Progressive Newcomers And Establishment Names Shape General Election Ballot

While Beacon Hill insiders were fixated on big-name and big-money state Senate races that went to established candidates, two upsets were in the works that rattled incumbent House members in Cambridge and Lawrence this primary election day.

Meanwhile, former Boston City Councilor Stephen Murphy executed the first step toward his political comeback, leveraging his still-potent political machine to take advantage of a fractured Democratic field to move on to the November general election for Suffolk County’s Register of Deeds where he’ll face a new set of challengers.

In a slow off-year election cycle, having a recognizable name or the luxury of incumbency does not automatically afford politicians a ticket on to the November general election. Money, hustle and connections to a changing electorate swung races challenging incumbents and rising to the top of the heap in open fields.

South of the city, Rep. Walter Timilty claimed the Democratic nomination for the seat being vacated by Sen. Brian Joyce, bringing him a step closer to joining his cousin, Walpole Sen. James Timilty, in the Senate and extending a political dynasty that’s moved from Boston City Hall to the surrounding suburbs.

The biggest shock emanated from East Cambridge yesterday when progressive attorney Mike Connolly defeated incumbent Rep. Timothy Toomey for the House seat Toomey’s held for 23 years. 

“We came up short unfortunately,” Toomey said, according to the State House News Service. “Changing demographics, changing city ... We’ve held our head up high through all those years.”

Connolly was backed by Our Revolution, the Bernie Sanders-affiliated campaign group that has turned from presidential politics to boosting local progressives. That affiliation gives you an idea of Connolly’s attitude and positions as a former Occupier who waged a fruitless, unfunded campaign against Toomey four years ago. This time, the young lawyer took a page from the Andrea Campbell playbook and out-hustled the incumbent while courting younger voters.

Another upset came out of Lawrence, where construction company CEO Juana Matias prevailed over incumbent Rep. Marcos Devers. The 16th Essex district last changed hands when Devers won a special election to replace Rep. William Lantigua after Lantigua was pressured to resign because he had become the city’s mayor.

The state Senate district shared by parts of Cambridge, Somerville, Medford and Winchester, however, did not shed it’s long-time senator, Somerville’s Patricia Jehlen. Jehlen handily bested Cambridge City Councilor Leland Cheung with 77 percent of the vote to his 23 percent after a bruising campaign that lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of mailers and electioneering material filling the district in the last few weeks of the race.

Somerville Ward 6 Precinct 2 Warden Lawrence Duffy told WGBH News that turnout was much higher in his area than the eight to ten percent predicted by Secretary of State William Galvin. Duffy attributed the high voter interest in Somerville to the outreach of the Cheung and Jehlen campaigns.

“Although it could just be some people just always vote no matter what,” Duffy said.

Chynah Tyler may have had a copy of that Campbell playbook as well, as she emerged from a trio of candidates to replace retiring Rep. Gloria Fox in the House. Like Campbell, Tyler was backed by funders working to expand charter school access in the state. In the three-way field with State House aide Marydith Tuitt and youth worker Monica Cannon, won with 41 percent of the vote. 

Tyler will not only succeed Fox representing the Roxbury and Fenway neighborhoods, but she will also take Fox’s mantle as the only black woman in the chamber since there is no Republican opposition on the November ballot.

Incumbency in the House proved to be a solid launching pad for Milton Rep. Walter Timilty, who won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat being left open by the departure of Sen. Brian Joyce. Timilty has represented Milton, also Joyce’s home town, in the House for 17 years. Timilty received much criticism over the course of the race from opponent Nora Harrington on his conservative-leaning voting record on social issues.

After winning the Democratic primary to replace Sen. Dan Wolf, newcomer Julian Cyr will face Republican Anthony Schiavi in November. It could be the hottest local race in the state due to the Cape’s deep red streak that gives the GOP a shot at adding to their six-member Senate caucus.

Schiavi has a resume many GOP candidates would kill for. The retired brigadier general left the top job at Cape Cod’s military base and became a town administrator and police commissioner for the town of Ashland.

“People down here on the Cape and on the islands know that nine out of 10 of the things, of the work that a state senator does for the district, this isn’t partisan stuff,” Cyr told WGBH News after his win. He lists state budget priorities for the cape and keeping the needs of seasonal businesses in mind when crafting state policy as top issues.

“Things are really changing here in our communities. The opportunities that so many of us were able to tap into here on Cape Cod, those opportunities are slipping away,” Cyr said.

Disgraced former Rep. John Fresolo hijacked the United Independent Party to win a spot on the November ballot to try to get his old job back with a write-in campaign. This didn’t sit well with UIP chairman and one-time gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk who very much condemned his new House candidate: