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All of New Bedford’s incumbent state legislators who ran for reelection coasted to another term on Tuesday night, facing no challengers on the ballot.
Incumbent State Sen. Mark Montigny (2nd Bristol and Plymouth) beat write-in candidate Molly Kivi with 26,917 votes in New Bedford
There were 852 write-ins in New Bedford, though details on which candidates voters wrote in were not immediately available. There were 6,796 New Bedford voters who did not cast a vote in that race.
Kivi, an accountant and first-time candidate, launched her write-in campaign after losing to Montigny in the Democratic primary with 20% of the votes.
When Kivi learned of the result, she said it “makes sense.”
“I will continue my service in the Roman Catholic Church and continue advocating for an economy that isn’t dependent on death, violence and destruction,” she said in a brief call Tuesday night. When asked what’s next for her, she paused for several seconds and ended the call.
Montigny did not return a voicemail seeking comment on Tuesday night.
In Dartmouth, Montigny received 13,284 votes, while 381 votes went to write-in candidates. In Mattapoisett, Montigny received 3,533 votes, while 80 votes went to write-in candidates. Acushnet’s preliminary results showed Montigny received 4,397 votes but did not show any blank or write-in votes. Fairhaven’s results were not immediately available on Tuesday night.
In each of the three races for the state representatives, about 3% of New Bedford voters who did not leave their ballot blank wrote in a candidate.
Incumbent State Reps. Christopher Markey (9th Bristol), Christopher Hendricks (11th Bristol), and Antonio Cabral (13th Bristol) won their races, facing no opponents. None of the three Democrats faced an opponent in this year’s primary either.
Markey received 3,194 votes, Hendricks received 8,893 votes, and Cabral received 11,412 votes in New Bedford.
In Dartmouth, which makes up most of the 9th Bristol District, 97% of votes went to Markey.
In each of the three races for the state representatives, about 3% of New Bedford voters wrote in a candidate. Many more ballots in the city were turned in blank — 1,064 for the 9th Bristol, 2,498 for the 11th Bristol, and 2,989 for the 13th Bristol.
State House races in New Bedford and across Massachusetts are often uncompetitive. That leaves many voters with no choice in who represents them when the Legislature makes big decisions on budgets, housing, health care, and renewable energy.
Many New Bedford voters who spoke to a Light reporter on Tuesday said they didn’t know Montigny was facing a write-in opponent. Some were vaguely aware of Kivi’s candidacy but couldn’t remember her name.
A voter named Richard who declined to give his last name said he might have voted for Kivi if he knew she was an option. But he hadn’t heard of her. How did he feel about only having one choice in some state races?
“Horrible,” he said.
“Certainly we could use some friendly competition,” said his wife, who declined to give her first or last name.
Anwar Ahmedi said he doesn’t know much about Montigny, but he wrote in Kivi’s name because he thought she could “weed out the corruption” in a system dominated by long-term incumbents.
“I just like her agenda,” he said.
Ahmedi split his ticket, voting for Kivi — a Democrat — and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Some New Bedford voters weren’t aware of the candidates in the uncontested races, or couldn’t remember whether they had voted in those races or not. Their attention was focused on other parts of the ballot, like the presidential race and the ballot questions.
Other voters said they approved of the job incumbents were doing. Elizabeth Connelly said she’s known Montigny “forever” and had no complaints about the job he was doing.
“He has the best interests of New Bedford at heart,” she said.
But many voters said they were disappointed that they didn’t have more choices. Most of the voters who spoke to a Light reporter on Tuesday about the races for state Legislature said they wanted more candidates to run in these down-ballot races.
“We complain there aren’t choices,” said a voter named Laura, who declined to give her last name. “But there aren’t people who want to be choices.”
Email reporter Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org.
