AGAWAM — Republican voters in Agawam helped John Deaton gain the nomination for U.S. Senate in the region’s only contested race during the Sept. 3 state primary election.
Local GOP voters gave Deaton, a cryptocurrency lawyer from Bolton, about 78% of their support, including a comfortable majority in every precinct. Robert Antonellis, an industrial engineer from Medford, took 18% of the vote in town. Quincy City Councilor Ian Cain got under 5% in Agawam. According to The Associated Press, Deaton took about 64% of the Republican vote statewide, followed by Antonellis at 26% and Cain at 9%.
Deaton, who moved from Rhode Island to Massachusetts in January, has touted himself as a “small government, fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican,” in the vein of moderate Massachusetts Republicans like former Gov. Charlie Baker. Deaton also wrote a memoir, “Food Stamp Warrior,” about his experiences growing up impoverished in Detroit.
“Tomorrow, we begin the next phase of the campaign — an effort that will hold Elizabeth Warren accountable for her failures on the border, the unaffordable cost of supporting a family, a broken health care system, abandoning our ally Israel, and restoring faith in our politics,” Deaton said on election night. “Voters are turning their back on divisive partisan politics and are ready to support a message of optimism, unity and solving problems.”
Warren, a Democrat from Cambridge, did not face a primary opponent of her own as she seeks a third term. Six years ago, she swept past Republican challenger Geoff Diehl by 24 points, then ran a short, unsuccessful primary campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
In Agawam, 2,913 people voted in the primary election, a turnout of 12.9% of registered voters. Again, more Democratic ballots than Republican ballots were voted, although the margin was closer, at 1,643 to 1,265, according to the tally released by the town clerk on election night, plus five votes in the Libertarian Party primary, which had no candidates on the ballot.
With no opponents on the ballot in precincts 2-8 of Agawam, Republicans renominated state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga. Republicans did not have any other candidates on primary ballots in Agawam, including the state representative district that covers Precinct 1.
Democrats nominated all of the candidates on their ballot, including Warren, incumbent U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, incumbent Governor’s Councilor Tara Jacobs, incumbent state Sen. John Velis, incumbent Clerk of Courts Laura Gentile and incumbent Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera. None of them had primary election challengers.
For state House of Representatives, Democrats in the district that includes all of West Springfield and Precinct 1 of Agawam supported incumbent state Rep. Michael Finn. The district that covers the rest of Agawam did not have a Democratic candidate on the ballot.
In the November election, Deaton will face Warren for U.S. Senate. Neal has an independent challenger, farmer and consumer advocate Nadia Milleron of Sheffield. Coakley-Rivera also has an independent challenger, former corrections officer and legislative aide Bob Collamore of Springfield.
Jacobs, Gentile, Velis, Boldyga and Finn will have no November opponents. The Nov. 5 ballot will also include the presidential race and several state ballot questions.
Chris Lisinski of the State House News Service contributed to this report.
