McCarthy said he will support smaller government and lower taxes if elected to Beacon Hill.
A Wilbraham Republican is planning to run against Democratic Rep. Angelo J. Puppolo Jr. in the November election.
D. John McCarthy, a member of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee, said he will support "smaller government and lower taxes" if elected to the two-year term. He said he is also interested in education.
"If the government is smaller, it does less and taxes can be lower," McCarthy said. "You have more liberty and individual freedoms that way."
D. John McCarthyA spokesman for the Secretary of State's office said that both McCarthy and Puppolo have been qualified to appear on the ballot. Neither would have any opposition in the Sept. 6 primary. The two would square off in the Nov. 6 election.
Puppolo, 43, a lawyer is in his third term on Beacon Hill, was previously a member of the Springfield City Council for almost 10 years.
Puppolo, who lives in Springfield, said he has not heard much about McCarthy but anyone is entitled to run.
"I'm going to run on my record," said Puppolo, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "I think I've been doing a good job representing the 12th Hampden District."
Angelo PuppoloPuppolo said he is prepared for a challenge with about $225,000 in his campaign account. McCarthy said he realizes he is not going to match Puppolo dollar-for-dollar on campaign spending.
Puppolo said he has a full-time district office in Wilbraham as part of his service to constituents.
McCarthy, 64, who is married with one teenage son, retired from Fuji Photo Film USA after 28 years. He was in the marketing department.
McCarthy said he is semi-retired and currently runs a part-time business as a pet photographer.
McCarthy served a little less than 25 years in the U.S. Marine and Navy Reserves. He said he received a bachelor's degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and separate master's degrees in education and business administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
The district includes Wilbraham, about 25 percent of East Longmeadow and Springfield including parts of Forest Park, East Forest Park, Sixteen Acres and the Outer Belt in the city.
