Today’s Attleboro Sun Chronicle reported the results of the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District primary.
These are the numbers as reported by the Sun Chronicle:
U.S. House – District 4 – Dem Primary
September 07, 2012 – 09:41AM ET
Massachusetts – 215 of 220 Precincts Reporting – 98%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Kennedy , Joe Dem 35,318 90%
Brown , Rachel Dem 2,411 6%
Robinson , Herb Dem 1,314 3%
U.S. House – District 4 – GOP Primary
September 07, 2012 – 01:38AM ET
Massachusetts – 207 of 220 Precincts Reporting – 94%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Bielat , Sean GOP 13,844 73%
Childs , Elizabeth GOP 2,594 14%
Steinhof , David GOP 2,530 13%
There are a few things we can learn from these numbers. About 39,000 people voted in the Democrat primary, about 19,000 people voted in the Republican primary. That alone means that Sean Bielat has a difficult job ahead of him in order to win the election. It can be done, but it will be difficult. Also, notice that the Democrats opposing Joe Kennedy got a total of 9% of the votes; the Republicans opposing Sean Bielat got almost 30% of the vote. Evidently the Kennedy name still has value in an election despite all the scandals connected to it.
I don’t know how many independent voters there are in the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District. I suspect that Sean Bielat is hoping that there are a lot of them. In order for Sean Bielat to win, he needs the independent voters and the voters who are tired of the status quo represented by Joe Kennedy. Admittedly Joe Kennedy is a fresh candidate, but his ideas represent the Democrat establishment. If the voters look around and decide that the Democrat establishment (and the Republican establishment) does not work, Sean Bielat can win.