2 Candidates Withdraw from State Rep Race

– Allison Goldsberry

Story updated 5:13PM Monday, December 31, 2007

Two Arlington residents running for the 23rd Middlesex House seat have dropped out of the race after failing to get the 150 certified signatures required to be on the ballot.

Susan Lovelace, one of three Arlington School Committee members making a run for the seat, and Suzanne Gordon, a local writer, both submitted statements to local news website YourArlington.com stating that they had failed to get enough valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Gordon, who received enough valid signatures to get on the Democratic ballot, did not receive enough valid Working Families party signatures, so she decided to bow out of the race, according to YourArlington.com.

The race has now shrunk to five candidates, all of whom are Arlington residents. Two Arlington School Committee members remain in the race, Jeff Thielman and Sean Garballey. Former Arlington Town Moderator John Worden is making a run for the open seat, as well as Robert Valeri, the sole independent candidate in the race, and Andrew O’Brien.

The primary election is scheduled for February 5, 2008, the same day as the Massachusetts presidential primary. Three candidates will duke it out on the Democratic side- Thielman, Garballey, and O’Brien – with the one with the most votes advancing to the general election on March 4.

Worden, running as a Republican, and Valeri, running independent of any party, face no primary opposition and will automatically be in the general election.

The house district, formerly held by Jim Marzilli for seventeen years, includes much of Arlington and West Medford, including all of Ward 6 and Precinct 2 of Ward 3, Medford’s largest precinct.