John Deaton wins GOP primary to take on Sen. Elizabeth Warren – NBC Boston

Cryptocurrency advocate John Deaton secured a spot in the race against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, voters chose at least six new state lawmakers and ballots continued to be counted hours after polls closed in Tuesday’s primary.

Only a handful of elections on the ballot featured any contests, and the results largely favored incumbents, although one veteran Democrat in the House of Representatives may be headed for defeat.

Republican voters topped the list with Deaton, a U.S. Marine and cryptocurrency attorney, to challenge Warren in November.

Deaton, who moved to Massachusetts from Rhode Island in January and approached the MassGOP about the prospect of running against Warren, defeated fellow Republicans Ian Cain and Robert Antonellis in a three-way primary. The Associated Press called the race for Deaton at 8:42 p.m.

He has billed himself as a “small-government, fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican,” much like the approach taken by some other Massachusetts Republicans, such as former Gov. Charlie Baker. Deaton also wrote a memoir, “Food Stamp Warrior,” about his experiences growing up poor in Detroit.

“Tomorrow, we begin the next phase of the campaign — an effort that will hold Elizabeth Warren accountable for her failures at the border, the unaffordable cost of raising a family, a broken healthcare system, abandoning our ally Israel, and restoring trust in our politics,” Deaton said Tuesday night. “Voters are turning away from divisive partisan politics and are ready to support a message of optimism, unity, and problem-solving.”

John Deaton, a lawyer and crypto enthusiast running as a Republican for the US Senate in Massachusetts, spoke via @Issue about his ambitions to defeat Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Warren faced no opponent in her bid for a third term. Six years ago, she defeated Republican challenger Geoff Diehl by 24 points, then ran an unsuccessful primary campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

In the U.S. House of Representatives’ 8th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Stephen Lynch ran uncontested in the Democratic primary. The AP projected the GOP race for Rob Burke, who defeated Jim Govatsos and Daniel Kelly for the chance to run against Lynch in November. After Burke secured the 2022 Republican nomination, Lynch defeated him by 40 points.

Even if all incumbent members of the House and Senate running for re-election win, voters on Tuesday will still effectively choose half a dozen new state legislatures in open districts with no Republicans on the ballot.

One of them is Greg Schwartz of Newton, who won the three-way primary to succeed Congresswoman Ruth Balser, according to the AP.

Schwartz is a physician — his campaign said he was the only one in the Legislature — and a former Newton City Councilman. Among his many policy positions, Schwartz said he would support banning private equity ownership of hospitals and medical groups, backing a local option real estate transfer tax and “advocating for full funding of the MBTA so we stop postponing the problem.”

He defeated incumbent council members Rick Lipof and Bill Humphrey and is expected to be the only candidate on the ballot in November.

Another new de facto elected representative is Sean Reid of Lynn, who defeated Hong Net, also of Lynn. That district north of Boston is currently represented by Rep. Peter Capano, who is not seeking re-election.

Reid is a member of the Lynn School Committee and serves as legislative director for Lynn Sen. Brendan Crighton. His campaign priorities include housing and public transportation, climate and coastal resilience, and education.

Amy Mah Sangiolo defeated Alexander Jablon in a Newton-vs.-Newton Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Kay Khan, who is retiring 29 years after joining the House. Sangiolo will face Republican Vladislav Yanovsky in November in a district that hasn’t crowned a GOP winner since before 1970.

In the southwestern corner of the state, Democrat Leigh Davis of Great Barrington declared victory in a crowded primary to replace retiring Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, WAMC’s Josh Landes reports. She will face non-write-in candidate Marybeth Mitts of Lenox in the general election.

In a long-standing trend, most voters had no choice Tuesday. Only 26 of the 160 House districts and six of the 40 Senate districts saw contested primaries in either of the two major political parties, even though all 200 districts are up for reelection every two years, allowing most incumbents to sleepwalk their way to reelection.

Some Democrats who ran unopposed in the primaries will face Republicans in November. But even with that, most districts are still uncontested.

Amy Carnevale, chair of MassGOP, said Tuesday that her party’s candidates would restore “much-needed sanity” to the Legislature.

“Democrats are reeling because their policies have created the largest immigration crisis in Massachusetts history. The Commonwealth is less affordable than ever, residents are leaving in droves, and our Legislature remains one of the least transparent in the country,” Carnevale said in a statement.

Most incumbent lawmakers who did have opponents appeared to be doing well Tuesday, but a big surprise could emerge in Cambridge.

Just after 10:45 p.m., the Globe’s Samantha Gross reported that doctoral student and organizer Evan MacKay had declared victory over six-term incumbent Rep. Marjorie Decker.

MacKay campaigned sharply against the status quo in the Legislature, where power is centralized in the hands of a few Democrats, many decisions are made behind closed doors and the public — and some lawmakers — are given little information about upcoming votes.

The race had still not been officially called by 11pm

Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, a Somerville Democrat who is one of the Legislature’s most progressive members, effectively secured a third term by defeating fellow Somerville resident Kathleen Hornby. There are no Republicans or non-write-in candidates on the ballot.

Sen. Adam Gomez of Springfield, who had touted an endorsement from Gov. Maura Healey in the days leading up to the primary, also won his primary against Malo Brown of Springfield.

His colleague, Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford, similarly fended off a challenge from Molly Kivi, AP results show.

Turnout figures are a bit of a paradox, at least depending on the metrics used to assess them. Secretary of State William Galvin predicted last week that more than 500,000 votes would be cast in Democratic primaries and another 250,000 in Republican primaries, which would be a turnout of nearly 15 percent.

That’s far lower than the general election, which has topped 70 percent in recent presidential years, and significantly lower than the 36.5 percent turnout in the 2020 primaries. But it would also be far higher than the 8.8 percent in 2016 and the 12.4 percent in 2012, two other recent comparable years.

Many voters are still taking advantage of the option to cast their vote by mail, with over 468,000 people having done so by 7am on Tuesday.

This report used information from the Associated Press.