As early ballots are dropped off at the offices of Vineyard town clerks and less than a week before the state election takes place, independent gubernatorial candidate Andrea James makes her case on why Islanders should choose her for the state’s top elected seat.
Among the candidates running for governor, James hasn’t been as much in the spotlight as the competition, incumbent Democratic Gov. Maura Healey and the Republican challenger Mike Minogue. Healey and Minogue both have had two televised debates, going head-to-head on various issues, with major themes including affordability and accountability, especially after the alleged rape that occurred at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Oak Bluffs.
James has protested her exclusion from these debates, especially considering 65 percent of voters in Massachusetts aren’t enrolled in a party.
According to a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst with WCVB, Healey leads the pack with a 57 percent approval rating compared to Minogue’s 32 percent. James is at a “distant third” with 6 percent of respondents favoring her over the other two candidates. James’ running mate is Kayla Kittredge, a Middlesex Community College student.
James visited the Vineyard to meet voters on the campaign trail in May and has the closest personal connection to the Island as a part-time resident. James is a former criminal defense and real estate conveyance lawyer and has experience inside the U.S. penal system. In 2010, she was sentenced to two years in a Connecticut prison for fraud, just a few months after the birth of her fifth child, and was disbarred. In a 2017 TIME essay, James wrote that she was sentenced for “one mistake in judgement” and described how her incarceration changed her outlook on life and drove her to advocate for prison reform.
The state election is on Nov. 3. The Times reached out to all three gubernatorial candidates with questions, and representatives of the Healey and Minogue campaigns didn’t respond.
James’ answers were edited for style and clarity.
1. Please introduce yourself (age, occupation, town/city, background).
I’m Andrea James, 62, an independent candidate for governor, a former criminal defense attorney, and the founder of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. I’m a mother of five, a lifelong organizer, and a Bostonian with deep roots in Roxbury.
My family’s connection to Oak Bluffs spans five generations, and we have a home here. The Vineyard is part of my family’s history and our lives today. That connection comes with a responsibility to the people who make the Island a community, especially those struggling to stay.
2. Why are you the best candidate for the role? What are your priorities in office for the Cape and islands, specifically Martha’s Vineyard?
I have spent my life working alongside people whose needs the government too often overlooks, helping families navigate systems that are supposed to serve them, and organizing to change those systems when they fail. I bring legal experience, community leadership, and a willingness to challenge priorities that leave working people behind.
For the Cape and islands, my priorities are year-round affordable housing, universal healthcare and childcare, reliable and affordable transportation, and support for small businesses and the workers who sustain them. On the Vineyard, that means treating ferry service as essential infrastructure and recognizing that housing, healthcare staffing, and the cost of everyday necessities are connected.
My family’s five-generation connection to Oak Bluffs makes this personal. The people who teach our children, care for our elders, build our homes, and keep Island businesses running deserve to live here. The Vineyard cannot remain a thriving community if only wealthy people can afford to stay.
3. Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues Martha’s Vineyard faces. If elected, what is the first act you plan to pursue to support Islanders?
My first housing budget would include dedicated funding to create and preserve permanently affordable, year-round homes on the Cape and islands. I would direct my housing administration to work with Island towns, housing trusts, and nonprofit providers to identify projects that can move quickly, including acquiring existing properties and keeping them available for year-round residents.
Affordability must reflect what people actually earn, with enforceable protections that keep publicly supported homes affordable over time. We also need rental assistance and eviction prevention, so families can remain housed while additional homes are developed.
I support rent stabilization and greater local authority to address displacement. Islanders should not have to wait for the broader housing market to become affordable before their government acts. Housing is a right, and the people who keep the Vineyard running deserve the security of a year-round home.
4. What is your stance on ICE’s activities in Massachusetts?
I oppose immigration enforcement that tears apart families and makes people afraid to work, attend school, seek medical care, or report harm. Detaining a Vineyard father and his teenage son while fishing brought that fear directly into Island life.
Immigrant residents are our neighbors and part of the Island’s community. We cannot treat their safety and dignity as expendable.
As governor, I would end the State Police’s participation in 287(g) and pursue statewide limits on using state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement. I would support immigration legal services and work with the attorney general to challenge unlawful federal actions.
A governor cannot abolish a federal agency. But a governor can refuse voluntary cooperation with harmful enforcement practices and use the Commonwealth’s authority to protect residents’ rights. That is what I would do.
5. Are the State Police’s changes following the alleged rape at the Oak Bluffs barracks enough? What changes are needed to prevent such an incident from occurring again?
No. Not when we consider the broader pattern of incidents involving the State Police and the remaining questions about transparency and accountability. Restricting guests does not address the institutional culture or transform policing.
One of my concerns with how law enforcement responds to harm is that prosecution and punishment are too often treated as the entire solution. Every person who causes harm must be held accountable. But accountability must also address what survivors need to heal and what must change to prevent further harm.
In a case involving alleged rape, that means centering the survivor’s safety, dignity, choices, and access to sustained support, while ensuring a thorough, independent investigation and due process.
This case needs more than a change in guest policy. It needs public answers, accountability at every level where failures are established, and changes that address how harm was allowed to occur. We cannot keep responding to each incident without confronting the institution’s responsibility to prevent the next one.
6. What is your stance on Ballot Question 1?
I support a YES vote on Question 1, which would bring records held by the governor’s office and the Legislature under the Massachusetts Public Records Law, subject to its exemptions.
Residents deserve to know how decisions are made, how public money is spent, and whose interests the government is serving. Protecting legitimate privacy should not become an excuse to shield public business from scrutiny.
My commitment to transparency includes the office I am seeking. I support the legislative audit voters approved and public access to government records. The public should not have to fight its own government for accountability.
7. Where do you see the future of modernizing hunting regulations to combat ticks, including allowing Sunday hunting?
With five generations of family ties to Oak Bluffs and a home here, I take the threat of tick-borne illness seriously. People should be able to work outdoors and enjoy the Island without risking their health.
I support updating hunting regulations where the evidence shows it can help manage deer populations and reduce tick exposure. That includes considering carefully regulated Sunday hunting, with meaningful input from Island residents, tribal communities, public health experts, hunters, and conservation groups. Any expansion must protect residents, respect property rights, and preserve safe access for people using trails and public lands.
But expanded hunting cannot be our entire public health strategy. We need funding for tick surveillance, prevention, habitat management, and accessible diagnosis and treatment. We should measure success by reductions in tick exposure and illness, not simply the number of deer killed.
Modernization means following the evidence, listening to affected people, and funding a coordinated response.
