Jones to face Mullet in state rep. race
Published September 3, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Mirroring the statewide results in Tuesday’s State Primary, North Reading’s Democrats favored the incumbents, U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey and Congressman Seth Moulton, in their respective races.
Markey, 74, beat his 39-year-old challenger, U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, in all four precincts, garnering a total of 1,737 votes to Kennedy’s 1,429 votes.
On the Republican side for the U.S. Senate nomination, Kevin J. O’Connor picked up the nod locally with 629 votes against challenger Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, who polled 381 votes. Like Markey, O’Connor beat his opponent in each of the town’s precincts. After winning statewide, O’Connor will now face Markey in the November 3 election.
The Democratic ballot featured a three-way for nomination to the state’s 6th Congressional District. Incumbent Rep. Seth Moulton, of Salem, successfully fought off two challengers in the state primary, both of whom reside in Topsfield, Jamie M. Belsito and Angus G. McQuilken.
Moulton polled 2,153 votes locally, handily staving off both Belsito, who got 351 votes, and McQuilken, who tallied 198.
Moulton will face Republican challenger John Paul Moran for the seat in November. Moran ran unopposed for the post and got 874 votes from North Reading voters.
A North Reading race
This year, North Reading will have two residents vying for the 20th Middlesex District in the state House of Representatives.
House Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones, who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination and got 965 votes in the primary, will face Democratic challenger Michelle Mullet, who also ran unopposed and got 2,423 votes locally.
37% voter turnout
Following a week-long Early Voting period during which fewer than 400 voters cast an in-person ballot in advance of Tuesday’s State Primary, the final turnout dipped just below 37% of the town’s electorate when those early votes were combined with mailed in ballots and those cast by voters who chose to go to the polls in person on election day.
A total of 4,260 of the town’s 11,544 registered voters participated in the primary, which for the first time featured no-excuses mail-in voting options. The primary has served as a dry run for the November 3 presidential election between Republican President Donald J. Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, the former senator and two-term vice president who served with President Obama, during a divisive political season amid a global pandemic and a summer of civil unrest.
In North Reading, Democrat ballots outpaced Republican ballots 3,185 to 1,061. Although there were no declared candidates for any race in the two other parties in the state, 13 residents cast a ballot for the Libertarian party and one voter cast a ballot for the Green-Rainbow party.
Unopposed races
In the three unopposed races, State Senate Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr, Republican of Gloucester, got 936 votes locally and will not face a challenger for reelection to represent the First Essex and Middlesex District in November.
Medford Democrat Tara E. DeCristofaro, who is running unopposed to retain her seat as the Register of Probate, got 2,373 votes locally.
Eileen R. Duff, a Gloucester Democrat running unopposed for re-election as Councillor for the 5th District, got 2,403 votes in North Reading.