After hours of rain-soaked vote counting well into Tuesday night, the results of a number of statewide and local races have become clear Wednesday.
In the local races, Jenny Armini triumphed over five Democratic challengers in the race for the 8th Essex District state representative seat, state Rep. Paul Tucker defeated fellow Democrat, Attorney James O’Shea, in the race for Essex district attorney, and incumbent Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger fended off a primary challenge from social worker Virginia Leigh.
Incumbent Sen. Joan Lovey easily defeated primary challenger Kyle Davis for the 2nd Essex District, and Manny Cruz emerged from a crowded field to win the 7th Essex representative seat, replacing Tucker.
Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll similarly emerged from a crowded field to win the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, forming a ticket with Attorney General Maura Healey, the Democratic nominee for Governor. Former Peabody Rep. Leah Allen, a graduate of Lynn Tech, earned the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, joining the party’s pick for governor, Geoff Diehl, on a ticket.
Armini garnered more than 2,000 votes, topping Tristan Smith, the next highest vote-getter by more than 300 votes. Doug Thompson, a former health care executive, finished third, garnering 1,549 votes — the only other candidate to surpass 1,000. Former Swampscott Select Board member Polly Titcomb finished 4th, garnering 969 votes, Terri Tauro, a longtime labor leader, finished 5th with 965, and activist Diann Slavit Baylis finished last with 562 votes. In all, 8,356 votes were cast in the race.
Armini’s victory is, in large part, due to her success in Marblehead, where she has lived for 17 years. The former speechwriter won all six precincts in town, racking up 78 percent of her total votes there. Smith, on the other hand, was the top vote-getter in Swampscott and the two precincts in Lynn included in the district, earning more than 1,400 votes there.
Smith had yet to concede the race to Armini as of Wednesday morning.
In the race for district attorney, Tucker won by roughly 7,500 votes — garnering 55 percent to 45 percent for O’Shea. Tucker topped O’Shea in Peabody, Lynn, Nahant, Marblehead, and Swampscott, while O’Shea took the majority of the vote in Saugus and Lynnfield.
The race between Coppinger and Leigh was closer — with slightly more than 4,000 votes separating the two. Coppinger won big in Lynn, Lynnfield, Peabody, and Saugus, and edged out slim margins in Swampscott, Nahant, and Marblehead.
Lovely earned nearly 75 percent of the vote, beating Davis by 12,000 votes and earning a majority in each community she represents, including Peabody.
In the race to replace Tucker, Cruz defeated fellow Democrats Domingo Dominguez and Gene Collins by a wide margin — earning more than 4,700 votes compared to 2,543 for Dominguez and just 651 for Collins.
Driscoll defeated two other Democrats in the race, topping state Sen. Eric Lesser by roughly 100,000 votes and state Rep. Tami Gouveia by roughly 180,000 votes. Allen, on the Republican side, won a much closer race, topping Kate Campanale by 12,000 votes. Driscoll and Allen both won the majority of votes in Lynn, Lynnfield, Peabody, Saugus, Swampscott, Nahant, and Marblehead.
Armini said she was looking forward to doing a deep dive into the three communities she is set to represent — Lynn, Swampscott, and Marblehead.
“I have met so many amazing people over the last six months or more, but I’m gonna get out there and meet even more, and it’s with an eye toward what do these three communities need? What do people care about? How can we make things better for them?” she said Wednesday morning. “It’s going to be conversation after conversation after conversation, and I’m so excited about that.”
Armini cited her experience building grassroots connections in Marblehead as part of launching a political group in the wake of former president Donald Trump’s election as a key factor that propelled her above the rest of the field.
“That experience of bringing people together, coming up with ideas and action plans. People told me they were inspired by that and I think that that contributed to my success,” she said. “I have lived in the community for almost 17 years. I’ve raised my kids here. I’ve been active in the schools. Politics is about relationships. At its very core, it’s about relationships. And I’ve been so fortunate to … have created incredibly strong, powerful relationships. And that’s what we saw last night is the culmination of people who trust me, believe in me, and know that I’m going to look out for them.”
As a state representative, Armini said she would focus her time on the needs of the community, ensuring she was in the district talking to people and hearing the issues that they face.
“I’m not going to really understand what this district needs by sitting in the statehouse. I’m going to understand what this district needs by going out every single day and meeting with people,” she said. “Most of the work is going to be done in the community.”
Leigh said she hopes her campaign convinced voters of her message that, “what we have doesn’t have to be what we’re stuck with.” She added as a first-time candidate who entered the race relatively late, she is proud of what her campaign accomplished.
“As a female candidate and clinical social worker, I shouldn’t be here today but here we are,” Leigh said. “I stand in awe of the powerful message that has resonated across the county and taken on a life of its own. I feel so proud to be part of that message and proud to be part of a campaign grounded in community. I think it’s safe to say that I don’t think that the incumbent will ever take for granted his position of power and privilege again.”
Coppinger said he was glad his full-fledged campaign, which focused on educating the public on the role of sheriff, paid off. He said that he is grateful for his voters’ support, and that he will “not let them down” in his second six-year term. In his next term, Coppinger said he wants to expand education and vocational training programs in prisons to reduce inmate re-entry.
“My goal has always been to make sure that once the inmates arrive, we want them to leave our facility in better shape than when they arrive, so they can go back to their communities and become productive members of society again, so we’re going to keep that up,” he said.
O’Shea also said he is proud of his campaign and hopes its main message — that Essex County must address disproportionate incarceration rates based on race — continues to resonate with voters. On his way into court to represent a client Wednesday, the attorney called Tucker to congratulate him on his victory.
“It’s been a long arduous eight months but it’s definitely been worthwhile,” Tucker said. “I really think that there’s really a lot of good work that we can continue to do.”
Tuesday’s election also featured several statewide contested Democratic primaries, including for attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.
Former Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell defeated workers’ rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan in the Democratic primary for attorney general. A week before the election, a third candidate, former assistant attorney general Quentin Palfrey, announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsed Campbell; he remained on the ballot.
Campbell would be the first Black woman to hold the office in Massachusetts if elected in November. She will face Republican Jay McMahon, a trial attorney who previously ran against Healey and lost.
Liss-Riordan pumped millions of dollars of her own money into her campaign — including $6.3 million in August alone. Healey earned an annual salary of more than $185,000 as attorney general.
Incumbent Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is vying for an eighth term in office, defeated fellow Democrat Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston branch of the NAACP.
Galvin will face Republican Rayla Campbell in November. Campbell would be the first Black person to serve in the post if elected.
In the Democratic primary for state auditor, state Sen. Diana DiZoglio defeated transportation advocate Chris Dempsey for the chance to succeed Suzanne Bump, a Democrat who opted not to seek reelection. DiZoglio will face Republican Anthony Amore in November.
Rachel Barber can be reached at [email protected]. Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected]. Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
