A Gloucester woman has launched an active write-in campaign to win the Sept. 14 Republican primary for the state's 5th Essex District House of Representatives seat, and potentially earn a place on the November ballot challenging first-term Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante.
Janet Holmes, a business and communications consultant who works with National Grid and the Massachusetts School Board Authority, is the first candidate to jump into the local House race in any format to challenge Ferrante, who is facing no opposition in the Democratic primary and had been seen getting a free ride through the general election, with no declared Republican candidates on the GOP primary ballot.
The write-in venture marks the first time Holmes, 56, has mounted any run for any office. A native of northern New Jersey, she is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and lived and worked in France and Holland while providing business consultant services before moving with her husband to Salem a number of years ago, then to Gloucester early in 2009.
"I thought some people with more (political) seasoning people might step up," she said in a weekend phone interview. "But I think people are intimidated.
"I think that intimidation comes from not knowing how government works — not knowing the things we can do to make the kind of changes we need," she said. "I just don't like what I see happening — where too many (elected officials) think they know what's best for the majority, and that we should somehow just keep giving government more and more of our tax money. I think there is streamlining that we can do and that we have to do."
In a prepared statement, Holmes said she supports rolling back the state sales tax from its current rate — 6.25 percent, after a 25 percent hike up from 5 percent earlier this year — to 3 percent. She also supports a November ballot initiative that, if passed, calls for doing just that.
"In a bad economy, we need to help businesses keep their prices down and competitive, so that consumers can spend more," she said. "In the long run, as consumers spend more, the state will receive more in tax revenue ... businesses will be able to stay in business, and even create more jobs — everybody wins."
Holmes, however, said she fears the state is headed down at least one wrong business path if it's banking on casino gambling.
"Casinos bring many social problems, such as increased crime, drugs, and the money to manage those issues results in a low return on investment," she said. "The answer to our struggling economy is not casinos, but tax relief.
"Lower the income tax to 5 percent, lower the sales tax to 3 percent," she said. "We need to help the businesses that are already here in Massachusetts — not bring in big casinos that will cause problems and push local businesses out of the way."
On social issues, Holmes said she is "pro-life and practical," supporting efforts to create a "Woman's Right to Know Law" requiring service agencies to make women "fully informed" of the dangers of abortion, to provide an ultrasound of fetal development, and to provide information regarding alternatives to abortion.
She also said that, while she supports the rights of gay couples to "form contracts and protect certain rights," she believes that "marriage is only the union of one man and one woman," and she "supports the right of people to vote on the issue of gay marriage."
While anyone can essentially run a write-in campaign, Holmes is the first to formally announce any such effort in the 5th Essex House District, which covers Rockport and Essex as well as Gloucester.
Her campaign is being touted as a "grassroots effort," but she is working with campaign volunteers and has set up a campaign website, www.HolmesForStateRep.com.
Any Republican challenge would be something new for Ferrante. She sailed through the 2008 general election with no Republican opposition after earning her seat in a high-powered September Democratic primary, when she ousted seven-term incumbent Anthony Verga and bested former Gloucester City Councilor Astrid afKlinteberg in a tense three-way race.
Ferrante said Sunday she has no qualms about facing a potential challenger.
"I had said right from the start that I don't take anything for granted, we were going to run the same campaign whether we have any opposition or not," Ferrante said. "Either way, I want to be to out talking to voters, hearing people's concerns, and see what they want and expect from their state representative.
"I feel very confident in the work I've done over the last two years, and the initiatives I've taken on behalf of the people of this district," she said.
The lack of ballot challengers from either party this year is hardly limited to Gloucester and Cape Ann.
Democrats, who held 144 of 160 House seats and 35 of 40 Senate seats when the current session began, were projected to have free rides to re-election in 96 of those districts as of last week, and Republican incumbents are facing no Democratic challenges in 16 of the 21 districts they hold as well.
The Republican incumbents getting a free ride include state Sen. Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, and 4th Essex House District Rep. Brad Hill of Ipswich, whose district includes Manchester.
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