“For me, getting involved in politics was important because I saw the policies affecting my children directly,” said Rayla Campbell, who is running as a Republican. The 40-year-old mother of three made headlines as the first Black woman to make Massachusetts’s statewide ballot. 

Campbell says she is a woman of strong values, with a take-charge attitude, and who wants to make a difference as the Republican candidate for Secretary of State in Massachusetts. She was interviewed by the Scope on Oct. 13.  Inspired by her own children, Campbell knew she needed to get involved in the politics that were affecting Boston Public Schools. This motivated her to run against Rep. Ayanna Pressley for the House in 2020 for Massachusetts’s 7th Congressional District. 

She has stressed the need for transparency from the state for fair elections. She believes this is possible through exclusively in-person voting, where all ballots are hand-counted.

Campbell, who recently came under fire for her views against same-sex education and children’s books on queer expression, said she wants to use FOIA requests to find out more about the Boston Public School curriculums.

Campbell recently took to social media to show books in a public library that includes information about gender identity and comic book illustrations for queer-questioning children. She would like to see books like these removed from children’s libraries. She adds that she believes that once children see and read these books, they can never be forgotten, and they have a large impact on a child. 

She says, “sex education is being forced, gender identity is being forced at a young age, but children still can’t read or live a productive life,” explained Campbell. 

About 85% of her contributors identified as retired, according to records from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. The candidate described these numbers as “exciting” because they reflect a lot of people getting involved again in politics. These are people who see her campaign and want to help make a change for future generations, she said.