It’s now a proper race, with four candidates—including Manchester resident Christina Delisio—stepping up so far to compete in the special election to fill the late Mass. Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante’s 5th Essex District seat and setting up a two-party contest ahead of the March 3 primary and March 31 general election.
Delisio, who served on Manchester’s Planning Board until 2023, announced her candidacy as a Republican on Saturday to a group of supporters at Boo Bird restaurant on Central Street.
The announcement followed that of Gloucester’s Ashley Sullivan, a former local Republican party leader who ran against Ferrante in 2022 and who, three weeks ago, announced that she was running to fill Ferrante’s seat.
The two Republicans join two Democrats who entered the race early in December: Dru Tarr of Gloucester and Sarah Wilkinson of Rockport. Primary winners from each party will advance to the special general election in the district that includes Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport.
Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the Gloucester Democrat first elected in 2008 and rose to become the vice chair of the powerful Massachusetts House Ways & Means budget committee, died early Thanksgiving morning after a long battle with cancer. Ferrante’s death leaves a rare open-seat contest on Cape Ann.
For voters, it’s a compressed schedule with limited time for forums, retail campaigning, and side-by-side comparisons. For candidates, it’s a sprint that rewards early organization, name recognition, and strong turnout operations in four communities that don’t always vote in high numbers for stand-alone special elections.
Between now and the March 3 primary for both parties, the early storylines to watch are straightforward: whether Democrats coalesce behind a “continue Ferrante’s work” message or split along town and experience lines; whether Republicans consolidate quickly or run a contested primary now thru February.
Of course, there’s also the possibility that additional candidates file before the Jan. 31 deadline, which could complicate the already compressed race.
The Republicans: Ashley Sullivan and Christina Delisio
At her launch event, Christina Delisio spoke of themes that were familiar to locals who watched her time on Manchester’s Planning Board, where she became a vocal critic regionally of Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities (“3A”) zoning mandate requiring towns served by the commuter rail to allow multifamily housing by right.
Delisio repeatedly challenged how the town addressed the state law, and after leaving the board she later became active on the issue statewide, creating and administering a Facebook group opposing the mandate and arguing that the state’s one-size-fits-all approach to zoning should not be imposed on local communities.
On Saturday, Delisio focused on financial pressures facing residents and what she described as increasing state interference in local affairs. She pointed in particular to rising electricity costs and broader state policies that she said are making daily life more difficult for working families and seniors.
“Things are getting harder, faster, and people are having a harder time being heard,” Delisio said.
She described Cape Ann as one of the most expensive regions in the state and argued that statewide mandates often compound affordability challenges rather than ease them. Government, she said, has become disconnected from the realities faced by residents and small businesses, with policies imposed without sufficient coordination or accountability.
“We need coordination, not consolidation,” Delisio said.
Delisio, a married mother of three with a law degree, returned repeatedly to the issue of electricity costs, which drew strong reactions from the audience. Indeed, Massachusetts residential electricity rates are among the highest in the nation, generally hovering around 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, placing the state well above the national average.
While noting that legislators do not directly set utility rates, Delisio said lawmakers influence the policies and mandates that drive energy costs. She said she would support extending the state’s current net-zero emissions deadline of 2050 to allow more time to pursue alternative paths that balance environmental goals with affordability and reliability, particularly for residents on fixed incomes and small businesses.
Running against Delisio in the Republican primary is Ashley Sullivan, a longtime Gloucester resident and small-business owner. While launching her campaign, Sullivan emphasized many of the same affordability pressures, while also highlighting the need to protect the region’s fishing industry and strengthen the local economy.
“At the heart of it is bringing people together over things we can agree on,” Sullivan said, “like protecting our fishermen, protecting our environment, and protecting our families.”
Sullivan moved to Cape Ann more than 20 years ago after meeting her husband, Caoin Sullivan, a Rockport native. The couple raised their children locally and now co-own Shore Tech, a Gloucester-based business that provides electrical and technological services to commercial and recreational vessels across the North Shore.
Their daughter—a senior at Gloucester High School who works in her family business—plans to study criminal justice at Salem State University with the goal of becoming a K-9 officer, and their son has enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and is scheduled to ship out in June.
“I love Gloucester and all of Cape Ann,” Sullivan said. “We raised our children here, and we built a business here. Cape Ann has blessed me like no other place, and I want to help this place thrive for all our families.”
A former chair of the Gloucester Republican City Committee, Sullivan said she had already decided to run for the 5th Essex District seat before the death of Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante. She was the Republican nominee for the seat in 2022, campaigning on support for small businesses and the fishing industry.
Sullivan’s campaign orientation is clearly rooted in her day-in-day-out experience working as a small business proprietor in the heart of one of the region’s most critical industries. Her platform if firmly one of limiting government and greater transparency, arguing that excessive regulation in areas such as business, education, healthcare, and environmental policy often hurts the very taxpayers and local industries they’re supposed to help.
Sullivan has been especially critical of offshore wind development, which she says threatens marine ecosystems and the future viability of commercial fishing.
Sullivan argues that turbine foundations, subsea cables, and related infrastructure disrupt the ocean floor, interfere with fish migration, and pose risks to whales and other marine life. Her opposition comes as Massachusetts-linked offshore wind projects, including Vineyard Wind and SouthCoast Wind, move forward amid ongoing federal reviews, legal challenges, and construction delays.
“I don’t want any of it in our oceans,” Sullivan said. “Clean, free, and clear fishing grounds.”
Sullivan lives in Rockport with her husband and their two children, who are 11 months apart and both seniors at Gloucester High School. She also has two adult stepchildren in their mid-20s.
Winner of Tarr and Wilkinson Primary Awaits
The Republican campaign launches follow announcements in early December by two Democratic candidates already in the race. Dru Tarr— no relation of Mass. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester)—is Rep. Ferrante’s former research and district director. He entered the contest emphasizing continuity and his nine years of experience working alongside Ferrante on State House and district matters.
A lifelong Gloucester resident, Tarr has said he hopes to “continue a legacy of service” through the kind of hands-on constituent work Ferrante was known for.
Also seeking the Democratic nomination is Sarah Wilkinson of Rockport, a longtime civic leader in Rockport who served 18 years on that town’s Select Board. Wilkinson was the first candidate to declare and has framed her candidacy around public service and local stewardship, saying she felt called to step forward following Ferrante’s sudden death.
With both Democrats organizing early, the party’s primary is shaping up as a choice between an inside-the-office successor and a longtime municipal official with deep local experience in Rockport.
The March 3 primary will determine which candidates, both Republican and Democrat, will advance to face each other in the March 31 special election.
The Cricket will be covering this race as the primary and special election approaches. Letters and comments may be sent to erika.brown@thecricket.com.
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