Active primaries uncommon across legislative ballots

BOSTON (SHNS) – The Legislature’s infighting, procrastination and failures have been stuck in the spotlight for the past month after lawmakers ostensibly shifted into campaign mode, but there will be few changes at the ballot box a week from today in response.

Open seats have drawn significant interest, and several other contests could generate some fireworks, but the trend overall suggests few people who are not already attached to Beacon Hill are interested in serving in the Legislature.

Voters in only 26 House districts and six Senate districts will encounter any kind of contested primary election on Sept. 3, even though all 160 House districts and 40 Senate districts are up for reelection every two years.

Still, in the roughly one in six legislative districts that have something at stake Tuesday, voters face some intriguing decisions. Here’s a look at what to watch.

Six Seats Likely To Be Settled

By the time polls close on Tuesday night, Massachusetts voters will have selected no fewer than six picks for legislative seats, due in part to the lack of competition.

Two of those choices basically locked in their victories just by filing nomination papers.

Orleans resident Hadley Luddy , who leads the Homeless Prevention Council, is the only candidate on any ballot in the Fourth Barnstable District, where Democrat Rep. Sarah Peake of Provincetown is retiring after 18 years. Easthampton City Council President Homar Gomez is in a similar position: he alone filed signatures to run for the Second Hampshire District, which Democrat Rep. Daniel Carey of Easthampton will give up to run for Hampshire County clerk of courts.

One new senator and three new reps are also poised to lock in their jobs through contested primaries in districts where no declared opponent looms in November.

Falmouth Rep. Dylan Fernandes is challenging for an open Senate seat, and two Democrats will face off to succeed him in the House. The winner, either Arielle Reid Faria of West Tisbury or Thomas Moakley of Falmouth, at this point projects to be the only person on the general-election ballot.

That’s also the case for a north-of-Boston district represented today by Rep. Peter Capano of Lynn. Both challengers for the seat, Hong Net of Lynn and Sean Reid of Lynn, are Democrats.

In Newton and Brookline, the district represented for decades by Rep. Ruth Balser is opening up with her decision to retire. Voters will decide a competitive three-way primary between Bill Humphrey , Rick Lipof and Greg Schwartz . The race has a distinct Newton City Council flavor: Humphrey and Lipof are both on the council today, and Schwartz is a former member.

The lone Senate seat that appears certain to be decided in the primary election stretches across towns south of Boston. Sen. Walter Timilty of Milton is leaving the Senate to challenge for the Norfolk County clerk of courts job his father previously held, and only Democrats are on the ballot to succeed him under the Golden Dome: Rep. Bill Driscoll of Milton, Kathleen Crogan-Camara of Randolph, and Erin Bradley of Milton.

Other Open Seats

More than a dozen other districts are also wide open this cycle because sitting representatives and senators opted not to seek reelection, either because they are ready to depart the Legislature or pursuing a different office.

Voters in those areas will get a chance next week to narrow the fields and lock in the head-to-head matchups for November.

In one case, tens of thousands of people are on track to regain representation in the new years after months without it. Republican candidates Jane Cournan and Kenneth Sweezey , both of Pembroke, are challenging for the Sixth Plymouth District seat that’s been empty since February. The winner will face Democrat Rebecca Coletta , also of Pembroke, in November.

Former Rep. Josh Cutler previously represented the district until he resigned for a job in the Healey administration, and top House Democrats opted not to schedule a mid-term special election to fill the seat.

Down in southeastern Massachusetts, a nominally unusual question looms: should the Senate seat remain held by a Pacheco?

Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton, the longest continually serving member of the chamber, is departing after 31 years in office.

Two Democrats are on the ballot for his seat: longtime Raynham Selectman Joseph Pacheco — who reportedly has no relation to the outgoing senator — and Taunton City Councilor Barry Sanders . The winner of the primary will go on to face Taunton City Councilor Kelly Dooner , a Republican who unsuccessfully challenged for the House in 2020, and unenrolled candidate James Dupont of Raynham in the general election.

Another Senate district race will be set after Tuesday. Democrat Sen. Su Moran of Falmouth is giving up her seat to run for Barnstable County Superior Court clerk, leaving one of the most competitive Senate districts up for grabs.

