Updated from the print edition with final tallies at 5 p.m. March 5, 2020
Published March 5, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING— Only 39.09% of the town’s 11,383 registered voters headed to the polls yesterday, but they were decisive in their Super Tuesday tallies.
When compared to the town’s turnout in the 2016 Super Tuesday primary, 48.04% of the town’s then 10,835 registered voters headed to the polls, a dip of nearly 10%.
A total of 4,450 North Reading voters participated in 2020 presidential primary compared to 5,205 in the 2016.
On Tuesday, North Readingites overwhelmingly chose incumbent Republican President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Democrat Joseph R. Biden in the 2020 state Presidential Primary.
Biden blew away the competition locally, drawing 1,275 of the 3,348 Democratic votes cast for president among the formerly large field of candidates still on the ballot even though in reality the field had been whittled down from 15 to four, with both Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar withdrawing from the race after disappointing outcomes in South Carolina over the weekend. But they did so by throwing their support immediately behind Biden and contributing to his momentum.
The second highest vote-getter among North Reading Democrats was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who drew 739 votes. Coming in third was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with 567 votes. A not-so-distant fourth to Warren was former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with 469 votes, who has self-funded his campaign with over half a billion dollars spent during his 101-day campaign.
Buttigieg placed fifth locally, with 160 votes while Klobuchar was sixth with 58. From there, the tallies drop off swiftly (Tulsi Gabbard–25; Tom Steyer–19; No Preference–19; former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick–7; Blanks–4; Michael Bennet–3; Andrew Yang–2; and one each for Marianne Williamson, Cory Booker and Julian Castro).
Among the Republicans, Trump reigned supreme with 941 votes out of the 1,088 cast. A distant second was former Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld with 94 votes. Voters indicating “No Preference” for any of the candidates numbered 26 followed by 10 blanks, eight votes for Joe Walsh, seven write-ins, and two votes for Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente.
The state’s Republicans also had two-way races for seats in the First Essex and Middlesex District for both State Committeeman and State Committeewoman.
North Reading’s Jeffrey R. Yull drew 717 votes in North Reading compared to his opponent, Richard A. Baker who got 283. There were also 87 blanks. Yull is a former North Reading selectman and the current chairman of the North Reading Republican Town Committee.
In the race between the two candidates for Republican State Committeewoman, Amanda Kesterson won locally with 462 votes to the 354 cast for Laura M. Sapienza-Grabski. there were also 267 blanks.
On the Democratic ballot, the First Essex and Middlesex District seats for both State Committeeman and State Committeewoman were unchallenged. Thomas E.Lawnsby drew 2,172 votes to 1,167 blanks and nine write-ins while Carla C. Christenssen drew 2,174 votes to 1,170 blanks and four write-ins.
It came as no surprise that on Wednesday morning, as the Transcript was going to press, the AP was reporting that Bloomberg had “suspended his presidential campaign” while Warren, who failed to win a single state, was “reassessing her candidacy, as the winnowing process in the Democrats’ 2020 nomination fight lurched forward following a consequential Super Tuesday.”
In making his exit from the race, Bloomberg put his support behind Biden, who won big by carrying Massachusetts and winning in Texas. Sanders, meanwhile picked up California.
On Thursday, March 5, Warren held a press conference outside her Cambridge home at lunchtime to announce her withdrawal from the race. She also told reporters that she was not ready to say who among the remaining candidates she would support. In addition to the two remaining frontrunners, Biden and Sanders, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is the only woman remaining in the race. She picked up one delegate from American Samoa.