Reps Sciortino, Donato Hold off Challengers

State Rep. Carl Sciortino managed to beat his opponent after being forced to mount a write-in campaign. Rep. Sciortino is pictured at left greeting a supporter Tuesday night at Sabur restaurant in Somerville’s Teele Square.

Story Updated 7:09PM, Wednesday, September 17, 2008

– Allison Goldsberry

State Representative Paul Donato (D-Medford, Malden) and State Representative Carl Sciortino (D-Medford, Somerville) successfully fought off their challengers in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

According to preliminary numbers, Rep. Donato won with 3,444 votes, about 60% of the votes cast in his Medford/Malden district.  Challenger Patrick McCabe earned 1,868 votes, 32%, while Jim Caralis earned 455 votes, 8%.

Rep. Donato, running for his fifth term, carried each ward and precinct in his district.

“The important thing was the organization I had…the hundreds of people who believed what I stood for,” said Rep. Donato.

Rep. Donato said the voters responded to the issues he “brought to the table” and the resources he brought to Medford and Malden.

“To win by almost a two to one margin shows we’re a viable force and I’m doing the right thing for the district,” said Rep. Donato.

Rep. Sciortino emerged victorious over Somerville Alderman Bob Trane despite being forced to mount a write-in/sticker campaign after he failed to return his nomination papers to get on the ballot.

Rep. Sciortino’s campaign did not have numbers immediately available but said early numbers indicate Sciortino earned enough write-in votes to beat Trane.

Medford’s preliminary numbers show Trane with 1,038 votes, roughly 42% of the vote, and Rep. Sciortino with 1,427 votes, about 58% of the vote.

According to unofficial numbers released by the city of Somerville, Rep. Sciortino earned 1,231 votes in Somerville while Trane received 1,179 votes.

Trane conceded the race to Rep. Sciortino around 9PM Tuesday.

“When I started my campaign this year, I was told you can’t win on stickers,” said Rep. Sciortino.

“If we’ve proved anything today, we’ve proved grassroots campaigns work!” Said Rep. Sciortino.

Rep. Sciortino, running for his third term, said he loves serving as a state representative for Medford and Somerville.  He said much work remains to be done in the next two years, including improving public transportation and education reform.

In other election news, Senator John Kerry beat his challenger, lawyer Edward O’Reilly of Gloucester.  Sen. Kerry took 69% of the vote while O’Reilly took 31%, according to numbers compiled by Boston.com.

Disgraced Middlesex County Register of Probate John Buonomo, who resigned from his seat but did not withdraw his campaign after he was arrested last August for allegedly swindling taxpayer money, appears to have beaten his write-in opponents according to preliminary numbers.

In Medford, Buonomo earned 4,351 votes, while 894 voters wrote in other candidates and 3,581 left that part of the ballot blank.  In Somerville, Buonomo, a former elected official in that city, earned 2,466 votes while 1,827 voters wrote in other candidates and 2,990 left it blank.

Democrat Michael Callahan of Medford was easily re-elected to his Governor’s Councilor seat with 82% of the vote, defeating challenger Roseann Trioufi-Mazzuchelli of Winthrop of Winthrop.

Unofficial numbers released by the Medford Registrar of Voters office on Wednesday night indicate 9,459 of Medford’s 34,072 registered voters participated in Tuesday’s primary, roughly 28%.