Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Massachusetts candidates face off
Voters pick from incumbents, fresh faces for U.S., state seats
BOSTON — Voters in Massachusetts chose among incumbents and fresh faces in a Tuesday primary in which several members of the state’s all-Democratic U.S. House delegation faced spirited challenges.
The ballot also featured races for governor and a Republican contest for the U.S. Senate.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano lost Tuesday’s primary to Ayanna Pressley, a Boston city councilor who is virtually assured of becoming the first black woman to serve Massachusetts in Congress. There is no Republican on the November ballot in the district.
The race between Capuano and Pressley was perhaps the most closely watched contest in Massachusetts. The challenge from Pressley, the first black woman to serve on the council, had drawn some comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated 10-term Rep. Joe Crowley in an upset in a Democratic primary in June. Both races highlight rifts within the Democratic Party, with many younger voters embracing new and more diverse political leadership.
“Change is coming and the future belongs to all of us,” Pressley told cheering supporters Tuesday night.
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi released a statement Tuesday thanking Capuano for two decades of serving as “a strong, progressive champion for hard-working families in Massachusetts and across America.”
A subdued Capuano told supporters he did everything he could to win re-election.
“Apparently the district just is very upset with lots of things that are going on. I don’t blame them. I’m just as upset as they are, but so be it. This is the way life goes,” he said.
By 3 p.m., about 50,000 voters had cast ballots in Boston, putting turnout in the city ahead of the previous statewide primary in 2014, when about 33,000 had voted.
Statewide, turnout was expected to be modest at best with the election being held the day after Labor Day, just as many voters return from summer vacations and the new school year is starting. Democratic Secretary of State William Galvin said he had little choice but to schedule the primary for Tuesday because other possible dates conflicted with religious holidays or posed other obstacles.
Another veteran congressman, Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, won a spirited primary showdown with Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a black attorney from Springfield who had hoped to become the first Muslim to serve in Congress from Massachusetts. Neal, the dean of the state’s House delegation, was first elected in 1989.
Two other Democratic House incumbents, William Keating and Joe Kennedy, fended off primary challenges on Tuesday. Kennedy, the grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year.
Another Democrat, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, is retiring at the end of this term, and the open seat has touched off a political scramble with 10 candidates on the Democratic primary ballot.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a moderate who has been popular with voters in what is perceived as one of the nation’s bluest states, won the Republican primary as he seeks a second four-year term in office.
Baker fended off a challenge from Scott Lively, an ultraconservative minister from Springfield who called the incumbent a RINO — short for “Republican in name only.”
Baker says he did not vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election and has frequently criticized White House policies. The governor has said his challenger’s anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender views “have no place in public discourse, or any discourse.”
A lesser-known Democrat, Jay Gonzalez, won the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Gonzalez served as secretary of Administration and Finance under former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. He defeated longtime political activist Robert Massie in Tuesday’s primary.
Gonzalez said Baker has failed to achieve tangible progress in improving the performance of the Boston area’s aging transit system or in narrowing the state’s educational achievement gap.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Republican state Rep. Geoff Diehl defeated two other GOP primary candidates in Massachusetts for the chance to challenge Warren in November.
Diehl beat back the campaigns of business executive John Kingston and Beth Lindstrom, a Cabinet official under former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney.
Of the three, Diehl had the closest ties to Trump. Diehl co-chaired Trump’s 2016 Massachusetts campaign. He was quick to note that despite its liberal reputation, Massachusetts gave Trump one of his most lopsided early primary wins.
All three candidates tried to turn Warren’s national profile against her, criticizing her for being too politically extreme and spending too much time preparing for a possible presidential run in 2020.
Among other races, comedian Jimmy Tingle was trying to shift from political humor to political office as he runs for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor against Quentin Palfrey, a onetime aide to former President Barack Obama.