Most incumbent lawmakers in Massachusetts won their primary reelection bids last week.
That includes state Sen. Adam Gomez of Springfield, who was endorsed by Gov. Maura Healey in the lead-up to the primary.
Secretary of State Bill Galvin expected voter turnout of about 15%. State House News Service reporter Chris Lisinksi explains what people should take away from that primary turnout rate.
Chris Lisinski, SHNS: It was usual, you know. There was no interesting race at the top of the ticket other than the U.S. Senate Republican primary, unlike four years ago, another presidential year, and we had a Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate driving a lot more turnout.
So, 15%? That's a figure that's going to get blown out of the water come general election season. In presidential years, I want to say we've topped 70% turnout for the past five cycles, so expect a lot more voters to want to be heard in November.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: I'm sure we'll hear a lot from a relative newcomer to the state, John Deaton of Swansea, who won a three-way Republican race for U.S. Senate and who will face incumbent Elizabeth Warren in November. What were the early reactions to his win?
Republicans are feeling buoyed. They think that John Deaton is a good candidate to contrast with Elizabeth Warren. They think that she is vulnerable, and that John Deaton is the right messenger to exploit those perceived weaknesses.
But Deaton has some electoral weaknesses of his own already; Democrats are seizing on the fact that he moved to Massachusetts very recently from Rhode Island, describing him as a carpetbagger and noting that he has a very strong background in the cryptocurrency world, which has some baggage attached to it.
With that primary now over, the campaigns for ballot questions appear to have stepped up their push for publicity. What are the ballot questions that residents will be hearing a lot about over the next two months?
Yes, there are several questions that appear headed for really intense fights that are going to be blanketing the airwaves. Namely, the proposal to decouple MCAS test results from high school graduation requirements, the proposal to require businesses to pay higher wages to their tipped employees, and a proposal to let drivers for Uber and Lyft unionize. Those are the ones that I think are going to have the most heated fights that voters are going to be hearing about the most over the next two months.
And in addition, there's Question 4, which deals with psychedelic substances, and Question 1, which is the authority to audit the Legislature by the state auditor.
And finally, Chris, one state lawmaker who narrowly survived a primary challenge, Springfield state Rep. Bud Williams, says his attention is now turning to the Legislature and to passing an economic development bill before the end of this year. How likely is that?
You know, it's about as likely as it was — what is it now? — five weeks ago, six weeks ago, when we first started discussing the prospect of returning to formal session to pass an economic development bill. Top Democrats say they want to, if they can reach a deal first. So, we're still waiting.
