Another in my series of reports on past state elections. Previous election reports may be found by clicking on the “Elections” link in the upper right hand corner of this site.

1978 was not a good year for incumbents. US Senator Ed Brooke, a Republican and Governor Mike Dukakis, a Democrat, both lost their re-election bids. There were also heavily contested races for Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and for Congress in the Fifth District.

Incumbent Fifth District Congressman Paul Tsongas decided to seek the US Senate seat held by Brooke. Tsongas defeated a crowded field in the Democratic Primary. Here are the results (Lowell vote in parenthesis):

1. Paul Tsongas – 296,915 – (14,003)
2. Paul Guzzi – 258,960 – (1559)
3. Kathleen Sullivan Alioto – 161,036 – (1639)
4. Howard Phillips – 65,397 – (1071)
5. Elaine Noble – 52,464 – (262)

In the Republican primary, Brooke faced a tough challenge from Avi Nelson. Brooke received 146,341 votes to Nelson’s 128,388. In the general election, Tsongas defeated Brooke, 1,093,283 to 890,584.

Tsongas’s run for the Senate left the Fifth Congressional District without an incumbent. Some well-known names appeared amongst the candidates to succeed Tsongas:

1. James Shannon of Lawrence – 18,529 – (1076)
2. Ray Rourke of Lowell – 17,743 – (9121)
3. Bob Hatem of Lowell – 16,359 – (4118)
4. John Markey of Lawrence – 14,046 – (1291)
5. Mike McLaughlin of Lowell – 12,644 – (2757)
6. Ronald Burba of Lawrence – 3524 – (242)

In the Republican Primary, John Buckley of Lawrence defeated Nick Rizzo of Andover, 11,772 to 9881. In the general election, Shannon defeated Buckley, 90,256 to 48,685 with Independent Jay Gaffney of Tewksbury receiving 33,835 votes.

In the Democratic Primary for governor, Ed King defeated incumbent Mike Dukakis, 442,174 to 365,417 with Barbara Ackermann receiving 58,220 votes. In Lowell, King beat Dukakis, 9342 to 8559. In the Republican Primary, Frank Hatch defeated Edward F King, 141,070 to 110,932. In the general election, Democrat Ed King defeated Hatch, 1,030,294 to 926,072. Incumbent Lt Governor Thomas P. O’Neill III was renominated without oppostion and won along with King.

While Frank Bellotti was renominated without opposition as Attorney General and easily defeated Republican Bill Weld (1,532,835 to 421,417), both Secretary and State and Treasurer had contested primaries. Here are the results of the Democratic Primary for Secretary of State:

1. Michael Connolly – 192,641 – (5067)
2. Lois Pines – 185,504 – (2792)
3. Anthony Vigliotti – 103,895 – (1507)
4. James Hannigan – 80,402 – (2007)
5. David Crosby – 78,372 – (1485)
6. William James Galvin – 67,180 – (1782)
7. James Fulham – 38,377 – (307)

There were six candidates in the Democratic Primary for Treasurer:

1. Bob Crane – 375,699 – (9668)
2. Larry DiCara – 231,315 – (4342)
3. Paul Cacchiotti – 45,029 – (616)
4. Dayce Moore – 43,466 – (988)
5. Thomas Lopes – 39,691 – (725)
6. Lawrence Blacke – 30,930 – (638)

In the general election, Michael Connolly defeated John Sears (1,115,409 to 744,488) for Secretary of State and Bob Crane defeated Lewis Crampton (1,125,960 to 743,231) for Treasurer. For Auditor, Ted Buczko defeated Peter Meade, 448,294 to 304,218 in the Democratic Primary and Buczko defeated Timothy O’Brien, 1,189,562 to 643,096 in the general election.

Closer to home, Herb Connolly of Newton defeated Ray McKeon of Chelmsford in the Democratic Primary for Governor’s Councillor. Connolly received 49,146 votes to McKeon’s 37,496 (although McKeon took Lowell, 12,015 to 3962). Connolly was unopposed in the general election. In the First Middlesex State Senate District, Joe Tully was unopposed in the primary and the general.

Redistricting in the House caused some tight races for State Representative. In the 17th Middlesex District, Nick Lambros defeated Leo Farley, 4181 to 4067. In the general election, Lambros defeated Republican Ralph Lawson, 9130 to 5146. In the 18th Middlesex District, Ed LeLacheur received 4378 votes to Bruce Desmond’s 2681 and Edward Cahill’s 772. LeLacheur defeated Vincent McLaughlin in the general election, 8292 to 2538. In the 19th Middlesex District, Phil Shea defeated Bob Kennedy, 3591 to 3407 and was unopposed in the general election.

In Middlesex County offices, incumbent District Attorney John Droney was challenged in the Democrtic Primary, receiving 89,131 votes to Scott Harshbarger’s 82,762 and Guy Carbone’s 34,625. Droney was unopposed in the general election. Six candidates sought the Democratic nomination for Register of Probate:

1. Paul Cavanaugh of Medford – 80,059
2. Francis Donahue of Somerville – 27,311
3. Leonard Doyle of Burlington – 23,096
4. Ed Bishop of Dracut – 17,619
5. Ralph Hogan of Lowell – 15,635
6. John Harvey of Wilmington – 13,998

In the general election, Cavanaugh defeated Republican Ralph Campo, 291,210 to 121,326. For County Commissioner, John Danehy of Cambridge defeated Michael Cunningham of Burlington, William Chisholm of Newton, and Bernard Hennessy of Sudbury. Danehy was unopposed in the general election. For Treasurer, Rocco Antonelli defeated independent Lester Ralph, 250,343 to 185,521, after winning a crowded Democratic Primary:

1. Rocco Antonelli of Winchester – 37,359
2. John Twomey of Medford – 33,207
3. Charles Gallagher of Lowell – 31,432
4. James Brennan of Medford – 24,717
5. Donald Fantini of Cambridge – 24,281
6. Thomas Coughlin of Lexington – 18,236
7. Richard Mahoney of Arlington – 15,776