2007 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

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
October 16, 2007
 
Nominee Niki Tsongas Jim Ogonowski
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 54,363 47,770
Percentage 51.3% 45.1%
U.S. Representative before election

Marty Meehan
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Representative

Niki Tsongas
Democratic

Elections in Massachusetts

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%.

Candidates

All candidates for the election are listed alphabetically first by party, then by name. Bold is primary winners and general election candidates.

Constitution

Democratic

Independent

Republican
  • Jim Ogonowski – Former Air Force Lt. Colonel from Dracut, and brother of John
  • Thomas Tierney – Self-Employed Independent Consulting Actuary from Framingham

Withdrawn / not running

Democratic

Republican

Polling

Democratic Primary
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 & Company Aug 8–9, 2007 18% 16% 13% 4% 34%
JEF Associates Aug 6–7, 2007 22% 7% 8% 4% 28%
Kiley & Company July 15, 2007 13% 12% 10% 4% 36%
JEF Associates Jun 28–30, 2007 17% 10% 13% 4% 26%
Kiley & 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 & Company Mar 23–24, 2007 9% 9% 8% 3% 35% 6% 3%

Republican Primary
Source Date Ogonowski (R) Tierney (R)
Survey USA Aug 27–29, 2007 72% 12%

General Election
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/A
Survey USA Sep 7–9, 2007 41% 51% 2% 2% 1%

Results

Bold indicates winner of nomination. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120207164837/http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14003157/detail.html

General Election
Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2007
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Niki Tsongas 54,363 51.32 -48.68
Republican Jim Ogonowski 47,770 45.10 +45.10
Independent Patrick O. Murphy 2,170 2.05 +2.05
Independent Kurt Hayes 1,125 1.06 +1.06
Constitution Kevin Thompson 494 0.47 0.47
Majority 6,593 6%
Turnout 105,922
Democratic hold Swing 46.89% D to R

Democratic Primary
Candidates Democratic Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate Party Votes Percent
Niki 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
Candidates Republican Primary Election, Sep 4
Candidate Party Votes Percent
Jim Ogonowski Republican 12,014 89.04%
Tom Tierney Republican 1,479 10.96%
gollark: I'll try making the payoff matrix a bit positive, for purposes.
gollark: Tie, yes, sorry.
gollark: But tit-for-tat should win against angel and such.
gollark: They'll beat it by however much they get for initially doing defect, right?
gollark: This looks like what the wikipedia article says too.

See also

References
  1. 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.
  2. 5th District Elects Tsongas Associated Press
  3. Murphy, Matt (June 2, 2007). "Lowell Mason joins rep. race". LowellSun.com. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  4. lowellsun.com
  5. eagletribune.com Archived July 30, 2012, at Archive.today
  6. "Ogonowski's House bid gets boost". Boston Globe. April 27, 2007.
  7. bostonherald.com

Candidate Web Sites

Democratic

Republican

Constitution

Independent
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