Adams, Marci face off in special election Feb. 6 for vacant state Senate seat

For registered voters in Worcester’s sixth district, Tuesday will be Election Day. Their choices lie between two Republican candidates vying to fill a vacant House seat and the possibility of writing in a name on their choice of either a Democratic or Libertarian ballot to fill the seat.

Head-to-head on the Republican ballot are Southbridge Councilor David Adams and Dudley Selectman John Marsi. Both have fulfilled nomination requirements and their names will appear on the Republican primary ballot.

Once registered to vote, Massachusetts residents do not have to be registered to a particular party to vote in a primary election. All registered residents in Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4A in Charlton and in Precinct 1 in Spencer may cast ballots, along with registered voters in Dudley and Southbridge.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 6 in the selected communities.

Both Republican candidates have extensive experience in local politics, having served on their municipal governing bodies.

How are they similar?

Both speak in favor of the Second Amendment and object to new gun control laws that restrict the rights of registered gun owners and law-abiding citizens. Both are critical of the federal government and how it is addressing the border crisis.

Both are seeking to parlay their accrued local experience onto the bigger state stage and serve a regional constituency.

If elected, they would fill the vacancy created when the former Rep. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, was elected to fill an unexpired Senate term. That vacancy was created when Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, accepted a job with the Healey/Driscoll administration as state director of rural affairs.

The winner of the primary election will appear on the ballot March 5, the day scheduled for the special election to fill the vacant 6th Worcester District House seat. The winner’s name will appear along with space for write-in votes for a Democrat and a Libertarian.

The special election coincides with the state’s presidential primary. There will be a separate ballot for each election.

Adams banking on lived experience

Adams is a retired sergeant major who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and serves as the veterans service agent in Oxford. He is counting on his political and life experience, and his accomplishments as a Southbridge selectman, to win him the spot on the March ballot.

Accomplishments on the municipal level include securing $150,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act and experience on the community’s planning board in addressing local infrastructure issues, fostering economic growth and contributing to the revitalization of Southbridge.

Listing the top issues facing the Central Mass. communities he hopes to represent, Adams talked about the housing crisis that affects the whole state, the lack of services for mental health issues and the influx of migrants taxing the state’s emergency shelter system, as well as local schools, municipalities and service providers. He noted that regional issues also play out locally.

“Affordable housing 40B (set aside housing construction) projects, infrastructure supports for veterans, seniors, mental health and first responders” are all critical concerns, Adams said. Thanking his supporters and the voters of the 6th Worcester District, he touted his commitment “to transparency and open communications.”

Marsi has experience working with state politicians

From Dudley, where he has served as a selectman for a dozen years, Marsi touts his ability to collaborate, negotiate and work with everyone for the greater good of the community. He points to his close past association with Durant, having worked with the former representative on legislative issues important to his municipality and surrounding communities.

“Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to talk with so many voters across the 6th Worcester District,” Marsi said. Through those conversations, he said he has learned that “there has been no greater pressing concern than spending, whether it's the fiscal irresponsibility of the migrant crisis, a failing Chapter 70 aid formula for our schools, or the crippling cost of living that is pushing so many people away from Massachusetts. People deserve answers.”

Addressing state spending, Marsi said, would be one of his “top priorities” as a state representative.

“I’m proud to have the trust and endorsement of Senator Peter Durant and Sheriff Lew Evangelidis and you can count on me, too, to fight every day for the interests of the hardworking men and women of Charlton, Dudley, Spencer and Southbridge,” Marsi said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Special election to determine who fills open Central Mass House seat