From fishing boat to Congress? Meet Tyler Macallister, who’s challenging U.S. Rep. Bill Keating
There are two things you need to know right off the bat about Tyler Macallister.
First, he's of Scottish, not Irish, descent, so you'd better resist the urge to add any extraneous capital letters to his last name.
"It's all one word," he said earlier this week. "There's no capital 'C' or 'A.'"
Second, the man knows his tuna. Bluefin tuna , to be exact. And to borrow from a famous playbook, Macallister, a commercial fisherman and trained marine biologist from Mattapoisett, wants to make bluefin tuna great again.
His passion for the fish, in fact, landed him a featured role on the Discovery Channel show "Harpoon Hunters" last year. It was the culmination of a journey that started in his teens.
"I have actually been working with NOAA in the Department of Commerce on rules and regulations and management of bluefin tuna, an animal I built my life around since I caught my first one at 17 and studied them undergrad into grad school, and have continued to fish for them every year."
And this year, Macallister, 58, who's spent 15 years as a member of Mattapoisett's Select Board, is looking to take on a new challenge: Winning an election to Congress as a Republican in a year in which the political winds are expected to blow against the GOP.
He's also running against deeply entrenched incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-9th District, a onetime Norfolk County prosecutor who's been on Capitol Hill since 2010 .
"What concerns me is that the representatives to the district, at multiple levels, haven't shown any sort of concern over what's going on both terrestrially and on the ocean," he said.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Macallister talked about the needs of the South Coast, wind energy, how he'd work to tame the high cost of living, and, of course, bluefin tuna.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
MassLive: Why are you running?
Macallister:I've been a select board member for 15 years in Mattapoisett. I moved to Mattapoisett in 2001. I grew up on the Cape. I graduated from Barnstable High School in 1986. So I actually considered the run when I was asked about my future plans, as I'm in the last year of my last term on the Select Board. And, you know, some of the things that are going on within the district have created a lot of interest for me to get involved politically at a higher level.
I've been trying to help (to) get the word out to restore the fisheries to this district. Because this district has the most coastline of all the districts in Massachusetts, it has an effect on fisheries' interests. So that was kind of the springboard to get me going. And then, you know, from there, I have been doing offshore research work in the area of offshore wind.
I've watched what's going on with the offshore wind development. And as a trained marine biologist and also a commercial (and) recreational fisherman, I am gravely concerned about the damage it's doing to the ocean.
Q: So is that someplace, in your view, where Mr. Keating has fallen short? Where he doesn't understand the needs of residents and the needs of your industry?
A:What concerns me is that the representatives to the district, at multiple levels, haven't shown any sort of concern over what's going on both terrestrially and on the ocean.
Q: You were at the White House last year . And you were meeting with White House officials there. Were you recruited for this race? What was the purpose of that meeting?
A:That meeting was an introduction. For me, it was great, because I had actually just come off of about a four-month kind of road tour leveraging the television show "Harpoon Hunters" I had just done.
I was advocating for the bluefin tuna, getting public awareness out there that it's okay to eat them again. There's lots of them around. They're a great source of protein. And so it really worked out well. I actually got to hold my big "Make bluefin tuna great again" sign right in front of the White House. So it was just a meet-and-greet. It was, "Hi, how are you? What are your plans? What are your thoughts? What do you see going on in the district?" It was just very high-level. I'd never been there. So, for me, it was just a, you know, soak it in experience, for sure."
Q: The South Coast is a changing region. It's steadily becoming more purple. When you're out and you're talking to voters, what are you hearing? What concerns are you hearing reflected back to you?
A:It's been really an education for me within the district. Growing up on the Cape, I have a pretty good understanding of the things that happen on Cape Cod. So then I moved to Mattapoisett in 2001, when I met my wife.
What I've learned, and continue to learn, is that you can't apply the same things that are concerns on the Cape, generally. It may not be the same concerns as in Bristol County. ... And as you work your way north, I mean, Plymouth County almost has four distinct zones of concerns because you've got the coastal communities of Plymouth County, and then you get 10 miles away from the coast and they've got other things on their mind.
But if you were to look at kind of the ... No. 1 right now is energy. I mean, we open our electric bills, our natural gas bills when we go, "OK, when's this gonna end?"
Q: You mentioned that, if elected, you want to lower the cost of living. Certainly, that is something everybody is talking about. It's something we all deal with. As you know, there's only so much the government can do to affect macroeconomic forces. But what can practically be done to help bring down costs? And how would you do that if elected?
A:Well, again, going back to energy. One of the top things is reducing the cost of energy. ... Once you address energy, you reduce the cost of other things.
Q: Did you vote for President Trump in the last two elections?
A:I did.
Q: Do you consider yourself a Trump Republican? A MAGA Republican?
A:I do not. What I consider myself is a ... I was actually unenrolled for most of my life. ... So I prefer to actually look at the candidates and, you know, what they represent. But you know, you can't run unenrolled in Massachusetts.
One of my big tenets, and this has nothing to do with my political run, is I've been a strong advocate of the Second Amendment. I've been a hunter since the age of 14. I've had a gun license since 15. And you know, so that's a big part of my existence and what I do. I'm a big sportsman, and so I had to make a choice. Basically, at the end of the day, you have to make a choice.
Q: What's your 60-second elevator pitch for your candidacy?
A:Only 60 seconds? (Laughs) Well, I've lived in the district my entire life, so you know, I've seen it change. I've had to obviously roll with those changes. I became involved in Mattapoisett very quickly when I moved here in '01.
I joined the Conservation Commission in '05, and then becoming a select board member in a three-way race where the incumbent did run, the first time that ever happened in the town's history. Getting involved and working with Mattapoisett, a town that I love, was very important to me because good representation oftentimes is not there. It just doesn't exist.
That means I need to understand and I need to advocate not only for the fishermen, not only for the people who are away from the coastline, but also understand what their concerns are and then kind of figure out how to get some things done.
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