Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elections in Massachusetts
Federal offices Presidential elections 1972 · 2000 · 2004 · 2008 Presidential primaries Democratic: 2008 United States Senate elections 1936 · 1952 · 1964 · 1966 · 1970 · 1972 1976 · 1978 · 1982 · 1984 · 1988 · 1990 1994 · 1996 · 2000 · 2002 · 2006 · 2008 Congressional elections 2006 · 2008 · 2010 Special elections Senate, 1962 · 1st district, 1991 9th district, 2001 · 5th district, 2007
State offices Gubernatorial elections 1982 · 1986 · 1990 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 2006 · 2010 State Senate elections 2004 · 2006 · 2008 State House elections 2006 Governor's Council elections 2006
City of Boston Mayoral elections 2009
Ballot measures 1980 Proposition 2½ 2008 Greyhound Protection Act Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative State Income Tax Repeal Initiative
Elections by year State elections 2006 · 2008 · 2010 This box: view • talk • edit

On October 16, 2007, Massachusetts held a special election to fill a vacancy in Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.^[1] Democrat Niki Tsongas won election to congress defeating Republican Jim Ogonowski in an election that was closer than expected. ^[2]

Incumbent representative Marty Meehan resigned, effective July 12007, to become the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.^[1] Meehan last won reelection in 2006 with 99.9% of the vote; he was unopposed.

A primary election was held on September 4, 2007 to determine each political party's nominee for the general election.^[1] Niki Tsongas won the Democratic primary race and Jim Ogonowski won the Republican primary race.

This district is regarded as strongly Democratic as it voted 58% for John Kerry for President in 2004. Massachusetts has not elected a Republican to Congress since Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen were last elected to office in 1994: they both were defeated in 1996. No Republican has held this seat since Paul W. Cronin departed from office in 1975, after his defeat by Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1974.

Contents 1 Candidates 1.1 Constitution 1.2 Democratic 1.3 Independent 1.4 Republican 2 Withdrawn / not running 2.1 Democratic 2.2 Republican 3 Polling 3.1 Democratic Primary 3.2 Republican Primary 3.3 General Election 4 Results 4.1 General Election 4.2 Democratic Primary 4.3 Republican Primary 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Candidate Web Sites 7.1.1 Democratic 7.1.2 Republican 7.1.3 Constitution 7.1.4 Independent

[edit] Candidates

All candidates for the election are listed alphabetically first by party, then by name. Bold is primary winners and general election candidates.

[edit] Constitution

• Kevin Thompson - State Constitution Party Secretary from Brockton

[edit] Democratic

• Eileen Donoghue - City Councilor and former Lowell Mayor
• Jamie Eldridge - State Representative from Acton
• Barry Finegold - State Representative from Andover
• Jim Miceli - State Representative from Wilmington
• Niki Tsongas - Dean at Middlesex Community College from Lowell

[edit] Independent

• Kurt Hayes - Businessman from Boxborough
• Patrick Murphy - Bricklayer from Lowell^[3]

[edit] Republican

• Jim Ogonowski - Former Air Force Lt. Colonel from Dracut
• Thomas Tierney - Self-Employed Independent Consulting Actuary from Framingham

[edit] Withdrawn / not running

[edit] Democratic

• James DiPaola - Middlesex County Sheriff^[4]
• David O'Brien - Democratic National Committee member from Concord^[5]

[edit] Republican

• Michael J. Sullivan - Mayor of Lawrence^[6]

[edit] Polling

[edit] Democratic Primary

Source	Date	Donoghue (D)	Eldridge (D)	Finegold (D)	Miceli (D)	Tsongas (D)
Survey USA	Aug 27-29, 2007	29%	15%	9%	3%	40%
Survey USA	Aug 11-13, 2007	16%	13%	14%	4%	38%
Kiley & Company	Aug 8-9, 2007	18%	16%	13%	4%	34%
JEF Associates	Aug 6-7, 2007	22%	7%	8%	4%	28%
Kiley & Company	Jul 15, 2007	13%	12%	10%	4%	36%
JEF Associates	Jun 28-30, 2007	17%	10%	13%	4%	26%
Kiley & Company	May 22, 2007	9%	10%	11%	3%	38%
Garin-Hart-Yang Research	May 3-4, 2007	13%	5%	10%	4%	36%	DiPaola (D)	O'Brien (D)
Kiley & Company	Mar 23-24, 2007	9%	9%	8%	3%	35%	6%	3%

