Primary Election results

September 7, 2012 by DickH Posted in Greater Lowell, Election 2012 4 Comments

Over this past weekend I mentioned to at least a dozen people that there was an election on Thursday – the state primary – and not one seemed to know about it. Standing outside the Daley School yesterday, I had to conclude that my sample was representative because not a lot of people showed up to vote. On the Republican ballot, the big contested race was for Congress in which Westford’s Tom Weaver lost to Carlisle’s Jon Golnik who will now face incumbent Niki Tsongas in November.

The one contested race on the Democratic ballot in Lowell was for Governor’s Councilor. The was won by Eileen Duff with 12,772 votes to Donald Bumiller’s 6,321, David Epply’s 4,678, and George O’Brine’s 3,550. A Governor’s Councilor district is huge; bigger than a Congressional District and because of this year’s redistricting, Lowell was switched to the North Shore-centric district. With no one from this area running, the candidates spent considerable time up here. In the Governor’s Council district that includes Chelmsford, incumbent Marilyn Devaney held on to the seat with 15,978 votes to 13,990 for Harry Margolis and 9,225 for Charles Shapiro.

Chelmsford received a lot of attention because of the retirement of State Senator Susan Fargo. Many expected Joe Goodwin, an Army veteran and lawyer from Concord to prevail, but the winner was Michael Barrett of Lexington who served in the Massachusetts House and Senate two decades ago until he ran unsuccessfully for governor. He’s been in the private sector since. Barrett won with 4230 votes to Goodwin’s 3551. Chelmsford’s Alex Buck received 1539; Concord’s Mara Dolan got 1317; and Weston’s Joe Mullin received 523. In November, Barrett will face Chelmsford’s Sandi Martinez who defeated Greg Howes from Concord in the Republican Primary.

To our east, the Methuen-Haverhill senate seat was open with the retirement of Steve Baddour. Kathleen Ives of Newburyport received 4065 votes to Bill Manzi (Methuen) with 3,277 and Tim Coco (Haverhill) with 3,264. For the Republicans, Shaun Toohey beat Sam Meas, 3929 to 1945.

4 Responses to Primary Election results

  1. Brian Flaherty says:

    I am shocked Goodwin lost – I love, love, love his mother. Any thoughts on what happened there?

  2. John Quealey says:

    I was the eight to vote at 9:30 A.M.at Shaughnessy School.A friend of mine rang at 5 P.M. saying she just voted twenty-eight at the Senior Center.

  3. DickH says:

    Brian, I was surprised by the result of that race too although maybe we shouldn’t have been. Barrett was an exceptional state senator nearly two decades ago and a credible candidate for governor. When that bid was unsuccessful, he went into the private sector (health care) which voters might have seen as beneficial. Plus, Barrett really dominated the southern part of that district while Joe Goodwin split Concord with his fellow town resident and strong candidate Mara Dolan. There undoubtedly was a lot of other things going on, but those are my quick thoughts on the race.

  4. C R Krieger says:

    The day and date was not on the Commonwealth’s Election Website when I pimped them late last week.  They did send me an EMail confirming Thursday.

    Regards  —  Cliff