WASHINGTON, Conn.—Katelynn Borraiz is a tiny woman with a big attitude who takes joy in her life as a mother of four. What she does not take joy in is what she sees as government interference in her parenting choices.
Her conflict with the state led her to throw her hat into the political ring as a Republican candidate for state representative for the 64th District. Borraiz has been making the rounds of political events in the 64th District, a sprawling area that takes in the entire towns of Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Norfolk, Sharon and Salisbury, and the southern part of Goshen and much of the city of Torrington and that is currently served by Democratic veteran, Maria Horn.
Borraiz is a political newcomer who she says she has received little encouragement or assistance from the district’s Republican town committees or other Republican candidates. “I am not a politician, I’m not polished enough for them,” she says.
At 37, she projects a youthful air and laughingly said in a video interview with conservative podcaster Rob McCulloch, who launched “The Nutmeg Right” this year, that some of the region’s Republicans “treat me like a grandchild because everyone else is 65 and up.”
She did not qualify for a Citizen Election Program grant, a voluntary funding source that awards campaign grants based on a wide-spread show of support from small donors. That has pinched her campaign finances, and she does not have a campaign website with biographical and political information for voters. Instead, she uses a Facebook page, “Katelynn for the 64th,” to communicate.
Borraiz did not respond to a request from the Kent Dispatch for an interview but made a summer appearance in Kent at the Republicans’ annual breakfast. She told the party faithful during that appearance, “I may not be the most experienced candidate, but I will tell you that I will never quit this battle [for parental rights]. Hopefully … I will inspire regular people to step up and fight with me no matter if I win or lose. My campaign is not about you and I, but about our children, who we cherish so much.”
Borraiz, who lives in Washington, Conn., is enmeshed in a years-long battle with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) over her determination not to vaccinate her children and hers and her husband’s subsequent decision to home school. In her interview with McCulloch, she did not elaborate on the issues with DCF but said she had been threatened with losing her children if she doesn’t comply with state regulations.
“The DCF was trying for two years to take my kids because of what I believe in,” she said. “I have been in that position where I was scared.”
Instead of bending to officialdom though, she is fighting in court and has decided to run for office on a platform of “medical freedom” and “parental rights.”
She wants more protection for the home-schooling community and wants the religious exemption for vaccination restored so her children can return to public schools.
Connecticut eliminated its decades-old religious exemption for school vaccinations in 2021 under Public Act 21-6, requiring all students to be immunized to attend public or private schools unless they qualify for a medical exemption.
But removing children from school is not easy for parents who disagree with vaccination policies. “Not all parents can home school,” she told McCulloch. “It’s getting harder and harder with finances today.” She said she works two jobs while her husband, who is unable to work, has taken over the job of teaching their children.
Borraiz is also on record as having opposed SB 6, which would have required the Department of Education to notify the Department of Children and Families when a parent/guardian withdrew a child from public school, so that DCF could identify potentially at-risk children who were removed from the public school system. The bill did not pass the legislature.
During her appearance with other Republican Party candidates in Kent in July, Borraiz said she wants to see Connecticut thrive and said that would include lowering taxes and high energy bills. She is critical of Horn, who chairs the state finance committee. “She is literally responsible for our budget,” Borraiz asserted, questioning how Horn received the endorsement of the Independent Party. “You can’t be more part of the establishment than that,” she said.
In a Facebook posting, she further criticized Horn for supporting “[religious exemption] legislation that bans my kids from school, weaponizing DCF against homeschoolers, removing local control over zoning, putting gambling at the tips of the youths’ fingers, spraying our waters with chemicals,” and the like.
“We are sick of seeing our friends and family leave the best state in America with the greatest neighbors in the world,” she concluded. “Help me save Connecticut so we can get back to enjoying this beautiful state.”
