Both men served their country in uniform, and we thank them both. This page is about what each would do with your county government. Every line is in their own words or from a published source. Tap any receipt.
Dan Gessen wrote the county’s transfer-fee petition. His first-named priority: “creating a revenue source for housing.”
Receipts
- Gessen authored the petition; ten Assembly delegates, representing 51.4% of the county’s population, supported it in February 2026. Towns would opt in at a rate from 0.5% to 4%, on the portion of a sale above $1 million: Cape Cod Times, Mar. 3, 2026
- 90% of proceeds to town housing trusts, 10% to a regional fund and administration: Provincetown Independent, Feb. 25, 2026
- About $60 million a year, per county officials: Boston.com, Feb. 20, 2026
- “One is creating a revenue source for housing”: candidate forum, Sept. 10, 2026, at 14:46
He wrote the county’s transfer-fee petition. It did not pass on Beacon Hill this year. He is still running on it.
Your Home
“I oppose … increasing the real estate transfer tax.” If a town wants its own fee, the town keeps 100%.
Receipts
- Gessen, “a fee on the sale of luxury second homes”: forum at 15:43. He says 10 of 15 towns backed it at the Assembly of Delegates: 12:53
- The request “did not pass during this year’s session”: Provincetown Independent, Aug. 12, 2026; CAI, Aug. 7, 2026
- Hogue, “I oppose a county-wide property tax and increasing the real estate transfer tax because those proposals would make it even more expensive to own, buy, or sell a home”: hogue4thecape.com
- Hogue, select boards said “We do not want this. Please do not do this.” “And what did the assembly do? They passed it.”: forum at 7:49; a town keeps 100%: 48:08
“A property tax surcharge on homes that sit empty more than half the year.” A second petition, on homes assessed over $1 million.
Homes
“I oppose a county-wide property tax … because those proposals would make it even more expensive to own, buy, or sell a home.”
Receipts
- Gessen: forum at 15:43; Home Rule Petition 26-02, a town opt-in annual surcharge of “$2.50 for every $500 on properties assessed at over $1 million”: Boston.com, Aug. 12, 2026
- Hogue: hogue4thecape.com
Cutting property taxes “by a couple percent” is “not a sustainable policy solution.”
Taxes
For seniors: “best way to help them is put money back in their pocket.”
Receipts
- Gessen, the full sentence: “Anyone that tells you you can just cut property taxes by a couple percent and that’s going to solve the fact that the home on Cape Cod requires three times the median income to afford — it’s not a sustainable policy solution.” forum at 32:37
- Hogue: forum at 24:34; “not just tax and spend, tax and spend”: 23:54
“I’m running because I want to make county do more.” A county housing fund. A county child-care program.
Government
“Working together, listening to our select boards.” Shared services that save towns money.
Receipts
- His campaign in five words, primary night: “Barnstable County Must Do More”: Falmouth Enterprise, Sept. 2, 2026
- Gessen: forum at 6:41; “Barnstable County can do more”: 1:05:43; regional child-care program: 17:18
- Hogue, the full line: “The county government can do more, but not by just shoving stuff down our throats, but by working together, listening to our select boards.” forum at 8:27; regional DPW, shared HR, payroll and IT: 22:06, 49:17
Asked about state-mandated zoning, he did not say yes or no. He talked about short-term rentals.
Zoning
On the two-family-by-right bill and Question 7: “I’m absolutely against that.” “I’m all for local control.”
Receipts
- Gessen’s answer on S.178 and Question 7: forum at 40:47
- Hogue: forum at 38:07
- The Yarmouth RTC recommends NO on Question 7: our ballot guide
A student at Columbia Law School in New York City, as reported through September. How would he do both?
Up
Barnstable homeowner and small-business owner. Wants county meetings moved from Wednesdays at 10 a.m. to evenings.
Receipts
- “Gessen is currently studying law at New York’s Columbia Law School”: Cape News, Feb. 12, 2026; “now a student at Columbia Law School”: Provincetown Independent, Aug. 12, 2026; described as a Columbia law student: Provincetown Independent, Sept. 2, 2026
- Hogue on evening meetings: forum at 51:02; home and work: 33:58, 52:06
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Election Day
Forum quotations are from the Mashpee TV recording of the September 10, 2026 candidate forum, co-hosted by the Mashpee Republican and Democratic Town Committees. They are trimmed for length only, never reworded. Photos: Hogue campaign photo (hogue4thecape.com); Gessen campaign photo (dangessen.com).
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