In the race for State Representative in the 5th Plymouth District, Republican incumbent Dave DeCoste won re-election over his Democratic challenger, Emmanuel Dockter.
“I’d like to thank everybody who worked on the campaign, I’m very grateful,” said DeCoste. “It’s a team effort when you win, our team did terrific.”
DeCoste, of Norwell, won re-election to the State Rep. seat he’s held since 2015. He had 13,131 (50.74%) votes over Dockter, who had 12,746 (49.26%). The district is for the towns of Hanover, Norwell, and Rockland.
Both candidates served on the Board of Selectmen in their respective hometowns.
“I used to go fishing on Hackett’s Pond, as a matter of fact, Tony the Barber next to Hackett’s Pond still cuts my hair,” said DeCoste. “He was cutting my hair during the Nixon administration. It’s special to be able to represent the people that you grew up with.”
Dockter won Hanover by a 395-vote margin, but DeCoste won in Norwell and Rockland.
DeCoste felt issues around police and transportation were deciding factors in the campaign. He felt that constituent services were key.
“My aide, Natalie Ellard just does a great job so that we were able to handle many of the larger issues. She did the day-to-day, really high volume of work that’s resulted because of all the people requiring services from the government because of the pandemic,” said DeCoste. “Everything from healthcare, educational assistance, unemployment assistance, unemployment fraud. A whole host of issues that she capably dealt with.”