Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Contested races – do we have any?

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With Anthony Galluccio dropping out of the race for Jarrett Barrios’s Senate seat, what’s the status of the legislative races for incumbents?  Dianne Wilkerson, of course, faces the challenge of retaining her seat without her name being printed on the primary ballot.  But does any other incumbent, Republican or Democratic, face any significant risk of losing his or her seat, either in the primaries or in the general election?  What say you, gentle readers?

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  1. If not, it’s a shame.

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    Where’s the challengers to Murphy, Golden, and Nangle, I wanna know? Not to mention Pangy.

          • as in day…..as in november.

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            Sorry.

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            Won’t happen again.

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            But I trust that was a brain fart on your part. (I talk in rhyme, sometimes) The kind i get all the time.

            • State Senators get more time between elections.

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              Personally, I think the two-year cycle is stupid, as you spend all your time fundraising and running. Of course, not in MY district, where the seats are all safe. rolls eyes

              • that everyone, from Governor on down, used to be elected every year?  Part 2, ch. 2, sec. 1, art. 2 of the Mass. Constitution says that the governor “shall be chosen annually.”  That was restated in 1831 in Amendment Art. 10, which changed the beginning of the political year.  The change to biennial elections for gov, lt. gov, other statewide offices, and state legislators didn’t come until 1918, with Amendment Art. 64.  And the change to quadrennial elections for statewide offices wasn’t until 1964, with Amendment Art. 82!

                • Then again, my home state has the largest body of government in the world, so who am I to judge?

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                  I think I still prefer MA weirdness to New Hampster’s.

    • Shocking, I know.  He’s having an event this weekend to kick off his campaign.  Or it might be in a couple weeks, at any rate he’s sending out mail.  Depending on what I’m doing this weekend I might go.  I’d put some pretty good odds that Tom demolishes the guy though.

      • my Rep, Colleen Garry has a republican challenger as well.  Whom she will mop the floor with, I’m sure.

  2. But it’s still kind of early to see if any primary challenger gets momentum.

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    After all, Carl Sciortino was not very well known at this point in the cycle two years ago.

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    Which comes back to rule #1 of Massachusetts politics: fight like hell for open seats, because that’s the only real chance that you’ve got.

  3. Lots of people pulled papers, but who’s sticking in the race?  The deadline for submitting certified nomination papers is Tuesday.

  4. is to tend to depress Democratic turnout on primary day. This will help the gubernatorial candidate with the (1) the best grassroots organization; (2) the most support from active local political machines (this is NOT the same as #1); and (3) the most intense supporters.

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    IMHO, as of now, (1) and (3) seem to favor Patrick. I’m not sure about (2). Will Reilly’s mayors and legislators really pull out all the stops for him?

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    TV advertising, of course, can move polling numbers: Gabrielli’s rise is directly attributable to his ad buy. But TV is less effective in motivating voters to actually turn out UNLESS the race becomes truly hot/exciting/controversial.

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    I’m not sure there’s any big motivating issue emerging for Democratic primary voters. For all their stylistic, life story, and wealth differences, this year’s candidates don’t seem that far apart on Democratic hot button issues, unlike in the King-Dukakis or Silber-Bellotti-Murphy races. Unless such an issue emergess, or the campaign and the advertising gets personal and negative — and thus adds interest — my bet is for a fairly low turnout primary. 

  6. David, you asked two distictly different questions:
    1) do we have any contested races? and
    2) does any incumbent risk not being re-elected?

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    In addition, we have the issue of open seats, and what motivates Primary voters.

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    Out here in the Berkshires, we have it all, even the part about risk, although that’s in the DA race, not in the legislature. Two of our Reps are being challenged, one Dem in the Primary, and one Dem (actually, that’s all we have around here) in the General by a Republican. But I think the early line is that they are unlikely to be unseated.

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    We do, however, as I hinted, have a hot race shaping up here for DA, and the challenger did very well in my recent email straw poll, beating the incumbent by nearly 2 to 1. Not that that means a lot, but it does show that for this small group of (57) Convention-goers, she is a serious candidate.

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    In addition, our Governor’s Councillor (Peter Vickery) is being challenged, and I don’t have a line on that race yet, though the early betting would have to put a heavy weight on the value of incumbency.

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    The biggest excitement around here is likely to be over the open Senate seat (of retiring Senator Nuciforo, who is running unopposed for Middle Berkshire Register of Deeds). I’ve posted some thoughts and news on this race already, which is really only just getting underway.

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    Another element in motivating people in this District to the polls on Primary Day is the huge interest in Deval Patrick’s bid. Scores of people are volunteering for his campaign who have NEVER been involved in a political campaign before. Believe me, they will be badgering their friends and neighbors to go to the polls on September 19.

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    One other race that has gotten a fair amount of interest around here is John Bonifaz’s bid for Secretary. He seems to be building a grassroots effort locally that may bring out voters not activated by the Patrick campaign.

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    All in all, I think we’re going to see a large increase compared with 2002, when you add up all these factors.

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    And, I think that will be good for my candidate (Deval Patrick, in case someone just dropped in from Mars.)

  7. John Fresolo – Rep in Worcester is facing a primary opponent in Melissa Murgo who ran against him 2 years ago and lost 54-46 (approx…)

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    News was out three weeks ago – after Melissa took out nomination papers – that John can not see his kids without someone from DSS being present. It appears he beat his 13 year old daughter pretty badly one weekend last fall. Black eyes and all from what I hear. Dianne Williamson in the Worcester paper has been covering it pretty good.

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    Now mind you – this guy has faced rumours of beating his wives (!) in the past – but now his kids!

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    In that ditrict – constituents have been overheard to say it’s OK to beat your wife – but your kid?? That’s another story.

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    With the changing demographics in that district – I think Fresolo is out this time.

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    (this is the guy who also claimed several years ago that he travelled 246 days to the state house to collect extra mileage money – even thought the house was in formal and semi formal session something like 91 days all year….)

    • Melissa is a dear friend of mine, and I helped out on her campaign in 2004. Originally she lost by only 600 votes. Fresolo couldn’t believe the race was that close so he asked for a recount, only to find out he actually only won by 450 votes.

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      Fresolo is what I like to call a Republi-crat. He only got elected based on his connections with Guy Glodis, and was charged with beating his first wife (Allegations of beating his second). He is Anti-choice, Anti-gay marriage, and actually voted down education funding in 2003. He also has a record of taking money from pharmacutical & insurance companies etc. And billed the state for traveling to the state house when he wasn’t event there (your hard earned tax dollars at work folks). In other words, he is not a good guy. 

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      Melissa Murgo is a great person and continues to run on the platform of better respresentation for the residents & working families of Worcester’s 16th district. Last time (and hopefully again) she was endorsed by NARAL, MASS Equality, Neighbor to Neighbor, the Commonwealth Coalition and many other progressive groups. Please help her in any way you can by volunteering or contributing to her campaign.

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      Thanks!

    • Some of those challengers are just people who pulled papers or filed with the Campaign finance office.  A quick scan reveals a number that are no longer running.  For example, Wikipedia still has Peter Koutoujian running against Democratic challengers.  They, to my knowledge, have all dropped out since Koutoujian withdrew from the Middlesex DA’s race (what seems like a lifetime ago).

      • I agree, and if you have a reference for that (that the challengers dropped out as opposed to Koutoujian leaving the DA race) go ahead an edit. The more corrections, the better it will be.

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        Though if I didn’t know better, I’d think my state rep was still running for DA, the way I keep seeing him all over the place. (I heard him on WBUR and saw him on Greater Boston and I think NECN in the course of a few days on a few different issues).

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