Meet Emily Burns: Candidate For MA 4th Congressional District

NEWTON, MA — Newton mom and businesswoman Emily Burns is campaigning against Jake Auchincloss to represent Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District in the 2022 election.

Burns, who is running as part of the Republican Party, spoke with Patch to talk about why she is running, what her goals would be if she gets elected, and why the Fourth District needs a political amateur in office.

With a focus on solving everyday problems rather than 'playing party politics,' Burns said she is mainly running for one important reason - to help communities get out of the pandemic rut.

"I've been frustrated with the policies of the last 18 months and the sense that we are stuck and not moving past it," she said. "We need to find a way to move past the pandemic. I'm not saying we don't need to deal with it, but people are ready to move on."

Here are a few of the top issues Burns would focus on if elected:

Removing masks and mandates

Burns believes in getting rid of masks, especially in schools, as children are at lower risk or COVID-19 than adults and are expected to have their faces covered for eight to 10 hours per day.

"There are harms that come from extending masking like this," said Burns. "We don't know what they are. We do know there has been no effort taken to understand the social and emotional harms for children."

"I believe this for essential workers, too," she continued. "We have high levels of vaccination without mandates. If they don't choose to get a vaccine at this point, that's their choice."

School choice

Burns is an advocate for allowing people to easily decide where their children attend school without facing boundaries related to where they live, how much money they make, or the opportunities they have been presented with.

"School choice is a huge thing," she said. "I think choice fixes almost everything and I believe in finding ways to make it so that funding follows the child. So it's not just rich people who have access to educational opportunities."

Free speech

Burns hopes to reaffirm the commitment to free speech and open dialogue that has seemed to get lost in a rocky political climate amidst the pandemic.

"We really need to reaffirm our commitment to free speech and open dialogue," she said. "I feel like we are not having a conversation in this state, we tend to shut people off."

"We need to repair the damage we have done to kids and our economy," she continued. "If we can't talk about those things, then it's going to be really hard to fix that."

Bringing a political amateur into office

Burns said she sees her lack of political experience as a positive rather than a negative, as the district could benefit from some alternative approaches to the issues at hand.

"I think having somebody who has the view of a citizen as opposed to the view of a politician is useful," she said. "We never used to have professional politicians, they were always amateurs. I think it means I haven't lost my creativity and my ability to look at problems outside of their impact on politicians."

Burns encourages Fourth District residents to reach out to her via Twitter and connect with her in person at events over the next year to open up dialogue about what they would like to see in their next representative.

"I'm not going to Washington for a job," she said. "I'm going to Washington to do a job."