Select Board Candidate Ted Dooley Meets Residents at Launch Event

Ted Dooley is running for Select Board. || Monica Sager

Ted Dooley moved to Swampscott eight years ago and said he has found a place that has “truly become our home.”

“We didn’t know many people here, but we soon came to realize that this was such a special town,” Dooley said. “Over time, the community welcomed us, and it has truly become our home and a place we care so deeply about.”

Dooley is now running for Select Board in the only contested race of the April local election, facing Charlie Patsios, Wayne Godfrey and Wayne Spritz.

“I’m running because I believe in getting things done,” Dooley said. “People talk about economic development. I’ve actually done it.”

Ted Dooley and his wife Nicole || Monica Sager

Dooley spoke Tuesday at his campaign kickoff at Dockside Pub, where about 50 residents gathered, about his work to rezone and revitalize Vinnin Square.

“When our local businesses thrive and grow and succeed, they strengthen and diversify our tax base. That helps take pressure off of residents and makes it easier to invest in the things that we all care about,” Dooley said. “I’m running because we need to be honest about where we are as a town. Our infrastructure is aging, our pipes, our schools, our windows, our piers, they’re all aging. We need to be thoughtful now, if we don’t plan and invest the right way, we’re passing along a date or a problem and bigger bills onto residents later.”

One issue Dooley said has “driven me crazier than anything else in this town” is parking on Humphrey Street.

“When I heard a local business recently speaking at a Select Board meeting about how parking has been a real inhibition for her business to grow, it got me thinking that we need to do more, to help and support our businesses, through things like better managing our parking, which we have total control over and doesn’t cost a whole lot of money to better manage,” Dooley said.

Dooley’s three-year-old son Jack, who was covered in campaign stickers, took the mic at the beginning of his father’s speech to tell the crowd to “vote for my dad.” Dooley’s newborn daughter Merri wore a campaign onesie.

A lawn sign for Ted Dooley at Dockside Pub. || Monica Sager

Dooley graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He is also currently pursuing his MBA at the Boston College Carroll School of Management. In 2022, he received a public leadership credential from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dooley is the vice president and senior strategist of Merrimack Potomac + Charles.

In Swampscott, Dooley serves as the chair of the Planning Board, which he has been a member of since 2021. He is also the chair of the Harbor and Waterfront Advisory Committee and a member of the Master Plan, Community Preservation Committees. Dooley has also led the annual Swampscotoberfest since 2022.

“At the end of the day, this campaign is about giving back to a community that has given so much to me and my family,” Dooley said. “I love this town…It’s our responsibility to take care of it. It’s our responsibility to make thoughtful decisions and to leave it better than we found it for the next generation so kids like mine are able to have and inherit a town even better than what we inherited here today.”

Swampscott’s local election will be held Tuesday, April 28. Residents will elect candidates to a variety of positions, from the Select Board and School Committee to Town Moderator and Town Meeting Members.