Arlington is the Big Dog in the Fifth CD.
More than 10% of the total Democratic vote in the October primary came out of Arlington. There are bigger cities and towns in the district, but not in terms of civic engagement and voter participation.
Got a problem with that? Go ahead. Try to turn out more votes than Arlington in Tuesday’s general election. The gauntlet has been thrown. See if you can beat Arlington!
Total votes – MA-05 Democratic primary
|
% of | ||
| Votes | District | ||
| Arlington | 7,301 | 10.5% | |
| Waltham | 5,622 | 8.1% | |
| Belmont | 5,462 | 7.9% | |
| Cambridge | 5,347 | 7.7% | |
| Medford | 5,240 | 7.5% | |
| Watertown | 4,772 | 6.9% | |
| Framingham | 4,417 | 6.4% | |
| Lexington | 4,153 | 6.0% | |
| Melrose | 3,849 | 5.5% | |
| Malden | 3,701 | 5.3% | |
| Natick | 2,631 | 3.8% | |
| Revere | 2,526 | 3.6% | |
| Woburn | 2,172 | 3.1% | |
| Winchester | 2,086 | 3.0% | |
| Stoneham | 1,893 | 2.7% | |
| Winthrop | 1,442 | 2.1% | |
| Ashland | 1,257 | 1.8% | |
| Wayland | 1,188 | 1.7% | |
| Holliston | 1,085 | 1.6% | |
| Sudbury | 1,047 | 1.5% | |
| Lincoln | 810 | 1.2% | |
| Weston | 696 | 1.0% | |
| Southborough | 434 | 0.6% | |
| Sherborn | 394 | 0.6% | |
| Total | 69,525 | 100.0% |
And the results?
WInchester… well they kind of cheated, as they had a $130 million high school renovation on the ballot. Arlington weighed in with the most votes for Clark, and the most votes for any municipality that didn’t have a compelling $130 million ballot question on the ballot.
Note to C-Span: Make sure, when you show Katherine Clark on TV, the anchor town in the district is Arlington and your little graphic should include our beloved town.
| City or town | Total Vote | Percentage | ||||
| Addivinola | Aulenti | Clark | Hall | |||
| Winchester | 2,904 | 266 | 3,950 | 85 | 7,205 | 11.8% |
| Arlington | 1,131 | 66 | 4,297 | 111 | 5,605 | 9.2% |
| Cambridge | 247 | 39 | 3,964 | 29 | 4,279 | 7.0% |
| Framingham | 1,370 | 73 | 2,559 | 6 | 4,008 | 6.6% |
| Medford | 1,282 | 58 | 2,520 | 38 | 3,898 | 6.4% |
| Melrose | 1,135 | 26 | 2,640 | 9 | 3,810 | 6.3% |
| Lexington | 744 | 36 | 2,951 | 19 | 3,750 | 6.2% |
| Malden | 870 | 28 | 2,181 | 21 | 3,100 | 5.1% |
| Waltham | 1,137 | 55 | 1,668 | 20 | 2,880 | 4.7% |
| Belmont | 774 | 35 | 1,918 | 23 | 2,750 | 4.5% |
| Woburn | 1,347 | 24 | 1,161 | 21 | 2,553 | 4.2% |
| Watertown | 633 | 35 | 1,638 | 8 | 2,314 | 3.8% |
| Natick | 860 | 62 | 1,375 | 7 | 2,304 | 3.8% |
| Revere | 786 | 39 | 1,128 | 20 | 1,973 | 3.2% |
| Stoneham | 791 | 15 | 934 | 7 | 1,747 | 2.9% |
| Winthrop | 644 | 7 | 672 | – | 1,323 | 2.2% |
| Sudbury | 445 | 21 | 834 | 6 | 1,306 | 2.1% |
| Wayland | 348 | 24 | 866 | 7 | 1,245 | 2.0% |
| Holliston | 488 | 18 | 663 | 6 | 1,175 | 1.9% |
| Ashland | 438 | 18 | 541 | 1 | 998 | 1.6% |
| Weston | 348 | 18 | 525 | 2 | 893 | 1.5% |
| Lincoln | 139 | 8 | 590 | 4 | 741 | 1.2% |
| Southborough | 296 | 11 | 313 | 2 | 622 | 1.0% |
| Sherborn | 162 | 12 | 284 | – | 458 | 0.8% |
| Total | 19,319 | 994 | 40,172 | 452 | 60,937 | 100.0% |
Clark will carry my town, with my own vote of course. We Spilka primary voters will vote for Clark. Our United States Senators endorse Clark. The Republican cannot even vote for himself, if I heard the joke right in Metrowest. I visited Cambridge yesterday and city hall got ready signage for today’s elections, as has the Framingham polling place (into Joyce Lundberg Drive for the King School Administration Building). Is Cambridge the City ready for Kitty? I saw her in Naga Moksa back when Congressman Markey was still running for our Senate. Clark did well in the twin Lesley debates in the same amphitheater. Her message against extremist Republicans won her the primary, and the Fighting Fifth is what Sciortino correctly identifies as the safest district for a liberal Democrat.
