This Super Tuesday, March 5, Massachusetts voters will cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential primary.
Along with voting their presidential preference, Harvard residents will vote for state committeeman, state committeewoman, and town committee members of their chosen party. Those registered as a Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian will receive ballots according to their registration status, while unenrolled voters may choose any of the three.
While Donald Trump and Joe Biden have all but secured the nominations of their respective parties, there will still be candidates on both the Republican and Democratic ballots challenging the favorites.
Challenging Biden on the Democratic ballot is Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips. On Feb. 16, Phillips laid off most of his campaign staff but did not drop out of the race. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will be on the Republican ballot, continuing her campaign against Donald Trump despite suffering a 20-point defeat on Feb. 24 in South Carolina, her home state.
On the Libertarian party ballot, there are five candidates for presidential preference: Jacob Hornberger, Michael Rectenwald, Chase Oliver, Michael Maat, and Lars Mapstead.
State committee and town committee are organizational bodies that handle decisions within the local and statewide Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties.
Town committees, whose members are unpaid volunteers, meet monthly to promote candidates for local and state office. Along with supporting and fundraising for local candidates, town committees have specific issues on which they focus their attention.
For example, the Harvard Democratic Town Committee, as explained by Chairman Dennis Bradley, worked to increase voter engagement and turnout beyond Harvard and Massachusetts by participating in letter-writing campaigns to voters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Virginia in previous years. “I am sure we will be engaged in that activity this year as well,” said Bradley.
John Knowles, the chairman of the Harvard Republican Town Committee, explained that the Harvard RTC often invites speakers to their monthly meetings, including local candidates, giving voters a rare opportunity to learn about and talk with candidates running for lesser-known positions and who receive less publicity than state- or national-level ones.
Because they missed the deadline for submitting names, all of the Democratic Town Committee candidates will be write-ins. They are Dennis Bradley, Shannon Molloy, Paul Green, Robert Coit, David Kay, Katie Weeks, and Kelene Blumstein.
On the Republican Town Committee ballot are John Knowles, Theresa Hoggins, Pamela Marston, Lynda Kachanis, Bonnie Chandler, and Edward Gordon Jr.
Similar to town committees, but on a larger scale, the state committees help to elect candidates to state and national office, as well as decide on party direction. The state committees meet several times throughout the year.
Voters will choose a committeeman and committeewoman to represent their districts, Middlesex and Worcester, on their state committee. On the Democratic ballot, there are no contested races: James B. Eldridge, the sitting state senator for the Middlesex and Worcester district, is running unopposed for state committeeman, and Kara M. Le Treize is running unopposed for reelection as state committeewoman.
While Dave H. Lunger is uncontested as a candidate for Republican state committeeman, there is a contested race for state committeewoman. Dorothy Bisson, the Sudbury RTC chairwoman, is mounting a write-in campaign against the Massachusetts GOP’s nominee, Caroline Cunningham, a former fundraiser for Charlie Baker’s gubernatorial administration.
John Knowles said that he and the other Republican Town Committee chairs of the Middlesex and Worcester district had not had any correspondence with Cunningham. He said the Harvard Republican Town Committee supported Bisson’s campaign.
Bisson, who has chaired the Sudbury RTC for five years, believes her grassroots experience and strong relationships with the surrounding Republican town committees make her better suited to be state committeewoman, where she would act as a liaison between local and state Republicans.
Bisson is a member of the Massachusetts Freedom Slate, a coalition of over 70 Republican candidates pushing for a more conservative state committee. One of the Freedom Slate’s primary goals is to grow the Massachusetts GOP by electing their candidates to the state committee, which they called “dysfunctional” in its current form on their website.
The Harvard Press was unable to reach Cunningham for comment.
Despite a relatively uncompetitive presidential nomination race, the winners of state and local elections in Tuesday’s primary will shape the next four years of Massachusetts party politics.
Residents can cast their votes on Tuesday, March 5, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Bromfield School cafeteria at 14 Mass. Ave.
