Hometown candidates fare well in busy primary

Richard Staiti of Canton campaigns for Norfolk County Commissioner.

The incumbents ruled the day in the federal and state races and Canton’s Richard Staiti prevailed in his bid for a county commissioner nomination after a busy Democratic Primary day on Tuesday, September 1.

As of Thursday morning, Staiti, a former town selectman and current Norfolk County Advisory Board member, held a 6,500-vote lead over Charles Ryan of Braintree for the second commissioner’s spot with 96 percent of precincts reporting. Incumbent Joe Shea stood as the leading vote getter by a wide margin, although Staiti fared considerably better with hometown voters, appearing on more than 62 percent of Canton ballots.

The top two finishers in the four-person county commissioners’ primary will next move on to face independent candidate Heather Hamilton in the November general election, with two seats up for grabs.

Meanwhile, the other Cantonite on the Democratic primary ballot, incumbent state Rep. Bill Galvin, easily defeated first-time candidate Tamisha Civil for the 6th Norfolk District nomination. Galvin, who will not face a challenger in November, secured nearly two-thirds of the district vote and was especially popular in Canton, where he topped the entire Democratic ticket with 68.2 percent of the vote. (Civil did fare well in her hometown of Stoughton, edging the veteran legislator by 42 votes.)

Also popular among Canton primary voters were incumbent state Senator Walter Timilty Jr., who defeated challenger Jarred Rose in the Norfolk, Bristol & Plymouth District, and incumbent U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, who won in a landslide over political newcomer Dr. Robbie Goldstein.

In the U.S. Senate primary, preferences were more evenly divided, with Canton voters backing incumbent Ed Markey over Rep. Joe Kennedy III by the slim margin of 50.5 percent to 48 percent. Markey, who received his strongest support in greater Boston and on the north shore, went on to win the nomination with 55 percent of the state vote. He will now face off against Republican Kevin O’Connor, who defeated Shiva Ayyadurai in the lone contest in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

As for the county races on the Democratic side, not all precincts had reported results as of press time; however, at least one race appeared to be firmly decided, with former Sheriff Michael Bellotti winning convincingly over Brad Croall for Norfolk treasurer.

The other two races — for Norfolk sheriff and Norfolk register of probate — were still too close to call as of press time. In the three-person sheriff’s race, Patrick McDermott, who is currently the Norfolk County register of probate, held the slimmest of leads over former Quincy Mayor Bill Phelan, with Jimmy Coughlin of Dedham trailing in third by just a few thousand votes. Current Norfolk Sheriff Jerry McDermott, who ran uncontested in the Republican primary, will await the winner in the November general election.

In the five-way battle for register of probate, Norwood attorney Colleen Brierley appeared to have the edge with a 4,000-vote lead over Westwood attorney Michael Walsh, who was the preferred choice among Canton voters. Brierley and Walsh were followed, in order, by Noel DiBona, Kathryn Hubley, and Courtney Madden, all of Quincy.

In addition to the high volume of contested races on the Democratic side, this year’s state primary was unique in that voters were given three different options for how to vote: early by mail, early in person, or in person on election day. In Canton, a total of 6,036 voters cast a Democratic ballot and 1,133 cast a Republican ballot. There were also 19 Libertarian and four Green/Rainbow ballots cast, consisting of a mix of write-ins and blanks. Statistics on how Canton residents voted were not available as of press time but will be shared in a future edition of the Citizen.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Sep 3 2020. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.