On Sunday the North Andover Democratic Town Committee packed over 150 people into a room for their annual scholarship breakfast. I moved to North Andover just under a year ago, so this was my first time attending the event, which attracted candidates running for offices up and down the ballot, and included a straw poll of the different races facing voters this fall.
While so much attention has been paid to the primaries for open seats, it was the straw poll results for races featuring incumbents that really piqued my interest.
Congressman John Tierney was joined by his two challengers in addressing the attendees at the breakfast. Despite the suggestions some have made that the Congressman is in a tough primary fight, activists in the room didn’t seem agree. In fact, the Congressman was warmly received, and Tierney walked away with 87% of the vote.
A campaign should never live or die by a straw poll, but they can be great indicators of how a campaign is doing with supervoters early in the campaign season. As far as I know, this straw poll is one of the few early barometers we have of whether or not Tierney is in trouble with the base. I didn’t get the sense that the activists were tired of Tierney, nor did I feel his opponents’ “electability” arguments resonate. Instead I heard time and again people say that they worked hard campaigning for the Congressman, and would continue to do so. Perhaps that is why we are left with a headline saying “Tierney Swamps Opponents”.
Equally notable were the results from the 14th Essex State Rep race. Incumbent Rep. Diana DiZoglio was trounced by Phil DeCologero, with DeCologero garnering 79.5% of the vote to DiZoglio’s 15.5% (a third candidate, Oscar Camargo, captured the remainder). Most notable is that DeCologero is still in the exploratory phase and so his name did not appear on the ballot. This meant DeCologero achieved this result because 112 people chose to write his name in on their ballot, while 22 people voted for DiZoglio. Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera asked them to join him in encouraging DeCologero to run during his speech to the attendees.
DiZoglio captured an upset against an incumbent to secure the seat in 2012, so we know she has a strong work ethic on the campaign trail. But given Phil’s roots in the district, and the depth of support in each of the communities, DiZoglio looks to be in for a tough primary if Phil announces that he’s in.
djnap says
The straw poll also featured the race for Governor, and Steve Grossman was the clear winner:
Steve Grossman- 75%
Martha Coakley- 14%
Juliette Kayyem- 5%
Don Berwick- 3.5%
Charlie Baker- 2%
Joe Avellone- .5%
Jeff McCormick- 0
Evan Falchuck- 0
Full disclosure, I work for the Steve Grossman campaign for Governor
methuenprogressive says
Those NA Dems are funny fellas.
Elaine Almquist says
The breakfast is a scholarship fundraiser and an opportunity to hear from Democrats running for various office, so our committee members bring family and friends, who are not always Democrats, which is sometimes why those R’s get a few votes.
methuenprogressive says
Of note: Grossman won his straw poll, DeCologero is Methuen Mayor Zanni’s XO and was formerly Barbara L’Italien’s (yes, with a E) aide, and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera received a roof raising standing ovation.