Katie McManus Joins Select Board Race; Says Board Needs Youthful Approach To Tough Problems

HARWICH – Like many of her classmates, Katie McManus planned to leave Cape Cod for good after graduating from Harwich High School to find a place with better job opportunities, higher paying wages and more affordable housing. 

Now 36, she’s back in Harwich to spend time with her family and sees her peers struggling to meet the cost of living, scrambling to find child care, and more often than not, still living with their parents. In fact, so is she.

 Now a seasoned entrepreneur and leadership coach, McManus has taken out nomination papers to run for select board.

 “I’m bumping into classmates who are building families, really building a life, and have well-paying jobs and still cannot find housing that they can afford,” she said. “If you’re already paying 50 percent of your income on rent for a place, because most people can’t afford to buy here, and you then have to think about paying the other half to someone to take care of your kids if you have young children, it’s just untenable, right?” 

McManus said she hopes to bring a fresh, proactive approach to local government.

 “One of the things I think that our board in Harwich is really missing is that ability to understand just how impossible it is for young people to be here,” she said. 

 McManus moved to California at age 22 and worked in the wine industry before transitioning to sales and, ultimately, leadership coaching. She now works with a variety of small firms and a few big companies like Dropbox. In addition to helping companies train future leaders, McManus works with small business start-ups to help refine their business strategies. It’s the kind of work she can do remotely, and she decided it was time to come back to Harwich as her parents get older.

 Her last name will be familiar to Harwich voters. Her father, Ed, served as a liberal voice on the select board from 2004 to 2021.

 “I think I’m actually a little more liberal than my father,” she said with a chuckle. “I think that there’s a lot more that local government and state government can be doing for our community.” Much of that difference is generational, McManus said. Whether it was paying for college or buying his first house, “he paid a fraction of what my generation would have to pay,” she said. “My generation, I mean, we’re kneecapped. I don’t know a single person my age who works a moderately paying job who’s been able to put any money away for retirement,” McManus said.

 McManus says her campaign will focus on transparency in local government, economic opportunities for residents and preserving Harwich’s natural and historic resources. She favors an aggressive approach to implementing the town’s wastewater management plan, and says she is committed to fostering open communication between town officials and the community.

 Younger people broadly need more representation in government, and McManus plans on sharing her experience with her peers who might be daunted by seeking a seat on a committee dominated by older white men.

 “Part of it is being the example,” she said. “One of the things that I plan on doing is actually documenting this whole process of running for office so that people can go onto a TikTok account” and see how McManus went about withdrawing nomination papers, collecting signatures, contacting the local paper and launching her campaign. She’s also showing how important it is to meet with the community and ask questions. 

 “A big barrier for a lot of people who think about running for office is, they’re like, ‘oh, well, I don’t know all the issues yet,’” McManus said. The message is that coming in without predisposed positions is not a handicap, but an opportunity to learn about the issues, she said.

 As of Tuesday, McManus said she had collected the requisite signatures to be placed on the annual town election ballot; she planned to return the nomination forms to town hall for certification this week. Also taking out papers for the select board were Mark Kelleher and Anita Doucette. Two seats are available this year, one held by incumbent Michael MacAskill and the other by Julie Kavanagh, who has said she does not intend to run for re-election.