Republican Announces Run for Tolman's Senate Seat

While democrats are positioning themselves for a run to fill the vacant senate seat held by State Sen. Steve Tolman, the winner now knows he will face at least one candidate in a general election.

Steven Aylward, chairman of the Watertown Republican Town Committee, announced that he is running for the republican nomination for the Second Suffolk and Middlesex senatorial district.

The district – the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District – covers Watertown, Belmont, parts of Cambridge and several areas of Boston: Allston, Brighton, the South End and Back Bay.

Currently, running for the post although it is expected that Watertown State Rep. Jonathan Hecht will soon throw his hat into the ring to replace Tolman who was elected President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO last week.

Aylward is the chairman of the Watertown Republican Town Committee and has served four years on the Watertown School Committee, two as its chairman.

“I am running for State Committeeman because I want to end one-party rule in Massachusetts," said Aylward in a press release.

Aylward does acknowledge that a challenge from a Bay State Republican to win the seat will be a difficult one as enrollment in his party is "a scant 11 percent," he said that "what we have been doing in the past is simply not working." 

"We need a new strategies, and bold new ideas to bring our party back to the status it once enjoyed.  We need to energize our base, and work to win elections at every level, from School Committee to Governor," said A 

If elected, Aylward will stake out a reformer's path in his own party by not embracing what he calls "the long time and  failed 'Corner Office Only' strategy, where financial support is given exclusively to the Gubernatorial candidate." 

"All good Republican candidates at all levels deserve consideration for the financial support of the Party," he stated.

Aylward is the founding president and current board member of the Watertown Cable Access Corporation, and is the Vice President of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly.

Aylward lives in Watertown with his wife and family.