A pair of Republicans are challenging for the Plymouth and Barnstable seat: Rep. Mathew Muratore of Plymouth, who is serving his fifth term in the House, and Kari MacRae of Bourne.

MacRae, who worked as a financial banking manager and small business owner, is a member of Bourne’s School Committee. She was fired from a job teaching at Hanover High School in 2021 over TikTok videos she previously posted commenting on topics such as critical race theory and gender identity. A federal appeals court last month ruled that MacRae’s termination was valid.

Rep. Fernandes of Falmouth, who does not face a primary opponent, awaits the winner of the Muratore-MacRae race in November.

Other races this fall will give hundreds of thousands of Bay Staters their first new state rep since Bill Clinton was president.

Rep. William Straus of Mattapoisett is retiring after 31 years. Two Republicans, Robert McConnell of Fairhaven and Joseph Pires of Rochester, will duke it out Tuesday to face Democrat Mark Sylvia of Fairhaven in the general election for that seat.

Newton Rep. Kay Khan , the eldest member of the Legislature who has been in the House since 1995, is also leaving. A pair of Democrats, Alexander Jablon and Amy Mah Sangiolo , are running for her Newton-only seat, as is Republican Vladislav Yanovsky .

And there’s something the First Plymouth District has that 199 other state legislative districts do not: competitive primaries on both sides.

Muratore, a Republican, is giving up that seat to challenge for the Senate, and voters who take either primary ballot will have multiple options. Four Democrats, all Plymouth residents — Michelle Badger , Arthur Desloges , Scott Hokanson and Stephen Michael Palmer — are running, as are Plymouth Republicans Jesse Brown and Dee Wallace Spencer .

Most Incumbents On Cruise Control

Sitting lawmakers who want another two-year term more often than not cruise to reelection without breaking a sweat — or even facing a single opponent — but there are pockets of competition.

One contest on Tuesday will be a rematch. Former Democrat Rep. Marcos Devers of Lawrence is challenging first-term Methuen Rep. Francisco Paulino , who two years ago unseated Devers in the primary with nearly 53 percent of the vote. There are no Republican or third-party candidates on the ballot, so whoever emerges victorious is a virtual lock for the seat.

If Devers wins, it will clear the way for his third separate stretch in the Legislature. The Democrat was first elected in a special election in 2010, then lost a 2016 primary against former Rep. Juana Matias. When Matias decided to run for Congress in 2018, Devers won back his seat and held it until he was defeated by Paulino.

A bit farther south, one challenger is hoping the third time is the charm.

For the third straight cycle, Medford Democrat Rep. Paul Donato faces a primary challenge from Nichole Dawn Mossalam of Malden. Zayda Ortiz of Malden also jumped into the race this time around.

Donato defeated Mossalam in each of the prior two cycles, but the challenger closed the gap significantly: in 2020, Donato won by about 11 points, and in 2022, his margin was less than a percentage point, or only 50 votes.

One seemingly heated race is for the Cambridge district held by Democrat Rep. Marjorie Decker . Challenger Evan MacKay , who describes himself as a union leader and a Harvard teaching fellow, has not been shy about criticizing “dysfunction” on Beacon Hill nor Decker herself.

Last week, MacKay’s campaign circulated a press release in which several progressive and watchdog groups including Act on Mass claimed a Decker mailer “included disinformation and misleading statements about the politician’s record on supporting transparency measures in the House.”

Decker might point to a recent legislative win as she tries to bolster her case to voters. She was the lead House negotiator on a maternal health improvement bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law Friday .

Legislative leaders abandoned formal sessions on Aug. 1 with much of their major work unfinished, and the maternal health bill so far is the only significant proposal they revived and pushed across the finish line during the traditionally slow August stretch.

For incumbent Democrats, much of the primary action is concentrated in Boston or its western and northern suburbs. Fifteen reps in total face primary challengers, eight of which are in Middlesex County and two more of which are in Suffolk County.

It might not qualify as a primary race to watch in the traditional sense, but the state Republican party previously signaled it would back a write-in bid for the House by Mark Tashjian of Georgetown in a district where only Democrat Rep. Kristin Kassner of Hamilton is on the ballot.

If Tashjian gets enough write-in votes Tuesday, his name will appear on the general-election ballot. Kassner unseated former Republican Rep. Lenny Mirra by a single vote following a recount two years ago.

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