2nd Worcester - Now We're Down to 3 Candidates

Hawke drops out.

Mark Hawke, grant administrator in Gardner and one of two Republican candidates for the state rep seat vacated in October by Brian Knuuttila dropped out of the race on Thursday citing restrictive election laws for city employees as his reason for the withdrawl.

"(State law) doesn't allow me to run as strong as a campaign that I want," Hawke said.

He said that state law would limit the amount of campaign literature that could be produced in his name and prohibit him from talking about the campaign during the hours City Hall was open.

Hawke intends to endorse the other Republican candidate Jonathan Dennehy.