Marty Meehan had been the district's Representative to Congress since 1993. He announced his resignation in May 2007 (effective July 1), allowing him to become the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.[1] Meehan had last won re-election in 2006, when he ran unopposed. The district was considered to be strongly Democratic, as it voted 58% for the Democratic candidate (John Kerry) in the most recent presidential election. In addition, Massachusetts had not elected a Republican to Congress since Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen were last elected to office in 1994 (both were defeated in 1996). No Republican had held the 5th congressional district's seat since Paul W. Cronin departed from office in 1975 after his defeat by Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1974.
A primary election was held on September 4, 2007 to determine each political party's nominee for the general election.[1] Niki Tsongas won the Democratic nomination and Jim Ogonowski won the Republican nomination. Tsongas won the general election, held on October 16, 2007, with 51% of the vote; Ogonowski received 45%.
2007, massachusetts, congressional, district, special, election, massachusetts, held, special, election, fill, vacancy, massachusetts, congressional, district, october, 2007, democrat, niki, tsongas, election, congress, defeating, republican, ogonowski, electi. Massachusetts held a special election to fill a vacancy in Massachusetts s 5th congressional district on October 16 2007 1 Democrat Niki Tsongas won election to Congress defeating Republican Jim Ogonowski in an election that was closer than expected 2 2007 Massachusetts s 5th congressional district special election 2006 October 16 2007 2008 Massachusetts s 5th congressional district Nominee Niki Tsongas Jim OgonowskiParty Democratic RepublicanPopular vote 54 363 47 770Percentage 51 3 45 1 U S Representative before electionMarty MeehanDemocratic Elected U S Representative Niki TsongasDemocraticMarty Meehan had been the district s Representative to Congress since 1993 He announced his resignation in May 2007 effective July 1 allowing him to become the next Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell 1 Meehan had last won re election in 2006 when he ran unopposed The district was considered to be strongly Democratic as it voted 58 for the Democratic candidate John Kerry in the most recent presidential election In addition Massachusetts had not elected a Republican to Congress since Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen were last elected to office in 1994 both were defeated in 1996 No Republican had held the 5th congressional district s seat since Paul W Cronin departed from office in 1975 after his defeat by Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1974 A primary election was held on September 4 2007 to determine each political party s nominee for the general election 1 Niki Tsongas won the Democratic nomination and Jim Ogonowski won the Republican nomination Tsongas won the general election held on October 16 2007 with 51 of the vote Ogonowski received 45 Contents 1 Candidates 1 1 Constitution 1 2 Democratic 1 3 Independent 1 4 Republican 2 Withdrawn not running 2 1 Democratic 2 2 Republican 3 Polling 3 1 Democratic primary 3 2 Republican primary 3 3 General Election 4 Results 4 1 General Election 4 2 Democratic primary 4 3 Republican primary 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7 1 Candidate Web Sites 7 1 1 Democratic 7 1 2 Republican 7 1 3 Constitution 7 1 4 IndependentCandidates editAll candidates for the election are listed alphabetically first by party then by name Bold is primary winners and general election candidates Constitution edit Kevin Thompson State Constitution Party Secretary from BrocktonDemocratic edit Eileen Donoghue City Councilor and former Lowell Mayor Jamie Eldridge State Representative from Acton Barry Finegold State Representative from Andover Jim Miceli State Representative from Wilmington Niki Tsongas Dean at Middlesex Community College from Lowell and widow of Paul TsongasIndependent edit Kurt Hayes Businessman from Boxborough Patrick O Murphy Brick and stonemason from Lowell 3 Republican edit Jim Ogonowski Former Air Force Lt Colonel from Dracut and brother of John Thomas Tierney Self Employed Independent Consulting Actuary from FraminghamWithdrawn not running editDemocratic edit James DiPaola Middlesex County Sheriff 4 David O Brien Democratic National Committee member from Concord 5 Republican edit Fred Smerlas Former NFL defensive lineman 6 Michael J Sullivan Mayor of Lawrence 7 Polling editDemocratic primary edit Source Date Donoghue D Eldridge D Finegold D Miceli D Tsongas D Survey USA Aug 27 29 2007 29 15 9 3 40 Survey USA Aug 11 13 2007 16 13 14 4 38 Kiley amp Company Aug 8 9 2007 18 16 13 4 34 JEF Associates Aug 6 7 2007 22 7 8 4 28 Kiley amp Company July 15 2007 13 12 10 4 36 JEF Associates Jun 28 30 2007 17 10 13 4 26 Kiley amp Company May 22 2007 9 10 11 3 38 Garin Hart Yang Research May 3 4 2007 13 5 10 4 36 DiPaola D O Brien D Kiley amp Company Mar 23 24 2007 9 9 8 3 35 6 3 Republican primary edit Source Date Ogonowski R Tierney R Survey USA Aug 27 29 2007 72 12 General Election edit Source Date Ogonowski R Tsongas D Thompson C Hayes I Murphy I Survey USA Oct 8 10 2007 42 51 0 2 4 RCCC Poll Oct 1 5 2007 39 44 N A N A N ASurvey USA Sep 7 9 2007 41 51 2 2 1 Results editBold indicates winner of nomination Source https web archive org web 20120207164837 http www thebostonchannel com politics 14003157 detail html General Election edit Massachusetts s 5th congressional district special election 2007 Party Candidate Votes Democratic Niki Tsongas 54 363 51 32 48 68Republican Jim Ogonowski 47 770 45 10 45 10Independent Patrick O Murphy 2 170 2 05 2 05Independent Kurt Hayes 1 125 1 06 1 06Constitution Kevin Thompson 494 0 47 0 47Majority 6 593 6 Turnout 105 922Democratic hold Swing 46 89 D to RDemocratic primary edit Candidates Democratic Primary Election Sep 4Candidate Party Votes PercentNiki Tsongas Democratic 19 811 35 69 Eileen Donoghue Democratic 17 373 31 29 Jamie Eldridge Democratic 8 041 14 48 Barry Finegold Democratic 6 996 12 60 Jim Miceli Democratic 3 296 5 94 Republican primary edit Candidates Republican Primary Election Sep 4Candidate Party Votes PercentJim Ogonowski Republican 12 014 89 04 Tom Tierney Republican 1 479 10 96 See also editList of special elections to the United States House of RepresentativesReferences edit a b c Giroux Greg May 9 2007 Massachusetts Rep Meehan Sets Date to Vacate Seat CQPolitics com Archived from the original on September 29 2007 Retrieved May 9 2007 5th District Elects Tsongas Associated Press Murphy Matt June 2 2007 Lowell Mason joins rep race LowellSun com Retrieved June 6 2007 lowellsun com eagletribune com Archived July 30 2012 at archive today Ogonowski s House bid gets boost Boston Globe April 27 2007 bostonherald comExternal links editCandidate Web Sites edit Democratic edit Eileen Donoghue for Congress web site Jamie Eldridge for Congress web site Barry Finegold for Congress web site Jim Miceli for Congress web site Niki Tsongas for Congress web siteRepublican edit Jim Ogonowski for Congress web site Tom Tierney for Congress web siteConstitution edit Kevin Thompson for Congress web siteIndependent edit Kurt Hayes for Congress web site Patrick Murphy for Congress web site Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2007 Massachusetts 27s 5th congressional district special election amp oldid 1163831942, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
