Meet Beverly's Biggest Political Donor

BEVERLY, MA — What do U.S. Reps Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Senate candidate Tina Smith all have in common? In addition to being Democratic politicians, all of them —and dozens of others — have received campaign contributions from a Beverly man who made his fortune in software and was inspired by meeting President John F. Kennedy when he was a teenager.

As of June 30, Joseph Alsop has already contributed $111,864.20 to political action committees and candidates for federal office this election cycle. By comparison, all the other donations coming from the 01915 zip code that covers Beverly and parts of Salem had totaled $178,501.54, meaning Alsop was responsible for 38.5 percent of all federal political campaign contribution originating from the zip code, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Alsop said he did not start making campaign contributions until 2011, when he started backing Democratic candidates in states and districts across the country.

"I have been concerned about concentration of wealth and the power of oligopolies, particularly since 2016," Alsop said. "I hope to help create an environment where everyone wins, not just the wealthy and well connected, and which preserves American leadership in the world."

The founder of Progress Software, Alsop, 74, is also the son of Stewart Alsop and the nephew of Joseph Alsop, who were influential political journalists from the 1940s through the 1970s. He graduated from MIT in 1967 and founded a small software company with other MIT grads which they eventually sold.

Alsop founded Bedford-based Progress in 1981, which now has 1,500 employees in offices in 16 countries, and had revenue of $397.6 million in 2017. After stepping down as CEO of Progress in 2009, he formed Alsop Louie Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm.

Lifelong Interest In Politics

In 2017, Alsop outbid seven other people to purchase John F. Kenndey's 61-page diary for $718,750. Kennedy kept the diary during a brief stint as a journalist after World War II. At the time, Alsop said he had developed a lifelong admiration for JFK after meeting him as a teenager.

"A couple things that really struck me: Extremely piercing blue eyes that were not captured by any kind of photograph or video or anything like that," Alsop told WBZ after he purchased the diary.

Most of Alsop's 63 contributions this election cycle have gone to candidates' committees, but he has donated $10,000 the America Works Federal PAC, $2,000 to AMERIPAC: The Fund for A Greater America, $3,769.60 to the New Hampshire Democratic party and $1,650 to the Iowa Democratic party.

Alsop has backed Congressional candidates in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, among other states. Biden is the only presidential candidate he has backed this election cycle, with a $1,000 contribution in April.