Harvard’s Democratic voters marched in step with the national trend in their presidential primary votes Tuesday. Former Vice President Joe Biden topped the local list, winning 34% of votes cast, very close to his statewide winning percentage of 33.7%. The results marked a continuation of the surge in support for Biden that began with the South Carolina primary last Saturday.
Police assistance dog Dusty keeps a watchful eye on voters at the polls on Super Tuesday, March 3. (Photos by Tim Clark)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was a fairly close second in Harvard with 30% of the Democratic ballots cast. She did better in Harvard than in the state as a whole, where she received 21.2% of votes and finished third behind Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Locally it was Sanders who finished third with just 19.9% of the votes, substantially less than the 26.6% he won overall in the state.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who finished fourth in Harvard with 10.3% of the vote, dropped out of the race Wednesday morning and endorsed Biden. Warren was also reported to be reevaluating her campaign Wednesday.
In the Republican primary, as expected, incumbent President Donald Trump won 83.5% of the vote, swamping former Gov. William Weld’s 14.6%.
Because the ballots were printed well in advance of the primary election, both parties had candidates on the list who were no longer in the race. Many of those candidates received a smattering of votes; whether from early voters or from diehard loyalists is unclear.
37th Middlesex District special state primary
State Sen. Jamie Eldridge is outside the polls on Super Tuesday to support Dan Sena for state representative.
Harvard again went with the winner on the Democratic ballot in the special state primary election to fill the seat vacated by former state Rep. Jennifer Benson. Harvard voters chose Danillo ‘Dan’ Sena over Dina Samfield by 935 votes to 822. Propelled by a big win in his hometown of Acton, Sena won the district as a whole, 5,366 to 3,997, according to a Wednesday morning count from Sen. Jamie Eldridge’s office.
In the Republican primary for the State House seat, Malena Chastain won in Harvard by 186 votes to Cathy Clark’s 154. But Clark won districtwide, with 1,298 votes to Chastain’s 981, according to preliminary numbers from Clark’s campaign. Both candidates are from Lunenburg, and the hometown gave Clark her margin of victory, giving her 568 votes to Chastain’s 239.
Sena and Clark will vie to represent the 37th Middlesex District in a special election to be held March 31.
Turnout
Bad weather is often said to depress voter turnout, but unexpectedly beautiful spring weather might also present the temptation to spend time outdoors, rather than in a line of voters inside the Bromfield cafeteria. Nonetheless, 2,389 Harvard residents took their civic responsibility seriously and turned out to vote—some at the polls and others through early voting at Town Hall or absentee ballot. That’s about 56% of the town’s registered voters, well above the 33% who turned out for the midterm primary election in September 2018.
Election officials said there was a steady stream of voters from the time the polls opened at 7:30 a.m. until they closed at 8 p.m. “It never let up,” reported Barbara Kemp, who was working there all day.
Town Clerk Marlene Kenney said 322 people voted early, while 159 cast absentee ballots. And she noted that totals will not be official until a few absentee ballots and overseas ballots that arrived right at the deadline Tuesday night are added to the count.
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