A Carver resident is poised to become the town’s next state representative, regardless of which party wins, after incumbent state Rep. Susan Gifford lost her primary election last month.
Gifford, a Republican who is from Wareham, has represented the 2nd Plymouth house seat since taking office in 2003. Gifford’s seat encompasses all of Carver and Wareham. It also includes the southern half of Middleboro.
After Carver resident John Gaskey defeated Gifford in the Republican primary last month, the town is now set to send one of its residents to Beacon Hill for the district, after over 20 years of a representative from Wareham.
Gaskey moved to Carver in 2017 and won an election to the Carver Planning Board in 2020. He ousted Gifford in the September Republican primary election with 59% of the primary vote to Gifford’s 41%.
“There’s voices not just in Wareham, but we have people that are willing to go up to state rep and willing to fight for residents of the district in Carver, in Middleboro, in Wareham,” Gaskey said. “It just so happens that this time I was the one who stood up and said it’s time for a change.”
Gaskey said that he decided to run after looking at Gifford’s record.
“She seemed to be supporting all of the issues that were upsetting all of us,” Gaskey said.
Among these issues, Gaskey said that policies like open borders, gender affirmation and existing tax policies are “harming our families.”
“I believe in strong families, strong communities,” Gaskey said. “And the state just needs to back off.”
Democrat Sarah Hewins, who is a longtime member of the Carver Select Board, launched a write-in campaign for the state house seat after Gaskey won the Republican party’s nomination.
Hewins, who ran for the seat twice before, said that she originally decided not to run because she believed that Gifford would win.
“Susan [Gifford] has served her constituents well for many years,” Hewins wrote on her campaign website. She also wrote that Gaskey has “no accomplishments” and “minimal experience in Carver’s government.”
“I can’t let anyone, especially someone with so little expertise or regard of how government functions and what its function is, just walk into this position in the state house,” Hewins said.
In the past, Hewins ran two separate campaigns for the seat against Gifford, once in 2016 and again in 2018. Hewins lost both races by over 10 points.
“[Hewins] and Susan [Gifford] were closely aligned in their beliefs,” Gaskey said.
Gaskey said that Hewins has the right to run in this year’s election, but felt as if her candidacy was an “opportunistic challenge.”
A Carver resident will head to Beacon Hill for the first time in over 20 years as Hewins and Gaskey face off ahead of the election in November.
“It matters to have someone from Carver,” Hewins said. “But it matters even more to have someone from Carver who actually knows what they’re doing, and that would be me.”
As a write-in candidate, however, Hewins will not appear directly on the ballot.
Voters looking to cast their ballot for Hewins can write her name and address in the blank space under the “Representative in General Court” race. Gaskey will appear on the ballot and voters can cast their ballots for Gaskey by filling in the oval next to his name.
Incumbent state Rep. Susan Gifford did not respond to the Carver Journal’s request for comment.
Contact Editor Nick Mossman at nick@carverjournal.com