[edit] Republican Primary

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tierney (R)
Survey USA	Aug 27-29, 2007	72%	12%

[edit] General Election

Source	Date	Ogonowski (R)	Tsongas (D)	Thompson (C)	Hayes (I)	Murphy (I)
Survey USA	Oct 8-10, 2007	42%	51%	0%	2%	4%
RCCC Poll	Oct 1-5, 2007	39%	44%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Survey USA	Sep 7-9, 2007	41%	51%	2%	2%	1%

[edit] Results

Bold indicates winner of nomination. Source: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14003157/detail.html

[edit] General Election

Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Niki Tsongas	54,363	51.32	-48.68
	Republican	Jim Ogonowski	47,770	45.10	+45.10
	Independent	Patrick Murphy	2,170	2.05	+2.05
	Independent	Kurt Hayes	1,125	1.06	+1.06
	Constitution	Kevin Thompson	494	0.47	0.47
Plurality			6,593	6%
Turnout
	Democratic hold		Swing	46.89% D to R

[edit] Democratic Primary

Candidates		Democratic Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Niki Tsongas	Democratic	19,811	35.69%
Eileen Donoghue	Democratic	17,373	31.29%
Jamie Eldridge	Democratic	8,041	14.48%
Barry Finegold	Democratic	6,996	12.60%
Jim Miceli	Democratic	3,296	5.94%

[edit] Republican Primary

Candidates		Republican Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Jim Ogonowski	Republican	12,014	89.04%
Tom Tierney	Republican	1,479	10.96%

[edit] See also

• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Candidate Web Sites

[edit] Democratic

• Eileen Donoghue for Congress web site
• Jamie Eldridge for Congress web site
• Barry Finegold for Congress web site
• Jim Miceli for Congress web site
• Niki Tsongas for Congress web site

[edit] Republican

• Jim Ogonowski for Congress web site
• Tom Tierney for Congress web site

[edit] Constitution

• Kevin Thompson for Congress web site

[edit] Independent

• Kurt Hayes for Congress web site
• Patrick Murphy for Congress web site

v • d • e Recent Elections in Massachusetts (with winners)
General		2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
State	State Senate	2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
	State House	2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
	Governor	1974 (Dukakis), 1978 (King), 1982 (Dukakis), 1986 (Dukakis), 1990 (Weld), 1994 (Weld), 1998 (Cellucci), 2002 (Romney), 2006 (Patrick), 2010
	Council	2002, 2006, 2010
Federal	U.S. Senate	Class 1: 1952 (J. Kennedy), 1962 (T. Kennedy), 1964 (T. Kennedy), 1970 (T. Kennedy), 1976 (T. Kennedy), 1982 (T. Kennedy), 1988 (T. Kennedy), 1994 (T. Kennedy), 2000 (T. Kennedy), 2006 (T. Kennedy), 2012 Class 2: 1936 (Lodge), …, 1966 (Brooke), 1972 (Brooke), 1978 (Tsongas), 1984 (Kerry), 1990 (Kerry), 1996 (Kerry), 2002 (Kerry), 2008 (Kerry), 2014
	U.S. House	2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 (5th district), 2008, 2010
	President	1972, …, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012

v • d • e (2006 ←)   2007 United States elections   (→ 2008) U.S. House California 37th • Georgia 10th • Massachusetts 5th • Ohio 5th • Virginia 1st Governors Kentucky • Louisiana • Mississippi Mayoral Baltimore, MD • Charlotte, NC • Chicago, IL • Indianapolis, IN • Jacksonville, FL • Memphis, TN • Philadelphia, PA • Phoenix, AZ • Pittsburgh, PA • San Francisco, CA City Houston, TX State Kentucky • Louisiana • Mississippi • Virginia Territories Northern Mariana Islands