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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Reps. Peter Durant and Jonathan Zlotnik will go head-to-head next month in a contest to fill a vacant state Senate seat after Durant claimed victory in Tuesday's Republican primary, and the MassGOP is making a push to flip the Central Massachusetts seat.
"Tonight the voters of the 22 communities in the Worcester and Hampshire Senate district made their voices heard -- I'm honored by the trust they've placed in me, and I look forward to carrying their voice with me on to November and into the State Senate," the Spencer Republican tweeted shortly before midnight Tuesday, adding a note of appreciation for Bruce Chester, the only other Republican competing in the primary. "It's time to fight to make our voices heard -- all of our voices -- and end one party rule on Beacon Hill. A vote for Peter Durant is a vote for a better state government -- we need two healthy teams on the political field."
Durant, who was first elected to the House in a 2011 special election that was ordered because his 2010 contest against incumbent Rep. Geraldo Alicea ended in a tie, has been one of the more vocal representatives around two issues weighing on the minds of voters: the crisis in the state's shelter system and House Democrats' efforts to amend firearm laws.
In the Nov. 7 special general election, Durant will face Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who defeated incumbent Rep. Richard Bastien in 2012 and was the only Democrat on Tuesday's primary ballot.
In a fundraising pitch, MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said Durant is competing in "a winnable district," but that he needs money for mail, phone banking, and text message outreach. The three-member Senate Republican caucus is holding a "unity event" Wednesday night at Seven Saws Brewery in Holden, and the party will hold a fundraiser Nov. 2 with special guest former Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and a performance from former ambassador and state senator Scott Brown and his band, Scott Brown and the Diplomats.
The purple district was represented by former Sen. Anne Gobi, a Democrat who resigned more than four months ago to become Gov. Healey's rural affairs director. The district includes Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Gardner, Hardwick, Holden, Hubbardston, Leicester, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Spencer, Sterling, Templeton, Ware, West Brookfield, Westminster, and a sliver of Worcester.
Written By Colin A. Young/SHNS
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