It’s Naughton in a landslide
By Josh Press/ Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006 - Updated: 12:29 PM EST
Following a landslide victory in Tuesday’s state primary, Foxboro Democrat Claire Naughton will face Mansfield Republican Fred "Jay" Barrows in November’s state election in the race for the 1st Bristol District representative seat.
The district covers precincts 3, 4, and 5 in Norton, precincts 1, 3 and 6 of Mansfield and the entire town of Foxboro.
"I’m thrilled with the support I had," said Naughton.
And she should be. Naughton garnered 2,592, or 60 percent, of the district’s vote. That was far ahead of her opponents Paul Feeney of Foxboro, who got 1,210 votes (28 percent), and Matthew Donovan of Foxboro, who got 487 votes (11 percent).
In Mansfield specifically, where 2,585 (19.9 percent) registered voters cast a ballot in that race, Naughton earned 791 votes to Feeney’s 276 and Donovan’s 143.
"I had a very organized campaign, I think that was a great part of that (winning the election)," said Naughton. "I think the fact I did so much door-to-door, have lived in the district for such a long time and have been active in the district too (were factors as well)."
Naughton, who lost a close race to current representative Virginia "Ginny" Coppola, R-Foxboro, in February’s special election, said that may have played into her win as well.
"I think people still know who I am," she laughed.
Naughton, 61, has been a resident of Foxboro since 1971. For the past seven years, she has been the Democratic State Committee’s representative for Foxboro, Mansfield and Norton. In Foxboro, she also was the chairwoman of the Foxboro Registrar of Voters board and Democratic Town Committee, and a member of the Historical Society. She taught family and consumer science in Brookline, Attleboro and Warwick, R.I. schools before retiring in April 2005.
Over the next seven weeks heading into the Nov. 7 election, Naughton said she will not approach her race against Barrows any differently than the way she campaigned to earn her party’s nomination for the district seat.
"I’ll do exactly what I’ve been doing," she said. "I’m going to keep on going door-to-door, keep on talking to people and send the message I had before. We need to bring in more (local) money for our schools, fire and police departments. And last year, the state had an extra $1.4 billion, which (locally) could help lower property taxes."
Barrows, who did not have an opponent in the primary, said he is looking forward to a good race and will continue to actively campaign as he said he has been since he announced his candidacy in June.
"Obviously with the outcome, the folks will have a clear choice between the candidates," said Barrows, who owns and operates Barrows Insurance Agency in Mansfield. "I’m going to continue to go door-to-door - I’ve been doing that aggressively since my announcement - and continue to make calls within the district."
Barrows, a lifelong resident of Mansfield, has served as chairman of the Hockomock Area YMCA, is president of the Tri-Town Chamber of Commerce that serves Foxboro, Mansfield, and Norton and is a member of the Mansfield Housing Authority.
Coppola, who filled the seat after her husband Michael Coppola passed away while still in office, endorsed Barrows for her seat June 1. In Foxboro, Barrows has received endorsements from Mike Stanton, chairman of the Foxboro Board of Selectmen, and former Foxboro selectmen Charles Masison and Kevin Weinfeld.
Mansfield supporters include selectmen Michael McCue, David McCarter and Lou Amoruso. Norton selectmen Chairman Robert Kimball has also expressed his support.
"It’s going to be a great race," said Barrows. "I’ve never been a shrinking violet and I’m not going away. It’s what I’ve built my reputation on. I’ll be respectful and just point to our differences."
In the race for Bristol County district attorney, meanwhile, Sam Sutter of Fall River unseated 16-year incumbent Paul Walsh. Sutter got only 742 votes to Walsh’s 1,504 in Mansfield but overall collected 33,912 (51 percent) to narrowly defeat Walsh, who got 32,063 votes (49 percent).
In a three-way race for the Bristol County Commissioner seat, 16-year incumbent Maria Lopes defeated challengers Gregory DeMelo and Perry Long.
Lopes garnered 25,612 votes (44 percent) to DeMelo’s 20,138 (34 percent) and Long’s 13,041 (22 percent). In Mansfield, Lopes collected 1,166 votes to DeMelo’s 526 and Long’s 292.
The Bristol County Commission oversees a $22 million budget and represents four cities and 16 towns including Easton, Mansfield and Norton.
In the Governor’s Democratic primary, meanwhile, landslide winner Deval Patrick easily won Mansfield. Patrick collected 1,129 votes, while opponents Christopher Gabrieli (839 votes) and Thomas Reilly (595 votes) found themselves far behind.
The Lt. Governor’s Democratic primary, meanwhile, went to Timothy Murray, who defeated opponents Deborah Goldberg and Andrea Silbert. Goldberg, however, took Mansfield, as she collected 966 votes to Murray’s 828 and Silbert’s 533.
Kenneth Chase, meanwhile, outlasted Kevin Scott 35,497-34,179 for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and will now face Sen. Ted Kennedy in November.
And incumbent William Francis Galvin easily defeated challenger John Bonifaz 634,053-128,997 in the Secretary of State Democratic primary and will now face Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein in November as well.
Josh Press can be reached at 508-634-7564 or at jpress@cnc.com.
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