MCLA Student Paula Kingsbury-Evans Running for 1st District State Rep
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA student Paula Kingsbury-Evans has officially entered the race to represent the 1st Berkshire District at the State House.
Kingsbury-Evans, a 21-year-old Democrat who will graduate from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in May, said she decided to run to represent the young people of Berkshire County. Seventy-four-year-old state Rep. John Barrett III, also a Democrat, has held the seat since a special election in 2017.
"The First Berkshire District is in need of a young voice with lots of energy and new ideas and creative solutions to some of the problems and issues that the residents are facing," she said.
Originally from Davis, Calif., Kingsbury-Evans has volunteered with MCLA's Volunteer Center, Berkshire Regional Arts Integration Network and MCLA's student government. She highlighted education as one major issue in Berkshire County that she hopes to tackle.
"Finding the resources to provide quality education, at no cost for the residents, and ensuring the educators themselves are also getting fairly and equally compensated for the work that they're doing," she said.
Infrastructure is another issue that Kingsbury-Evans said she wants to work on. She explicitly mentioned the North Adams public safety building and the road conditions of Route 8 as two examples.
"A lot of this comes down to the Berkshires not really being seen in the State House and in the state government," she said.
While she recognized her lack of experience compared to Barrett, who has served the area in some form for nearly five decades, Kingsbury-Evans said she could provide a new perspective and enthusiasm that the district is lacking.
"The Berkshires need someone that is willing to pull those late nights in the statehouse and early mornings in Berkshire County," she said. "We need someone that is going to fight for the community tirelessly, and listen to the community and be in all the 13 towns, figuring out, exactly, what they need from the state government."
Kingsbury-Evans said helping people is what she is most looking forward to if elected.
"I'm really excited to be able to help people and take their thoughts and issues and things that they want to see done to the state government and get that process started so that they can feel more safe and more at home in their community," she said.
Kingsbury-Evans is not the first MCLA student to run for public office in the County. Fellow student Joshua Vallieres ran for and won a seat on the North Adams School Committee last year.
"This place has become my home over the past four years, and I want to see it reach its full potential," she said.
Those interested in learning more about Kingsbury-Evans and her campaign can visit her website at paulaformass.com.
Tags: election 2022, state representative,
