<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the issue is settled -->

<!-- For administrator use only: -->
<!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->





Doug Bennett (born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on February 20th, 1976), is a Massachusetts politician and former Selectman and County Commissioner of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Bennett has deep roots in Massachusetts. One side of his family originates from Nantucket all the way back to when his Great Grandmother, Kate MacLean. The other side of Bennett’s family can be traced to Boston where his grandfather, Rolland Lawrence Gardner, was orphaned at age four inside the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill. Bennett’s mother was born in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Bennett's early life

A self described “hellion” as a youth, Bennett got into plenty of mischief. However, he got his act together by enlisting in the United States Military in 1994 and serving in the Army Reserves. After Basic Combat training in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, he attended Valley Forge Military College in Wayne, Pennsylvania. There he rose to become the 2nd highest ranked Cadet within the 850 cadet military circle. Academically, Bennett became Class Valedictorian, an honor that is also shared 55 years ago by General Norman Schwarzkopf, a former Valley Forge Cadet who was Commander of the Amercan led Allied Forces during the first Gulf War in the Middle East. Additionally, Bennett attended Air-Assault School at Ft. Belvoir (just outside of Washington DC) in August 1996. There at Air-Assault School, Bennett finished 1st in his class out of 150 soldiers graduating as the Honor Graduate.

Doug Bennett continued his education at Penn State University where he graduated cum laude from the Schreyer Honor’s College receiving two Bachelors of Arts degrees: one in History and a second in Labor Studies and Industrial Relations. Bennett has also authored a 51-page thesis titled: FDR, JFK, and Ronald Reagan: Mass Media, Image, and Presidential Greatness.

The Civil Rights Protest

In his final year at Penn State, an African American student leader, Lekesha Wolfe, and several other black students began receiving numerous racist death threats. One letter specifically said that Ms. Wolfe would be killed. [The authors of the letter had claimed that they had already beaten and killed a black man; however, no body was ever found.] Black students were upset because the University would not provide any security for Ms. Wolfe or the other students who were threatened. At the Alumni Football game, 25 students- 23 of them black- ran out onto the field during the National Anthem. They sat in the middle of the field, locking their arms together refusing to leave in an act of civil disobedience. Everyone in the stadium began to hiss and boo. Doug claims that all of a sudden the next thing he knew was that he had jumped the fence and ran on to the field becoming the 26th student protester. All, including Doug, were arrested. Doug says University Students demanded their release. “The press had a field day,” he reports. The protestors made the national news and even ESPN. A couple of days later, the black students organized a student protest where Doug ended up speaking in front of 10,000 students about love and tolerance. [2019] ; [2020] ; [2021] ; [2022]

Bennett enters Politics

After Penn State, Bennett returned to Nantucket where one of his first jobs was with the trucking company Cape Cod Express in May 2001. He stayed with them for a while before entering his current trade of Carpentry. A chance encounter in October 2001 with Senator John Kerry, a summer resident of the island, sparked Bennett’s interest in politics resulting in Bennett going to Boston in April 2002. There in Boston, Bennett was contacted by Mitt Romney’s gubernatorial campaign to organize a political machine on Nantucket County that would help elect Lt. Governor Kerry Healey in the September 2002 primary and then Mitt Romney as Governor that following November.

Bennett, who delivered 55% of the island’s vote to Mitt Romney in 2002, began his political career as the winning campaign manager on Nantucket County for the former Governor from the summer through victory night on November 5, 2002. That following spring 2003, Bennett ran for a seat on the Board of Selectmen and County Commission. Bennett, who was unknown in Nantucket politics up until only a few months earlier, nearly upset the field by placing second out of seven candidates finishing ahead of incumbent Steve Bender only to be edged out by former 25-year legendary Fire Chief Bruce Watts by a mere 76 votes. The following year, Bennett returned and triumphed along with Michael Glowacki for one of two seats on the Board of Selectmen and County Commission. In one of the largest municipal elections in Nantucket history, Bennett accumulated almost 1,300 votes defeating Brian Chadwick by 17 votes in a recount and ousting incumbent Frank Spriggs in a wide-open highly competitive eight candidate election.

