WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Massachusetts will choose candidates to challenge U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in Tuesday’s primary. The contests top a slate of federal, state and local races being held across the state.
Warren is seeking a third term and has no rivals for the Democratic nomination. The possible Republican nominees include industrial engineer Bob Antonellis, Quincy City Council President Ian Cain or attorney John Deaton. Deaton is by far the best-funded candidate in the GOP field, thanks in large part to the $1 million he loaned to his campaign. He more than matched Cain’s spending and had about $975,000 in the bank at the end of June. By comparison, Cain had about $22,000 left in his war chest.
Warren faced a competitive race in her first U.S. Senate bid in 2012, when she toppled Republican incumbent Scott Brown. She received more than 60% of the vote in 2018. Biden won the state with 66% of the vote in the 2020 presidential race.
In the 8th Congressional District in eastern Massachusetts, Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch faces no challengers in his race for a 12th full term. The contenders for the Republican nomination are videographer Rob Burke, health care worker and retired Verizon employee Jim Govatsos and bar owner Daniel Kelly. Burke challenged Lynch in the 2022 general election and received 30% of the vote, compared to Lynch’s 70%. Biden won the Boston-area district in 2020 with 67% of the vote. Lynch had about $1.1 million in the bank as of late June. None of the Republican challengers have reported raising money.
Democrats hold the Bay State’s congressional delegation in a tight grip, with both the U.S. Senate and all nine U.S. House seats firmly in their hands. They also hold lopsided supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature, where all seats are up for election in November. Still, Republicans hope to build on their position in the state Senate, where they flipped a vacant Democratic seat in 2023.
In the Plymouth-Barnstable state Senate district, incumbent Democrat Susan Moran is forgoing another term to run for Barnstable County Clerk of Court, giving Republicans a chance to reclaim a seat they won a decade ago and held for six years. The Republican candidates are state Rep. Mathew Muratore and Bourne School Committee member Kari MacRae. Muratore has Brown’s backing, as well as the support of all four Republican state senators and nearly all 25 Republican state representatives. Democratic state Rep. Dylan Fernandes is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He has the support of much of the state’s Democratic political elite, including his former boss, Gov. Maura Healey. His uncle David Plouffe, who was Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008, also campaigned for Fernandes.
Here’s what to expect on Tuesday:
Primary day
The Massachusetts primary election is Tuesday, with polls closing at 8 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The Associated Press will announce the voting results and declare the winners of the contested primaries for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, State House of Representatives, Governor’s Council and Plymouth County Commissioner.
Who can vote?
Voters registered with a political party may vote only in their own party’s primaries. In other words, Democrats may not vote in Republican primaries or vice versa. Independent or unregistered voters may participate in any primary. The deadline to change parties was August 24.
Decision notes
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley posted some of the best voting results of her 2024 Republican presidential campaign in heavily Democratic states like Vermont. But in nearby Massachusetts, where only Republicans and independents are allowed to vote in primaries, Trump won easily statewide, carrying all 14 counties.
Haley did well just outside Boston, in places like Cambridge, Newton and Somerville, but the Republican candidate in the national primary who follows Trump’s lead and wins some of the Commonwealth’s largest cities and towns, including Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Brockton and Quincy, would have a clear path to victory.
Votes in Massachusetts are reported at the more detailed city level, rather than the county level. There are 351 cities and towns that come together in 14 mostly huge counties.
The AP does not make predictions and will only declare a winner if it has been determined that there is no scenario in which the trailing candidates can close the gap. If no race has been declared, the AP will continue to report on all newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make it clear that no winner has yet been declared and explain why.
There are no automatic recounts in Massachusetts. Candidates can request a recount for statewide or countywide elections if the vote margin is 0.5% of the total vote or less. The AP can declare a winner in a race eligible for a recount if it can determine that the margin is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
What is the turnout and how early is voting allowed?
There were just under 5 million registered voters in Massachusetts for the February 24 presidential primary. Of those, 27% were Democrats, 8% Republicans and 64% independents or no party affiliation.
In the 2022 primary, turnout was 16% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 6% in the Republican primary. About 57% of Democratic primary voters and 32% of Republican primary voters cast their ballots before Election Day.
As of August 28, a total of 442,474 votes had been cast before Primary Day, approximately 82% in the Democratic primary and 17% in the Republican primary.
How long does it usually take to count the votes?
In the 2022 primaries, the AP first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after the polls closed. The election night count ended at 3:33 a.m. ET with about 83% of the total votes counted.
Are we there yet?
As of Tuesday, there are 63 days left until the November general election.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
