‘A little red pocket on the New Hampshire border’: The national fissures splitting a competitive Mass. state rep. race – The Boston Globe

The district’s longtime Republican consultant, Sheila Harrington, resigned after Governor Charlie Baker picked her for a clerk Justice of the Peace job.

Now, regardless of headwinds that would make the midterms a banner yr for Republicans throughout the nation, Massachusetts Democrats see a main alternative to flip a seat that has been in GOP fingers since 1984, with Margaret Scarsdale, former chair of the Pepperell Choose Board, set to be the get together’s customary bearer within the race.

Two candidates who’ve by no means held elected workplace are vying for the Republican nomination. Andrew Shepherd, a farmer with average politics, and Lynne Archambault, a health studio proprietor who takes a extra MAGA stance.

So, who’s main?

“I don’t suppose anybody’s a shoo-in proper now,” stated Karen Riggert, a Groton resident, impartial, and a buddy of Harrington who beforehand labored on her campaigns. “Sheila was fortunate to be in workplace for so long as she was.”

The 40,000-resident district — which incorporates all or a part of Groton, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Ashby, Townsend, and Dunstable — sits at a political crossroads. Harrington was first elected in 2010 and reelected 5 occasions, principally with out having to place up a lot of a combat. She’s a popular average Republican who was endorsed by Governor Charlie Baker. However in 2020, a Democrat, Deb Busser, got here near unseating her, shedding by about 800 votes.

Busser, although, isn’t too shocked on the loss.

“You’ve received to know — the district has at all times been extra conservative, and for a very long time has been a bit of crimson pocket on the New Hampshire border,” Busser stated.

Nonetheless, in 2020, Joe Biden would have gained practically 56 p.c of the vote beneath the newly drawn district traces, boundaries that shall be used beginning this election. However traditionally, the realm has routinely elected Republicans on the state degree.

State Senator Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat who represents cities simply south of the district, described the purple 1st Middlesex District as a far cry from jap Massachusetts.

It’s “ignored by Boston and the State Home, and that’s all the things from fixing roads and bridges to not offering sufficient help to rural college districts to underwhelming job development,” he stated.

That constellation of considerations has made the district fertile political floor for a average Republican, observers say.

And of the candidates operating, the one hewing closest to Harrington’s model of politics is Shepherd, who runs a Townsend water supply firm.

A mustache-sporting, button-down-wearing farmer whose household has referred to as the district house for greater than 100 years, Shepherd peppers his Fb web page with a hodgepodge of patriotic posts and “Tractor Discuss” movies. And whereas Shepherd holds some conservative views, similar to opposing vaccine mandates, he leans into conciliation and moderation, and says, for instance, relating to abortion, the federal government shouldn’t “inform any individual what to do in that regard.”

“For my part, individuals who supported Sheila and align themselves together with her views and her values will help Andrew,” stated Joanne Foran, who ran a number of of Harrington’s campaigns.

Shepherd, who interned for Harrington and Baker, stated he’s forging his “personal model of Republicanism.”

When requested, he wouldn’t share his presidential vote in 2020.

“I’m not within the nationwide model of politics,” Shepherd stated. He prioritizes securing state funding for the district and juicing what he characterised as a sluggish native economic system.

“I’m the man that’s shoveling that turkey [excrement],” Shepherd, who raises turkeys, stated at a latest marketing campaign occasion. “And I’m able to go all the way down to Beacon Hill and shovel the [excrement] . . . for our district.”

However there’s a extra conservative pressure of Republican politics within the district, one that’s ascendant within the Massachusetts state get together and the nationwide GOP.

From Shepherd’s proper comes his main challenger: Lynne Archambault, a Pepperell mom of three, schoolteacher, and proprietor of a health studio in Pepperell.

Archambault is operating on a platform of stopping essential race idea from being taught in colleges, pushing again on vaccine mandates, and supporting the police.

“We share plenty of conservative beliefs,” Shepherd stated of his main challenger. “I believe we go about it a bit of in a different way.”

She is a self-described “conservative Republican” who voted for Trump in 2020 however stated going ahead she’s a fan of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis if he steps into the 2024 presidential race.

Archambault launched what she referred to as a voter’s information. It stated her opponent doesn’t oppose vaccine mandates and doesn’t oppose essential race idea in public college curriculums. Shepherd stated he was “disgusted” at this, questioning how she might get away with misconstruing his positions.

One late June night, Pepperell’s senior middle held a candidates evening that includes all 4 challengers. The GOP variations have been stark.

One resident stood up and requested all of the candidates to present a sure or no: “Do you imagine the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump?”

Outright “no’s” from three candidates. Archambault paused.

“I’m going to say there was some fraud,” she stated. “However I’m not certified to say if it was stolen.”

On abortion, Archambault is unabashedly in opposition to abortion rights.

Shepherd highlighted the chance for the district to run an area electrical utility and stated he needed to remain out of federal points. Archambault’s first phrases in her opening assertion on the Republican debate: “Joe Biden.”

Whoever the GOP victor, Democrats are relying on their presumptive nominee, Scarsdale, who has racked up quite a few endorsements from liberal statewide organizations and sitting lawmakers. She is embedded in native politics. A Georgia transplant, she first ran a writing and consulting enterprise and had stints in environmental activism.

Advertisement

Scarsdale, who will face the GOP nominee together with impartial Catherine Lundeen, stated she is “fiscally conservative” and “socially accountable,” repeatedly describing herself as somebody who rolls up their sleeves. She voted for Baker and Biden, and touted her “lifelong Republican supporters.”

In an interview, Scarsdale struggled to reply questions on a number of of her coverage proposals.

When requested about her priorities if elected, Scarsdale stated she hopes to reform how soil dumping websites, like one deliberate in Pepperell, are chosen, however she stated she’s uncertain if this could possibly be addressed through legislative motion. Scarsdale added she hoped to safe extra state assist for native colleges and fund workforce improvement in environmentally sustainable industries.

No matter points most animate voters, native or nationwide, old-school door-knocking would possibly determine the race.

Stated Foran, the previous Harrington aide: “It’s actually going to be who has a stronger presence.”

Simon Levien will be reached at simon.levien@globe.com. Comply with him on twiitter @simonjlevien.