Two years later Bennett became the first Nantucketer to ever run for the Massachusetts State Senate. He nearly pulled off an upset against the state Republican machinery and an opponent who had been recruited into the race by Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. Bennett engineered a remarkable 41% of the overall vote, netting 3006 Republican votes in the September 19th, 2006 primary for Robert O’Leary’s Senate seat which represents twenty towns made up of 50 precincts on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The Senate election was intense with Bennett’s opponent winning Nantucket by taking the island’s only precinct. Bennett, on the other hand, surprised many Cape and Islanders by winning his opponent’s hometown of Hyannis, sweeping all four of Hyannis’s precincts (Barnstable Precincts 3, 4, 9, &13). ([2023])

Since Leaving Office

Since leaving office this past April, Bennett has been campaigning across Massachusetts on behalf of Republican candidates. Since April, Bennett has hit several towns hard in effort to rebuild the Massachusetts Republicans Of the several towns hit hard through GOP door to door efforts led by Bennett over the past 6 months have been Arlington, Dedham, Nantucket, Lexington, Walpole, Westwood. Bennett is now working on strengthening the Massachusetts Republicans’ soft under belly: Boston.

Bennett has been also helping reorganize the Boston City Republicans over the last several months. He has led organized monthly meetings and events since June. Even recently Bennett has been leading other Boston GOP leaders by conducting a door to door campaign throughout the City. There are twenty two wards, and just recently, Bennett campaigned throughout Roxbury and the South End.

On September 29th, Bennett was unanimously elected as the 3rd highest ranking official of the Massachusetts Federation of Young Republicans on September 29th. Bennett will serve as Secretary for the organization until Spring 2009 with the duty of marketing and branding the Young Republicans state-wide.

This past Veteran's Day on Sunday November 11th, 2007, Bennett addressed College students from across Massachusetts gathered at Boston University for "The Race to 2008," an activist training seminar put together by the Massachusetts College Democrats and College Republicans to get their campuses active and energized about the social and political issues from now until November 2008. "The Race to 2008" took place last weekend in Boston from November 10th and 11th. [2024]

Among the impressive array of speakers included Arshad Hasan, the Executive Director for Democracy for America, Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust Survivor, and U.S. Senator John Kerry.

Senator Kerry spoke during the opening remarks, Bennett who was a late addition to the group of speakers spoke during the closing remarks.

The following is Bennett's Veteran's Day Address at "Race to 2008."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in 1933, "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." I say that this is true today. It's time for a new generation to step up and that generation is us, the September 11th Generation. As our parents dealt with the Assassination of President Kennedy, and our grandparents had World War II, our generation witnessed the world change on September 11th, 2001.

This event has made our generation see that along with the fact that our parents, the baby boomers who are retiring, that people our age have begun to feel the pains of our economic reality. Our education costs are skyrocketing, rent no matter where you live in Massachusetts is soaring, and additionally, it is tough to find good paying jobs to match our abilities. Internationally, we have World War taking place all across the globe, and it is our generation whose blood spills on the deserts of Iraq and on the mountain summits in Afghanistan.

This is why I ask all of you to take charge of our government, whether it's locally, throughout our commonwealth, or even nationally...We, the September 11th Generation need to: 1. Run for Office, and 2. Recruit more people from our generation to vote.

In the November 6th, Boston elections only 13.5% of the voters came to the polls in New England's biggest city. Very few people between ages 18-40 voted. This is an amazing statistic for the fact that 1 out of every 3 Boston Residents is between 18-30 years old.

However, we can change this and for our generation to begin taking charge of our government, I again say that we must run for office and we must recruit new voters so that issues that our important to us can be addressed whether its: 1. War and Peace on this Planet, 2. the Environment, 3. Jobs, 4. Equal Rights for All, and 5.Affordabilty in Massachusetts.
So I conclude like Winston Churchill by saying: "Come, then, lets us go forward together, with our united strength!"

Bennett's interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

On August 21st, 2007, MSNBC Chris Matthews, of "Hardball," sat down with Doug Bennett to discuss National Politics, the 2008 Presidential Race, and the differences between both the Democrats and Republicans. Click on
([2025]) to watch Bennett and Matthews talk politics.

Bennett weds Kathleen Galligan August 4, 2007[2026].

Bennett married Kathleen Ann Galligan of Weston, Massachusetts in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 4, 2007 at St. Anne's Church.
Kathleen is a 1991 graduate of Weston High School, a 1995 graduate of Colgate University receiving a dual degree in English and Spanish, and also received a Masters Degree from Boston College in English Literature, with a concentration in Shakespeare. Currently, Kathleen is an Assistant Vice President for Relationship Marketing in the Global Wealth & Investment Management Division of Bank of America.
She manages client relationships and marketing materials for their asset management company, Columbia Management.

Doug is the eldest son of Dr. Douglas Bennett and Mrs. Kathy Lee Kanyock. His father is Director of Research and Development at Air Products in Pennsylvania, and his mother is a Clinical Liaison on the Cape & Islands.

Kathleen is the eldest daughter of Dr. Ann and Thomas J.Galligan III. Kathleen's mother is a child psychotherapist with two practices in Newton and Leominster, Massachusetts. Her father is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Papa Gino's Holdings Corp.