Hello, Ayanna
Nothing lasts forever.
This was proven rather decisively by Congressman Mike Capuano’s stunning across the board loss to the Congressman to be, Ayanna Pressley.
We endorsed Mike here in Everett out of 20 years of loyalty and the belief that Mike had done a stellar job in a rather bad political environment, especially during the past few years.
Mike carried Everett over Pressley (above) by a whopping 1,500 votes but everywhere else he lost or came close even in Somerville, his home base, which he lost by less than 200 votes.
We welcome Pressley.
She has our support entirely as Mike had our support. We don’t really know her but we trust and hope she will do the right thing for Everett and for all the cities and towns in our district.
She has scored a phenomenal victory.
There is a thing about showing magnanimity in victory and magnanimity in defeat.
Mike showed great magnanimity in defeat.
He welcomed Pressley and offered her his support graciously by conceding early on primary night.
Pressley showed magnanimity in victory by praising the fallen Mike.
She reacted to her win with unabashed happiness.
Again, we welcome her here in Everett, our new Congresswoman, Ayanna Pressley!
The Rep Race
We got Mike right with our endorsement, but we got our endorsement for Stat Smith in the rep race all wrong.
Mike won Everett. Stat lost Everett.
He was never in it – even though he gave it a good go.
If we were keeping statistics as they do in baseball, we would be 1 for 2 with our endorsements. This means we’d be batting .500, which is a batting average never reached in the history of baseball.
The real story is the battle between the rep and Gerly Adrien. She came close, but no cigar.
An additional 168 votes and she would have tied the rep. Maybe if Stat hadn’t run, she would have won?
Doubtful, but something to think about if you are into Everett
politics.
In this race, and outside of Everett in the congressional race,
Adrien’s nish reveals the growing power of the minority vote here.
Adrien’s 1800 votes in the rep race was huge!
It revealed Adrien’s organization as a real force to deal with in the future.
She really brought out a large vote…but fell short by just 168 votes.
The local pundits were all wrong about the numbers in this race.
It was widely predicted that a total of 3400 – 3500 people would vote and that 1400 votes would take very likely take it away for the rep seat.
More than 4600 people came out to vote, with 1968 votes taking it away for the rep.
Adrien is not going away, either.
Vote Tabulation Was Flawless, Fast, Organized
The voting returns conducted by the city clerk’s office went smoothly and quickly. Former City Clerk Mike Matarrazzo stopped by early to check everything out.
The returns were all finalized by 9 o’clock.
If this was a horse race, the city clerk’s office and voting commission came in first.
Also helping out, the unsung heroes of the Everett Police Department.
They came quickly, one after another from all the wards and precincts to Everett City Hall with the votes.
This aided in the rapid tabulation of the vote. Everyone involved deserves praise.
Well done.
The Mayor’s Boredom
A number of people close to the mayor have spoken about how bored he is at this point in his political career.
Those of us who watch the mayor can understand his boredom after doing the same things year to year after ten years.
One of the mayor’s closest observers said he finds it difficult to go into his office at city hall because he feels he has done everything that can be done and that he is awaiting a final big blast – the ribbon cutting at the casino/hotel.
This is the mayor’s biggest success by a long shot.
The opening of the casino/hotel is his crowning achievement. What can a mayor hope to do after presiding over the largest and most costly ever development in Massachusetts history? Where does he go from here, is the question most likely haunting him.
What can he do as a follow-up?
What can he hope to do with himself other than being a bored mayor?
This is the question.
What he can do outside of being the mayor is the rub. Is he stuck here as the mayor or does he move on?
If he moves on, where is it he goes?
Let’s see what happens.