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Facing no opposition in the general election, Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford stands at the threshold of a 17th term in office after easily defeating a contender making her first run for public office in Tuesday’s state primary.
First elected in 1992, Montigny topped Molly Kivi, who worked briefly as a grant auditor in New Bedford, by a margin of 80% to 20% with nearly 40% of the vote counted in that race.
Key 2024 election dates
The state’s primary election is just two weeks away — on Sept. 3, the Tuesday after Labor Day. The general election follows nine weeks later on Nov. 5.
Sept. 3 primary election
Key dates in the primary election for New Bedford voters:
Aug. 24: Last day to register for primary election voting.
Aug: 26: Last day to apply for voting by mail in the primary election.
Aug. 24-30: Early voting for the primary election, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the New Bedford Main Public Library, 613 Pleasant St.
Sept. 3: Primary election. Polling hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Nov. 5 general election
The general election is Nov. 5, with a new set of deadlines.
Oct. 26: Last day to register for voting in the Nov. 5 election.
Oct. 28: Last day to apply for voting by mail in the Nov. 5 election.
Oct. 19 to Nov. 1: Early voting from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Main Public Library, 613 Pleasant St.
Nov. 5: General election. Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More voter info
Where do you vote? To find your specific polling location, enter your street address and postal zip code in this online form. Check the list of New Bedford’s polling locations here.
Get additional info on voter registration, eligibility, requirements, etc., at the Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth website.
Find a list of Massachusetts candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary races.
Learn more about voting in New Bedford and find applications for absentee ballots and applications for voting by mail at the New Bedford Election Commission website.
Find additional information about voting in Massachusetts at Vote 411, from the League of Women Voters Education Fund.
In an emailed statement, Montigny said his win was due to his and his staff’s work against “ineffective bureaucracy” and his “dogged determination” to pass legislation benefiting the district.
“I am honored that voters across New Bedford and the surrounding towns continue to place their faith in me as their proxy in the State House at a time when incumbents are being dismissed simply for their existence and not on their record,” Montigny said.
Kivi could not be reached for comment late Tuesday night.
Balloting also featured two other races in local legislative districts and the statewide Republican contest to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
In the Republican primary for the 10th Bristol seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Straus, of Mattapoisett, Joe Pires, who has served three terms on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee, was leading Bob McConnell, chair of Fairhaven’s Republican Town Committee 60% to 40% with only 7% of the votes counted.
If that lead holds, Pires, of Rochester, would face Democrat Mark Sylvia, of Fairhaven, a solar company executive, who ran unopposed for the nomination.
In the primary for the 3rd Bristol state Senate seat being vacated by
longtime incumbent Democrat Marc Pacheco of Taunton, Raynham selectman Joe Pacheco — no relation to the retiring senator — was leading Taunton City Councilor Barry Sanders 65% to 35% with a fifth of votes counted. By about 10 p.m. Pacheco had accepted Sanders’ concession, both candidates said.
Pacheco, director of the Barnstable Department of Social Services, will face Taunton City Councilor Kelly Dooner, a Republican, and former Raynham Selectman James DuPont, an Independent, who each ran unopposed.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton, who stressed helping people out of poverty and his own emergence from a poor and abusive household outside Detroit, held off two other candidates to win the nomination to face Warren.
With about 60% of the vote in, Deaton, a lawyer and former U.S. Marine from Bolton, was declared the winner by the Associated Press with 65% of the vote against 26% for Robert Antonellis, a software engineer from Medford, and 9% for tech entrepreneur and Quincy City Councilor Ian Cain.
Results
Montigny lauds record on policy, bringing state funds home
Montigny pressed for a 17th term by pointing to his work on policy, constituent service, and bringing state funds home to the district, which consists of New Bedford, and the towns of Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Acushnet in Bristol County, and Mattapoisett in Plymouth.
“I have, in my career, done more policy and more budget earmarks for the region than any rep or senator,” Montigny told The Light in August. He said the “core” of his desire to serve another term is to pursue “a fight against injustice.”
