Town chooses Coakley and Brown for Senate; turnout among highest in state
Johnston and Marie Sobalvarro campaign in front of Bromfield on election day, Dec. 8. Sobalvarro won the election by 34 votes. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Marie Sobalvarro narrowly defeated Bill Johnson in a special town election this week to fill the Harvard Board of Selectman (BOS) seat left vacant by the resignation of Leo Blair.
The final tally was 892 votes for Sobalvarro and 858 for Johnson, a difference of only 2 percent out of the 1,776 votes cast. Twenty-six ballots were left blank.
Both candidates ran vigorous campaigns, appearing in two debates, hosting meet-the-candidate coffees and breakfasts, and gathering—rain or shine—with sign-waving supporters at the transfer station on Saturdays. The candidates also used websites, e-mail lists, ads in local papers, and mailings to get their word out. While the candidates rarely differed in their positions on issues ranging from health insurance for town employees to the threat of unwanted development, Sobavarro stressed her readiness to help the selectmen meet their 2010 goals, and Johnson, head of the town’s Economic Development Analysis Team, argued for better long-range planning and a stronger leadership role for the BOS.
According to preliminary spending reports that each campaign was required to file with the Town Clerk on Nov. 30, the Sobalvarro campaign had raised $3,065 from 15 contributors and spent $1,084 by that date, while the Johnson campaign reported it had raised $545 from six contributors and spent $538. In each case, the largest contributors were the candidates themselves.
Election day was clear but cold. Supporters of the two campaigns were present throughout the day in front of the Bromfield School gymnasium where the election was held. Poll workers reported a steady stream of voters throughout the day, with a surge after 5 p.m., when a waiting line formed for the first time.
Harvard voters also chose Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and State Senator Scott Brown to run as the Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively, for the U.S. Senate seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
Harvard appears to have had one of the highest turnouts in the state with 46 percent of its 3,863 registered voters taking part in the special town election. Statewide, an estimated 17.7 percent of registered voters bothered to vote in the special senate primary, but, said a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, that number was in fact higher than the congressional elections held in 2008.
In Harvard, 1,295 residents voted in the Democratic primary, while 418 voted for a Republican candidate. Six voted for a Libertarian, though there was no name on the Libertarian ballot.
Vote totals for the Democratic primary were as follows:
- Michael Capuano: 213
- Martha Coakley: 581
- Alan Khazei: 415
- Stephen Pagliuca: 83
Vote totals in the Republican primary were as follows:
- Scott Brown: 350
- Jack Robinson: 54
In a statement sent to the Press by e-mail Wednesday, Johnson said, “I would like to congratulate Marie, and ask everyone to join me in supporting her as our new selectman. Marie has embraced fiscal conservatism and has vowed to ‘hit the ground running’ for collaborative, yet decisive, action.
“For me personally, this has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I have met so many new people with diverse viewpoints, a wealth of experience, and a deep passion for our community. I intend to keep contributing to the town, and now have an expanded network of talented and caring folks to collaborate with.”
Sobalvarro was sworn in Wednesday morning and met with BOS Chairman Ron Ricci.
“I’m relieved and pleased to have won,” she said in a post-election interview. “I think Bill [Johnson] ran a great campaign. I also think I had a great team of people who were working to make it happen this time for me.”
When Sobalvarro takes her seat at the next meeting of the BOS on Dec. 15, the BOS will return to its full complement of five members for the first time since August.
