With the state primary behind us, it’s time to think about which state races on Nov. 4 merit serious attention. Sara Orozco‘s effort to unseat Scott “hey, f&%$ you, kids!” Brown is obviously a big one. What are the other seriously contested races (I’m confident, for example, that Jamie Eldridge is sitting pretty to win the Middlesex & Worcester Senate seat) that present opportunities for progressive pickups, or dangers of losing a valued voice in the legislature?
Please share widely!
She’s running against crazy Kurt Hayes, who suddenly found his inner Republican after running independent in the MA-05 Rep race. You see, he figured out that you can get more money if you’re part of the party. Which is fine, but the Repubs are gunning for this seat as one of the few open ones, and though some parts of the district are progressive, others are not, so it could easily be in the toss-up district.
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p>I do plan on doing at least one day of canvassing for Jen, who has had my endorsement for months now.
Link to Jen’s website.
Chad Riley (http://electchadriley.com/), former Republican, is running a strong race as an independent for the seat of retiring Democratic rep Paul Casey. Riley is independently wealthy, and appears to be self-financing.
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p>Jason Lewis of Winchester (http://www.electjasonlewis.com/), the Democratic nominee, is a strong progressive coming off a 2-1 primary victory blowout last night over Stoneham’s Mike Rotondi.
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p>Lewis would appear to be the favorite at the moment, but the nature of the district (Winchester, a plurality-Republican town, and Stoneham, known for backing extremely conservative Democrats) and Riley’s money mean this will be a race to watch.
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Incumbent Jack Riordan of Marshfield and newcomer Anthony O’Brien of Whitman won nomination in the Democratic primary. They will face Republican Ron Davy of Hull and independent Scott Vecchi of Plymouth in the general for two seats on the board. Vecchi is a Seargent in the Plymouth police department and has thus far attracted reasonably broad support running as an independent.
Last night’s winner Jason Lewis now faces a three-way general election campaign against Republican Brian O’Connor and Independent Chad Reilly. All three candidates are from Winchester. Even before the Democratic primary race was over Reilly was mailing out fliers suggesting that Jason was a socialist because he’d been endorsed by Mass Alliance. Pretty funny, since I didn’t think you had a lot of socialists attending Harvard Business School. Governor Patrick is coming up to Winchester tomorrow to give Jason his endorsement. Keep an eye on who outgoing Rep. Casey endorses. He was seen huddling with Reilly outside one of the polling places yesterday.
is so typical of what the Republican party has degenerated to. Just look at the McCain campaign.
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p>I guess when you have nothing positive to offer, this is all you can do.
Bush attended the Harvard Business School, and he’s looking an awful lot like a socialist the past few days…
Consider this little news event.
Let me think. Where have I heard this theme recently?
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p>and here:
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p>and here:
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p>and far too many threads to count.
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p>Ernie, are you running for State Rep in Winchester, or is this just your kindrid spirit?
will be given to ms. orozco from here on out. I couldn’t think of a more important, competitive seat to win. It’s one of the more conservative senate districts in the state, so it’ll be tough, but we can do it.
how Mitt Romney ever won in Massachusetts? He is pure republican. How and why did that happen?
Shannon O’Brien was a weak candidate who made some significant mistakes, and Romney pretended he was a moderate. Or maybe he’s pretending now. In any case, he played the moderate card effectively, and presented himself as the rightful heir to the Welducci administration.
thing really had legs then. he looked to be a sound businessbot.
The pro-choice community “sat on their hands” during this election, because of what Romney claimed his positions to be. I also believe that there was then and continues to be a double standard relative to male and female candidates.
As I recall, he never said he was pro abortion. He just said he wouldn’t interfere with the current law as governor.
As to how he won, perhaps wanted someone to try to say no to our democratic/communistic state legislators. 60% of the slectorate is not democrat. Surprise!
We’d had a string of socially liberal Republican Governors, some of whom were reasonably popular. Romney appeared to be the next in that line. He ran on positions very very different from the ones he actually government with – basically, he’s a say what people want to hear to get elected sort of guy. He also gave on the appearance of being a good manager.
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p>However, that’s only one side of it. The above are the reasons why Massachusetts voters didn’t summarily reject him for being a Republican. There’s also the other side: the Democratic establishment has long been seen as corrupt, complacent, an entrenched old social network where people wait their turn and rise through the ranks. Many voters wanted “balance” against the legislature, and thought a Republican governor would be a relatively harmless way of doing that.