He pointed, for instance, to an amendment he attached to the latest state budget meant to protect property owners from losing their homes in tax debt cases. He told The Light last month that he started filing legislation to stop so-called “home equity theft” in 2018, five years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law allowing the practice in Minnesota.
A New Bedford Light investigation last year found that dozens of New Bedford property owners have lost their houses — and all the remaining equity in them — over tax debts that were just a fraction of the property’s value.
Unofficial returns show that Montigny — challenged just once in the 2006 general election and once in the 2008 primary — won strong votes across the district. Early results showed he won just over 75% in New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven.
Kivi told the Light last month that her candidacy was meant to offer a fresh voice to district voters.
“It’s not about winning or losing,” she said. “It’s about having a conversation.”
A more “moderate” pitch prevails
Both contenders in the Republican 10th Bristol race have their conservative bona fides.
McConnell, a licensed nurse who works for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, has touted his affinity for former President Donald Trump, his sense that illegal immigration is “the most urgent problem we are facing in our state.”
As a member of the ORR School Committee, Pires voted to remove books and curriculum materials that were previously approved by school librarians. He co-founded a nonprofit called Tri-Town for Protecting Children (TTPC), which takes the position that “sexually-explicit literature and social influencing are being promoted to our children within our public schools and in our community.”
Pires also said he considered illegal immigration a key issue, and was “outraged” that newly arrived migrants had access to homeless shelters, even as many native state residents are struggling with homelessness.
Still, Pires told The Light that he was more moderate than McConnell. He said he wanted to work in the “spirit of the betterment of the whole South Coast,” adding that he counted among his close associates Democrats and Independents.
Neither Pires nor McConnell could be reached for comment on Tuesday night.
At the end of Tuesday night, vote totals in Fairhaven, Marion, and New Bedford all had Pires ahead of his Republican opponent. Tallies from Rochester, Matapoissett, and Acushnet were still outstanding.
However, the sole Democrat, Sylvia, had garnered more votes in his unopposed primary: 2,509 as of Tuesday night, compared to Pires’ 887 and McConnell’s 539.
“Insider vs. Outsider”
Joe Pacheco, not only had the name recognition working in his favor in the 3rd Bristol Senate District, he’d had a long history of service in local affairs in Raynham and deep family roots in town. Now 39 years old, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Raynham Board of Selectman at 21.
His grandfather, James, founded the town’s Parks & Recreation Department. His great-grandfather was one of Raynham’s first full-time police officers and his father recently retired as a Raynham police captain.
He worked for the past three years as director of the Barnstable County Department of Human Services. Before that he worked in the state Legislature, for an array of state agencies, and a Taunton-based nonprofit that provides housing counseling.
Sanders has served on the Taunton City Council since 2008, and just last month retired after 35 years as a social worker, 25 with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, 10 with Social Services.
Sanders emphasized the role government can play helping people in hard times, particularly with substance use and other behavioral health struggles.
Both he and Pacheco said the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care — which for a time threatened the survival of Morton Hospital in Taunton — showed that the state needed stronger financial oversight to make sure that a private company’s financial collapse would not jeopardize essential services.
Both men also emphasized the government’s role in supporting the development of affordable housing.
In the end, though, Sanders said it came to an “insider vs. outsider” campaign.
“This was always going to be an uphill battle for us,” Sanders said Tuesday night. “We were always the outsider,” he said, noting that Pacheco had been endorsed early on by Sen. Pacheco, who has served since 1993, and just a few days ago by Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll.
“So it’s not surprising we came up short. It’s what happens in these insider vs. outsider races.”
Pacheco, who also received endorsements from four former Taunton mayors, said he and Sanders spoke twice during the evening in “very cordial conversation, very gracious of him” to call to offer congratulations, Pacheco said.
He attributed the win to his dogged campaign style and his political profile, running a bit to Sanders’ right in a purple district.
“I’m a centrist, that’s what I’ve always been,” Pacheco said. “That’s what the people are looking for.”
Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org.
Montigny will make America great again