I do not see yet the rabbit in my hat which will make Clark score five grand votes in Framingham. Our town has a Clark campaign station right on Route 9 West, across our local recruiters for our military.
I am tempted, though, after voting, to just read the book I have just bought in Cambridge. Cambridge does not seem to have residential garages, only sidewalk parking. I saw no lawn signs off Massachusetts Avenue. I saw only Obama, Peace (and Peace Action itself) and anti-cigarettes bumper stickers on cars in Cambridge, not stickers for today’s election. My own decade-old car still has a Spilka sticker.
Cambridge pedestrians and bicyclists are all engaged with their mobile devices. I doubt if our voter carry call lists bear many cellular phone numbers of millenials or younger adults way too young to be senior citizens.
We Democrats have to design campaign material such as bicicyle rear name plates. At least, our DCCC is now selling blue donkey holiday ornament balls.
We Framingham people love to shop, but I have not seen much of Clark bumper stickers in commercial parking lots. I doubt if Senator Clark saw any people in Sunday’s town committee party.
The general population in Framingham and Cambridge will overwhelmingly vote for her, though, because of our Massachusetts Democratic Party’s jumbo card mailings.
I suggest that hordes of Cambridge residents vote in their City Hall. The hall offers a rare Cambridge restroom with no numerical code needed. Another codeless (sin codigo) Cambridge restroom is in the Harvard Coop. The Horizon(t) of business establishment restrooms in Cambridge is quite fascist, except for Atomic Bean Cafe.
That the public library off Green and Pearl Street is under construction takes away one more restroom for the homeless and poor. The city visibly has homeless beggars.
I suggest that the homeless spend some time in the Harvard Coop, where they can use restrooms and read up to be the next J.K. Rowling.
I want Clark to win. In my mind, a better gauntlet is for other communities to provide more Clark votes than Arlington. If Waltham churns out voters who blank, spoil, or vote for that other guy, that’s not going to help Clark much, now will it?
So, small ‘d’ democracy — sure, more votes are better.
Big ‘D’ Democratic — more Clark votes are better.
Arlington will likely go 3:1 Clark, so it’s easier for us to win on total Clark votes. Seeing that Cook rates MA-05 as D+14, a higher turnout is more likely to align results to the reality of the district.
for the blog, the update, and the results.
By the numbers Clark(Arlington) only beat Clark(Cambridge) and Clark(Winchester) by about 350 votes each. Their dominance in delivering Democratic votes is in play!
And, in terms of net votes (Clark votes minus closest competitor votes), Cambridge provided the biggest cushion, and Winchester falls well down the list because Clark “only” got 55% there.
Not one for Clark.
I was in Sudbury on Sunday and saw more Frankie signs than Kitty yard signs. Don’t be surprised if Frank gets over 45%.
I voted at Waltham 9-2 at 1015 and was voter #21!?!?!??!
(which is what I call the democratic party activists in Arlington) Do Not Play…They may not win an election but they almost always deliver the town to the Good Old Cause.
They are indominable…I love them, First to Ride to the Sound of the Guns, Last to Depart the Battlefield.
Elias N.
I was voter #210 at 2:10 – a mind-boggling coincidence, no? Not exactly bustling – no line, no wait, no signs anywhere.
I was #210 (just like david in Medford) at 2:30. No line. But I passed my Republican neighbor going in to vote for Addivinola. She just cancelled out my vote for Clark, so vote people!!