Out candidate campaigns with influential endorsement of retiring rep

When retiring Rep. Pat Walrath endorsed Kate Hogan to succeed her as the Third Middlesex District state rep she brought to the campaign more than just the credibility she had built up as the district's representative for 24 years; she also brought the power of warm baked goods.

For several years Walrath had hosted an annual fundraiser for smaller donors where she and her constituents got to chat with each other while noshing on an assortment of tasty pies. On Sept. 7 Walrath threw one of her patented pie-centric fundraisers on behalf on Hogan, a member of the Stow Democratic Town Committee, a board member of the Stow Council on Aging, and a member of the Stow Community Preservation Committee. Hogan's supporters filled Walrath's home and munched on pies as Hogan traveled from room to room, greeting longtime friends and connecting with new supporters of the campaign.

Hogan, who is a lesbian, is one of three Democrats competing in the Sept. 16 primary for Walrath's seat. The other two candidates, Ellen Sturgis, a member of the Stow Board of Selectmen, and Leonard Golder, a former Stow selectman, are also active in local politics. But Walrath said Hogan is the only candidate she trusts to fill her shoes.

"She's the best candidate who's running, and I have a vested interest in who's following me," Walrath said.

With less than a week to go before the primary Hogan appears to be the candidate best positioned to win. In addition to Walrath's endorsement Hogan has also crushed her competitors on the fundraising front, according to reports filed with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, pulling in $16,000 between January and the end of August. Sturgis raised just over half that amount, $8600, and Golder raised just $2000. Hogan said that she is confident about her chances in the primary and preparing to focus her attention on the general election, when the winner will face a stiff challenge from Republican Sonny Parente. Hogan said after knocking on over 5000 doors in the district, which includes Stow, Maynard, Bolton and Hudson, she feels that she has built the critical momentum to win the primary.

"Anybody at this point, especially being Irish, you're always knocking on wood. I'd never say, 'This shall be.' But I'm confident in, how you gauge a campaign. ... That tipping point where you start to see a number of people who support you who you don't know their first names, that's a good sign," said Hogan. "You build momentum. I feel like there's a momentum and that's about getting out and meeting folks in the district."

Walrath's endorsement of Hogan is particularly noteworthy because she has not always been an ally of the LGBT community. In 2004 during the legislature's debates on marriage equality Walrath voted in favor of constitutional amendments put forward by former House Speaker Tom Finneran and former Rehoboth Rep. Phil Travis to ban same-sex marriage. After lobbying from her constituents she switched sides and became a reliable pro-equality vote. Bonnie Winokar of Maynard, former co-chair of Bay State Stonewall Democrats and one of the constituents who lobbied Walrath on marriage, said her endorsement is a sign of both Hogan's strength as a candidate and Walrath's evolution on LGBT issues.

"I think it's quite a statement for Pat, who was not 100 percent with us, to support the lesbian candidate, and I think she's endorsed her because she knows she's the best candidate," said Winokar, a friend of Hogan's who is supporting her candidacy. Winokar remains active with Stonewall, which has endorsed Hogan.

Thus far in the primary LGBT issues have been largely a non-issue, with candidate debates primarily focused on broader concerns like healthcare, education, the housing crisis and the economy. Media coverage of the debates has played up the similarity between the three Democrats in their policy positions on these issues, but Hogan supporters at Walrath's house said that Hogan stands out from the pack because of her temperament and her approach to working with people to get things done.

Mary Algeo, who serves with Hogan on the Stow Democratic Town Committee, said that of the three candidates Hogan seems best-equipped to work with people holding a wide range of views on Beacon Hill.

"I like the way Kate works with people. I like the way she approaches people with differing opinions and her ability to hear both sides, and her temperament lends itself to a position like this," said Algeo.

The one notable instance when LGBT issues came up on the campaign trail was at a candidate's forum in Stow earlier this month, when each of the Democratic candidates was asked about their position on LGBT and abortion issues. All of the candidates support equal marriage rights, but Hogan, who three years ago married her partner of 25 years, Susan Vick, gave a particularly personal answer.

"For me it was very personal, the marriage equality question was very personal, so I answered in a more personal way than the other candidates," said Hogan. "I explained that soon after Susan and I were able to take advantage, there were health issues that arose. Having the rights we had helped make things go easier."

Hogan said so far her sexual orientation has not been an issue in the primary, and she hopes that will be the case throughout the election cycle.

"I'm 50 years old and I've been out all of my adult life, so in some ways I've been going about my life as someone that is a lesbian and has always worked in the community, has worked in may arenas. ... After a fashion you are who you are," said Hogan. "That said, I'm not na?ve [to think] that it wouldn't have an affect or it wouldn't be something that someone would use as a divisive issue."

Vick said Hogan has distinguished herself less for being an out candidate and more for the work she has done locally on elder issues, community preservation, and other issues.

"I think she hopes to be known not as the gay candidate but as the advocate for seniors and other things she's worked on, higher education," said Vick.

Hogan, a Lynn native, said politics has always been in her blood.

"I grew up in West Lynn, and in that way you sort of grow up with politics. ... You grow up a Democrat and you grow up in a union family, so you talk about politics at the dinner table," said Hogan. "At an early age you discover that politics drives so many of the issues that affect our lives."

She's spent the past 25 years working in the publishing and digital print industry and currently serves as vice president for sales and marketing at Gnomon in Boston. But she got much of her training in the field working on the staff at Sojourner: The Women's Forum, a now-defunct feminist newspaper published out of Boston. Hogan began working in sales and marketing in the early '90s and from 1996 to 2000 she served as the paper's executive director.

"That was a great deal of experience in running a small business. I call it my little business degree. You learn everything from budgets to sales to grant writing to event production to operations," said Hogan.

She said the most rewarding experience during the campaign has been going door-to-door in the district and hearing the concerns of the people she hopes to represent. Hogan said she has met people worried about foreclosure on their houses, veterans who are having difficulty accessing services, and small business owners frustrated by red tape. She said those conversations have been crucial to learning about the issues most important to people in the district.

"When people ask you into their home or stand at the stoop and talk to you, they're really telling you what's going on. You're getting a snapshot, and it's been a powerful education for me," said Hogan.