PAC Alleges Worcester Candidate Organized Trump 'Stop The Steal' Trip

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester School Committee candidate is sidestepping questions about past Venmo transactions that a local political group alleges show she arranged bus trips to a Donald Trump "Stop the Steal" rally after the 2020 election.

The political action committee Worcester Working Families this week began running ads questioning Worcester School Committee District E candidate Kathi Roy's Venmo transactions from December 2020. Images of the Venmo log show payments that include references to Trump rallies being held around that time.

"Has anyone asked Kathi Roy where she was on Jan. 6?" the ad says over an image of a Venmo log. The log shows payments made to Roy with descriptions like "bus" and "STOP THE STEAL."

In response to the ad, Roy told Worcester Patch she won't respond to "misinformation and allegations" made by the PAC. Worcester Working Families is supporting Roy's opponent.

"To think that I would respond to their most recent antics, they are sorely mistaken!" she said via email when asked about the Venmo log. "The voters of this district deserve to know where the candidates stand on children and families of the Worcester Public Schools and how they can succeed in getting a first-rate education. I have ran an above board campaign based on substantive oriented issues for the last 5 months and will continue to do so for the next 13 days."

Roy did not respond to followup inquiries via email and phone about the specific allegations made in the PAC's ad.

Scores of Massachusetts residents attended the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally and more than a dozen locals have been arrested, charged and some sentenced for entering the Capitol during the riot — including two Worcester residents. During the rally, Trump asked his supporters to march on the Capitol, where lawmakers were in the process of certifying the 2020 election. The ensuing riot left one Trump supporter dead and caused $2.7 million in property damage, according to federal officials.

Trump supporters across the nation chartered buses to attend the rallies. The U.S. Department of Justice used images of Sue Ianni, a former Natick Town Meeting member, aboard a chartered bus as part of a criminal case against her over the Jan. 6 riot.

The Jan. 6 rally was preceded by several other Trump events meant to whip up support for his effort to remain president, including another "Stop the Steal" rally on Dec. 12 at the Lincoln Memorial. The transactions highlighted by Worcester Working Families are dated between Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, 2020.

Roy is running for the new District E seat in 2023 against Nelly Medina. Roy has taken more conservative positions compared to Medina, seeking to "reevaluate" the use of the district's new "Rights, Respect, Responsibility" health curriculum in lower grades, banning backpacks during class changes and supporting police in schools.

Worcester Working Families is one of two so-called super PACs involved in the 2023 election. The other, Progress Worcester, backed by local business groups, has not yet endorsed any school committee candidates.