The political ambitions of arguably Wales' most hopeful candidate

He calls himself a 'dark horse' of the Caerphilly by-election battle, but Gareth Potter faces a major challenge to secure the seat, as Political editor Ruth Mosalski reports

- Ruth Mosalski

Gareth Potter, Conservative candidate in the Caerphilly by-election

GIVEN that in 2021 just 17% of people who voted in the Senedd election in Caerphilly chose a Conservative candidate, and three years later at the general election that number was just 11.5%, I'm not sure I necessarily expected their candidate in the battle currently under way in Caerphilly to take the Senedd seat to tell me he's the dark horse of the ongoing electoral battle there.

Gareth Potter is a 40-year-old who lives in Ebbw Vale.

Originally from Trevethin, his family moved back to Wales from Bristol to get better educational prospects for his children, both with additional learning needs a theme of this election given the previous seat-holder Hefin David's passion for it, and the Labour candidate Richard Tunnicliffe’s too.

Two days a week he works in the Senedd for Natasha Asghar MS, and has plenty of experience running campaigns something that remains his “main job” but his only attempt to be elected himself was at a council level, and he didn’t win. Yet, he says he is not only loving the experience, but is a self-proclaimed dark horse, and says no matter what happens, he will keep going until he is a Senedd Member.

After university he worked for Matalan, and was travelling round the country spending six weeks in a variety of stores Bangor and Aberystwyth were his Welsh favourites when he met his wife, and they settled with their two children and three cats in Bristol. But when they started looking at schools for their daughter they realised they wanted to move, so around two years ago they moved to Ebbw Vale.

Gareth isn’t from a political family, but got into politics in 2010 when David Cameron returned the Conservatives to power. “I've come to Wales not only to get involved in Welsh politics but actually to really make a difference,” he said.