Marshfield elects new selectman, incumbents win all other races

MARSHFIELD — Voters in the May 2 town election chose Richard Smith, a former advisory board member and Marine, to fill a select board seat left by former Select Board Member Stephen Darcy, who did not run for re-election.

Even with Smith’s election, the select board is still short a member. After Trish Simpson’s sudden resignation in late March, it remains to be seen if the select board will schedule a special election to either her position or the position of Chair Eric Kelley, who was the subject of a successful recall petition. Kelley can run in the special election and will keep his position until then, so the future makeup of the select board is still largely uncertain.

The town has released unofficial vote counts for the two men who ran unsuccessful campaigns for select board membership: Frank Doran received 922 votes, and Joe Pecevich received 221 votes. Smith received 2,928. Official counts will be available once the town clerk’s office has completed certification.

4,146 people cast a ballot in the election, 18.57% of Marshfield’s voters, Town Clerk Narice Casper said.

Besides the race for select board, all other candidates ran unopposed, and two positions had no candidates. Smith was the only non-incumbent to win an election.

Lauren Dargan, the sole candidate for school committee, won her re-election bid. Dargan is a licensed clinical social worker and served as the school committee’s clerk.

Tyler Waynenims was re-elected to the board of health, Diane Jordan to the board of public works, John Daley to the housing board of commissioners and Katharine O’Donnell to the planning board. James Fitzgerland was also re-elected as town moderator.

No candidates ran for trustee of veterans memorials or for the board of assessors. Casper certified May 4 that voters wrote-in Steven Lynch as a board of assessors member and Steve Barber as trustee of veterans affairs. The two have not announced if they will take the positions.

In a letter to the South Shore Times announcing his candidacy in November 2025, Smith said that he was the vice president of Vicinity Energy, the largest district energy company in the United States. He also said that he is a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Veteran Services and the Marshfield Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

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