GOP picks up seat in State House

State House News Service

Updated: May 11, 2011 12:15 PM

Peter Durant, a Spencer Republican, toppled Rep. Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton) Tuesday in a special election made necessary by a tie vote that resulted when the two central Massachusetts candidates squared off in November.

Durant’s victory, a narrow 56-vote win, according to unofficial returns, ends Alicea’s two-term tenure representing the 6th Worcester House District. The result also increases the vastly outnumbered Republican caucus to 32 members, reducing the Democratic caucus to 128.

In the race, Durant received 3,325 votes, Alicea received 3,269 votes, Independent Peter Boria captured 1,275 votes and Robert Cirba earned 71 votes, according to unofficial results.

“It’s been a long process. We’re just happy to finally be able to get to work,” Durant said in a phone interview.

Durant said Alicea called him Tuesday night to concede and is comfortable that the results will hold as any absentee or overseas ballots come in. He said he has been told to anticipate a swearing-in within two weeks.

A member of the board of selectmen in Spencer, Durant campaigned against “empty promises, corruption and mismanagement that our government on Beacon Hill has become so well known for” and for policies he hopes will lift the economy, such as lowering taxes and reducing the size of government.

A former small business owner and Northeastern University graduate, Durant works as vice president of service for Yankee Technology in Ludlow, a company focused on energy conservation and efficiency using advanced technologies.

On the campaign trail, Durant supported casino gambling, allowing cities and towns to become Registry of Motor Vehicles agents, lowering the sales and income tax rates to 5 percent, ending government spending on lobbyists, eliminating project labor agreements, pension reform, consolidating state agencies and limiting spending increases to the rate of inflation.

The Alicea-Durant contest ends the fierce competition between the two following November’s election, when Durant emerged ahead by four votes, a lead that was whittled to one after a recount. In February, a Worcester Superior Court judge ruled that an absentee ballot that appeared to be cast in Alicea’s favor had been improperly rejected by election officials, and he ordered a new election.

House lawmakers, who have exclusive control over whether to follow court orders dealing with their membership, upheld the ruling, necessitating the May 10 special election.

While last year’s election did not produce a winner, Alicea has continued this year to represent the district -- Charlton, Southbridge, East Brookfield and portions of Oxford and Spencer – citing a provision in the state Constitution that permits lawmakers to serve beyond the expiration of their terms until a successor is qualified and sworn in. While he stayed in the House, Alicea was assigned to no legislative committees, but continued to vote on most major issues – including the state budget – as an unsworn member.

Alicea cast no vote during the reelection of Rep. Robert DeLeo as speaker of the House, and he didn’t’ attend the January swearing-in ceremony for members of the Legislature.

In a special election for the 10th Middlesex House District – vacated when Democrat Peter Koutoujian was elevated by Gov. Deval Patrick to sheriff of Middlesex County – Democrat John Lawn, a town councilor in Watertown, emerged victorious, easily besting Republican James Dixon of Waltham 1,814 to 868 and resulting in no change to the political balance of power in the House, according to unofficial results. The district includes portions of Newton, Waltham and Watertown.

According to his campaign website, Lawn identified as priorities better schools, safer streets, working with local businesses to create jobs. Lawn, whose mother also lives in the district, also cited as a priority “keeping our communities livable for those on a fixed income.”

Lawn is one of six children of Irish immigrants. He grew up in the district he will represent and graduated from Merrimack College in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology.

After working at Fidelity Investments for 11 years, he was laid off in 2002, a time when he had two young children. Two years later, he started his own business, Charles River Real Estate Inc. Lawn and his wife Shannon have five children, including six-year-old triplets. In Watertown government, he chaired a committee that oversaw a $15.3 million police station project completed last fall.

Once the election results are certified and the new members sworn in, the House will return to its full, 160 members for the first time since Koutoujian exited in January.

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