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p>That’s one of the things we’ve been trying to fix with this progressive resurgence in the past few elections. We need a Democratic majority that is seen as actually doing good for the state, and as ethical and honest, and as being about the issues and competence rather than merely a clique.
David, I know that Jamie Eldridge has been very good to this weblog, and you are an active supporter of his, so you are right to feel confident. Still, there are a few things to consider:
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p>His opponent, Steven Levy, comes from Marlborough (population 36,255), a larger base than Acton (population 20,331). Additionally, Marlborough is a city as opposed to a town, which lends itself to urban management, which also leads to strength in organisation.
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p>Levy’s Republican colleague on the Marlborough City Council, Arthur Vigeant, is the favourite in the Fourth Middlesex state representative race there, having been endorsed by the mayor of Marlborough, Democrat Nancy Stevens. That will definitely ensure support for Steven Levy.
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p>Jamie Eldridge only represents four municipalities in the district (Acton, Boxborough, Shirley, and Harvard), and he does not even represent all of Acton. He is going to have to find support in ten additional communities (Marlborough, Ayer, Hudson, Littleton, Maynard, Stow, Sudbury, Northborough, Southborough, and Westborough). There are strong Republican candidates for state representative in two open seats in the district–Paul Avella of Littleton for the Second Middlesex seat, and Hudson selectman Sonny Parente for the Third Middlesex seat. Furthermore, there are strong Republican towns such as Sudbury, one of the richest municipalities in the Commonwealth, and towns that currently have Republican representation on Beacon Hill, such as Southborough and Westborough.
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p>Also, this district was once represented by Paul Cellucci. There is a strong Republican base there, and Jamie Eldridge is not going to have an easy ride. Still, David, I understand why you are confident.
Just because one person lives in a town and another lives in a very, very small city, doesn’t mean the “urban” candidate automatically has a stronger organization. Knowing many people who are active in Jamie’s campaigns, I can say this: there aren’t many people who have stronger organizations than what Jamie inspires. If this election is close as close as you say, it’ll only mean all the more volunteers from progressive organizations.
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p>I agree with you that this race may not be the cake walk David painted it as in his post, but Jamie Eldridge certainly knows that himself and is prepared to run a strong and competitive race.
I’m certainly not taking an Eldridge victory for granted. We have less than 2 months to sew these races up. Let’s get cracking!
He does not take this race for granted, or consider it a cakewalk, for the reasons Gittle lays out here. Jamie is very well-liked in Acton, but I gather Levy is well-thought-of in Marlborough, and probably a bit more appealing to moderates than the standard Bush-lovin’ MassGOP apparatchik.
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p>I think Jamie will win, but it’s not a shoo-in.
You really provided excellent background. Much appreciated.
She’ll have one of the few competitive elections that day. She’s a great, bright, energetic candidate who has a large understanding for policy. Expect hundreds of volunteers to help her win that seat, including me.
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p>It’ll be tough, but her opponent has surely pissed off voters on more than one occasion and is an embarrassment to this state. While the district’s slightly conservative on the whole, there’s some very progressive pockets – and I’d be willing to go out on the limb and say that her opponent is too conservative for the district.
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p>If she gets her IDs, she’ll have a very, very good shot.
The presidential race should pull a high turnout of casual Democratic voters, which should help Orozco. Will it be enough? I don’t know, but it’s the best possible circumstance.
provided they aren’t lazy with the assumption that MA is a slam dunk…
Sara is a great candidate. Her opponent is not well liked. When I was collecting signatures for Sara people asked me who her opponent was and when I told them who it was they signed her papers with excitement.
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p>Yes she can, if we help. She needs volunteers and money. Put you feet and your money where your mouth is. Volunteer and give money. I’m sure her opponent is going to get help from his party as he has in the past
How Is the incumbent an embarassment?
In a Wilkerson sort of way or in a different way?
with this. And then there’s this.
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p>Plus, the whole “wrong on every major issue” thing.
… it’s going to take a lot of hard work.
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p>Link to Sara’s campaign website: http://www.saraorozco.com
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that our neighbors to the north are where the races to watch are. Obama and John McCain are in a dead heat and had Al Gore recieved 7000 more votes in NH, Florida wouldn’t have mattered.. Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter is behind in the polls, Rep. Senator and Bush lackey John Sununu has an arsenal of money to use against Dem. Frmr Governor Jeanne Shaheen, and Rep State Senator Joe Kenney has really ramped up his campaign against sitting Democratic Governor John Lynch. We should all be visiting NH there are offices just over the border in Salem, Derry, Nashua and Keene.
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p>Disclosure: I am a MA person working on one of the campaigns in NH.