on transit because they don't have other means of transportation, it's a whole broad diverse group." - ELECTED

U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.)

Pallone is running for his 9th term in Congress, representing New Jersey’s 6th Congressional district. He is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and has also been active in legislative efforts to better the environment. Pallone has voted apart from his party multiple times, voting against the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, supporting the death penalty and opposing many of President Clinton’s budget and spending proposals in 1993, according to the Associated Press. In his re-election bid this year, he has criticized the pace of economic recovery. "We need to create jobs," Pallone told the Asbury Park Press. "The only way we are going to do that is with some kind of economic stimulus." Pallone’s service in Congress was preceded by five years in the state Senate and as a member of the Long Branch, N.J., City Council. - ELECTED