In deciding primary, Crighton breezes in Lynn

LYNN – City Councilor Brendan Crighton will have to get a bigger nameplate after handily beating two opponents to win the 11th Essex District state representative seat.”This is a victory for everybody here. Without all your support, we couldn’t have done it,” Crighton said after being introduced by his brother, Kevin Crighton, as “State Representative Brendan Crighton.”Crighton picked up 2,370 votes in total to Charlie Gallo’s 1,395, and Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis’ 229 votes.”I owe you big time and plan to make you proud at the State House,” the new state representative-elect said.There is no Republican running for the seat, so Tuesday’s vote decided the election.The mood at Gallo’s headquarters on Western Avenue was somber as precinct reports trickled in. When it became clear the Crighton had won, Gallo hugged his staff, including Get Out the Vote coordinator Laura Marquez-McGaughey and his campaign manager, Jim Tarr.At Old Tyme Italian Cuisine, he apologized to his supporters.”I owe you an enormous debt of gratitude and I’m sorry we didn’t make it this time,” he said.”You are a big winner in our hearts and our eyes,” shouted Rena Kozakis in response.Down the street at the Hibernian Hall, Crighton greeted supporters at about 9 p.m. (long after word of his victory had trickled in), along with his predecessor Steve Walsh and Rep. Robert Fennell, the Crighton family and many other supporters. Walsh and Fennell, along with City Council President Daniel Cahill, also stopped by Gallo’s party to wish him well.Crighton was floored by the results.”The support you can see here is just overwhelming,” said Crighton’s wife, Andrea. Her husband credited her and her family for putting up with two elections in a year. He was elected councilor at large in November, his first city-wide election, after serving as Ward 5 councilor.The Crightons celebrated their first wedding anniversary last weekend. Andrea Crighton said this weekend the couple plan to head to Maine to celebrate.Poll workers at Breed Middle School had recorded just more than 1,100 votes by about 5 p.m. as the dribble of voters increased to a steady stream.All three candidates spent time at the O’Callaghan Way school on Tuesday, holding signs and waving at incoming voters.Gallo said he was “feeling good but, moreover, feeling grateful.”He echoed that statement later in the evening.”I haven’t had to give a speech like this since 2007,” he said, referring to a previous School Committee loss. “This was the hardest-working campaign in the race. I have no greater family and friends than Team Gallo ? this is about thanking you for all you do.”Tarr was a little more disillusioned. He quoted Theodore Roosevelt when he said, “The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly ? if they fail, fail while daring greatly.”As a child he was taught that if you work hard, you get ahead, but the election showed that wasn’t true, Tarr said.”I’ve never believed in a public official before I met Charlie,” he said. “Charlie Gallo could have offered Beacon Hill the same thing he’s offered the city: integrity, intelligence and above everything else, his hard work.”Crighton didn’t cite a specific issue that he felt led to his victory, but said the campaign was a grassroots effort that succeeded by focusing on ground-level issues.”You plan your work and work your plan, and that’s what we did,” he said. “There has been a lot of work over the last eight months building up to this by a lot of people.”{{tncms-asset app=”editorial” id=”612d7944-38a4-11e4-991c-001a4bcf887a”}}