Mr. Fuccillo Goes to Marlborough: Emerson Junior Wins Council Seat

While running for Marlborough (Mass.) City Council, Trey Fuccillo ’25 said, he was asked the same question over and over again: “What’s worth more than winning?” For Fuccillo, the answer was simple.

The campaign. The community. The people. 

At just 21 years old, the junior Political Communications major won the Ward 6 seat on Marlborough’s city council on November 6, and will officially start the job on January 1. 

“It’s the place I love, the place I care about,” Fuccillo said. “We’re already getting to work on some issues and some little things here and there that we’re going to be able to tackle early on, which is what I’m excited for.”

Fuccillo said balancing city council and college is like “having a day job.”

“It’s all worthwhile,” Fuccillo said. “When you do something you love, even the hard days are worth it.”

Fucillo said he received help and support from The Emerson Mafia alumni Facebook group and its nearly 20,000 members. He said that current Emerson students supported him as volunteers, and alumni helped him network with political operatives and donors. 

The biggest issues facing Marlborough, a city of just over 40,000 roughly 30 miles west of Boston, are affordable housing and sustainable development, Fuccillo said. He is against developments that “don’t fit Marlborough,” such as large projects built by out-of-state developers. 

“Making sure that we balance sustainable growth is a big thing for me, and that kind of ties back into that affordability,” Fuccillo said. “I’m also making sure we have enough affordable housing stock in Marlborough while being cognizant of what sort of developments are coming to our community.”

Fuccillo also put climate at the forefront of his campaign. He grew up next to Fort Meadow Reservoir, and said it’s one of his favorite places in Marlborough.

“That’s home,” Fuccillo said. “I’ve been swimming in that lake since I was a kid. That’s where I learned how to ice skate. Part of our campaign was making sure that we have somebody who represents that lake and makes sure we have the funding to combat invasive species or the things that might plague our lake.”

In 2022, Fucillo cut his teeth in politics as an intern in the office of Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant, and he said he’s proud to have worked to help Maura Healey – Massachusetts’ first elected woman governor and first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to state office – shatter some glass ceilings. 

As a young person just getting started in politics, Fuccillo hopes to punch holes in a number of ceilings.

“We really do need some diverse stakeholders,” Fuccillo said. “So many issues that our city faces are multigenerational–people from the working professional group and younger generations. We need to bring that perspective forward.”